Rebuilt A engine startup issue

[belairbob]

Rebuilt my A with new sleeves, O-rings etc. Filled the radiator with anti freeze and water mix and left for a couple of days. Have not added oil yet. So I removed the oil pan plug and about a tablespoon of the anti freeze water mix came out. What do y all think about this? Should I carry on with start up, let the engine heat up, retorque head, etc. and keep a check for water in the oil? Need advice from people with a lot more experience than me!

 

[Janicholson]

With only gravity to find a leak, it did. pulling the pan, and looking for the source is the only choice. Jim

 

[wore out]

Drop the oil pan and find out where the
coolant is coming from.

 

[redforlife]

Dropping the pan now, and having a look,
might be more obvious as to where it is
coming from, rather than dumping oil in,
running it, and figuring it out later. That
is, if retorqueing head, and things like
that is not going to fix it.

If radiator can't be pressurized (I'm not
sure that it can be), I'd figure out a way
to pressurize the engine with it full of
coolant. That will usually make a seep,
turn into a stream. Makes it alot easier to
figure out where it is coming from.

Not sure what the A has for soft plugs, but
if those were not replaced, and one has a
rusty pin hole, that is something that
could of been overlooked. I have heard of
soft plugs being in strange places, like in
the front of the block, but underneath the
timing gear cover. Not sure if the A had
any soft plugs in weird places like that.

 

[gene bender]

drop the pan one of the o-rings is leaking look at the bottom of the sleeves and you will see which one it is you will need to
remove the head to fix. If you did not put a washer and cap screw to hold the sleev e tight after installing then when turning the
engine over one or more of the sleeves moved. Just drop the pan and you will see which one is leaking

 

[gene bender]

no frost plugs in that engine to leak into the pan

 

[560Dennis]

Sorry to here about this . Find the leak correct it. Just a waste of time & money if that antifreeze gets on those new bearings as others
said.

Your can rent a pressure tester to help you find location if not obvious .



I use use John Deere seal soap lubricant on the o rings , about + 20 for a quart I bought ten years ago . Probably a lot more now

You wont use much ! Up to you . Amazing stuff .

 

[Mrfred54]

Drop the pan.you can not pressurize the cooling system because the overflow tube is
inside the tank of radiator. Will just have to watch and see where it is leaking. If
no evidence on the bottom of the sleeves than probably, head gasket. Did you have the
head checked for crack when you had it off?
Good luck.

 

[kshansen]

Agree with all saying to drop the pan and check for signs of the leak.

One question is did you compare the new hear gasket with the original one? I know many years ago, over 20, when I rebuilt my BN which I believe is the same engine as an A I had a coolant leak.
After some detailed checking noticed that the original head gasket did not match the original one.

To be honest I can not recall which one was which, Like I said it's been over 20 years!, but I found out there were two different engines that IH built, possible one for the A's and B's and another for the C's? Or just newer and older versions of the two. Anyhow the gaskets were just a bit different and if you used the wrong one it could have a slow leak.

Below are two pictures of the gaskets and you can see how the holes in the gaskets are different around the coolant holes:

I seem to recall the upper gasket is the one for my BN. Note that the lower one has smaller holes and if used in the BN the edge of gasket extends in to the coolant and will let coolant seep through. I'm just guessing but think the one with the smaller holes is for an engine with a water pump not the thermosiphon system on the BN and A.

This post was edited by kshansen on 12/02/2022 at 12:50 pm.

 

[belairbob]

Thanks for all the advice! I pulled the oil pan and the only place I see with coolant drops is on 3 or 4 of the cam lobes. The bottom of the sleeves are dry as well as the sides of the block. Mrfred54 the machine shop checked for cracks when they reconditioned the head. For kshansen I did compare the old gasket to the new as I have had that issue with an engine years ago. So I guess I just need to go ahead and pull head as it appears to be leaking in an area around the push rods. Do yall use any sealant on the head gasket? Also there was not an indication on the new gasket as to which side goes up. I just assumed either side was ok.

 

[Dave BN]

I think you should start a new thread as the original is so old it might not get any views or responses.
Dave

 

[kshansen]

(quoted from post at 17:40:10 12/08/22) I think you should start a new thread as the original is so old it might not get any views or responses.
Dave

Am I missing something here?

This thread is only a week old as of yesterday!