Smoking and Compression Test

[Steve in PA]

I had posted earlier about smoking from the oil fill hole and pieces of metal in the drain oil in my 1949 8N. I looked closer at the pieces and they are thin, rigid, and curved- probably sleeve pieces. After all your advice I thought I would do a compression test before removing the head. I warmed up the tractor first and found that 3 spark plugs were hot and the 4rth was cool when I removed them for the test. The results were- 110-100-105-5. The cylinder with the cool plug had almost no compression. There is obviously a major problem, yet it still runs fairly smooth! I am a total novice without any major equipment, or even a trailer to transport the tractor. Might I be able to fix this myself, and if so, what equipment will I need?

 

[Bruce (VA)]

First off, don't run it anymore. You can damage the cylinder wall w/o a sleeve in it. Then you will have an unusual looking boat anchor.

How much of a novice are you? If you have a basic set of tools, access to an engine hoist & an I&T FO-4 manual, you can have the engine in the back of a pick-up going to a shop for rebuilding in half a day.

I'm the first to say "no guts, no glory"; go ahead & try the rebuild yourself, but get the manual first & read what pulling & installing sleeves, etc, involves. Only you can make that decision.

And, I don't think I'd replace one sleeve. BTDT. The second sleeve dropped 2 years later after the first one did on my 50.

If you pull the engine & take it to a reputable shop, a total rebuild should be (depending on the machine work needed) around $1k.
50 Tips

 

[old]

As Bruce say DON'T run it any more. Curved pieces of metal could well be broken rings and if so you probably already have scored cylinder walls which means either have to bore the sleeves or replace the sleeves.
Hobby farm

 

[Anonymous-0]

hold on here! You may be gittin ready to do a rebuild on an engine with a 5 and dime valve problem. First off, even a piston with no rings is goin to have better than 5 lb. compression. Get the book, do a little study, get in there and have a look see at what is holdin a valve open.

 

[A. Bohemian]

With the board's permission, a couple of Bruce's observations are so important that reiteration is not without merit.

Quote: "First off, don't run it anymore."

Quote: "And, I don't think I'd replace (just) one sleeve."

Thank you.