So I bought a '55 850

[rotozuk]

She seems to be pretty darn original. Was working recently on one of the local wine vineyards in California and before that was living in Florida. Yeah, kind of odd they went that far to find an 850.

She has a 12 volt conversion and front end loader with rear wheel weights. Everything seems to be working, but is a little tired. She had a massive fuel leak at the sediment bowl (shipped glass) so didn't run it much, but after fixing the leak have driven her around a little work I'm happy to report no bad noises and generally all works. Everything except the fuel system seems to leak. And thus my first challenges.

The question I have for today is what I suspect is stuck piston rings. She starts up nicely and runs, but has a vibration (I'm not sure how smooth these engines should be?), and a lot of blow by in both the valve cover and at the oil breather. I assume this is a result of some stuck rings, and thinking the blow by is making for a low compression cylinder, thus the vibration.

A buddy that I trust for tractor stuff suggests I drain about a quart of oil and pour in a quart of diesel and let it idle for 10 minutes and then drain the oil.

Another buddy that is a car guy hates that idea and suggests pulling the plugs and and pouring in some marvel mystery oil and letting that sit for a week.

Yet another buddy suggests pulling the plugs and pouring in a mix of acetone and ATF and letting that sit a little while.

So - Any of these suggestions sound better to you?

Thanks!

 

[Sean in PA]

First, do a couple of compression tests, one dry and one wet. That should tell you what's going on with the valves and rings.

 

[showcrop]

What Sean posted

 

[johnnmr]

You're not out anything but your time pouring concoctions in the cylinders. Checking dry and wet compression will tell you which cylinders are tired but not why they're tired, other than eliminating the valves. No way to differentiate between stuck rings and worn out rings w/o disassembly. I bet the rings are shot.

Compression must not be too bad if it starts and runs tho the 12 volt conversion would compensate for a tired engine.

I'd use it as is while monitoring how much oil it's really using. As long as you don't run it out of oil you're not making things worse. Our sprayer tractor was using 3 quarts a day til we got it overhauled. Didn't blow it up.

The vibration part is interesting, are you sure it's not related to the pump for the loader(I assume)?

 

[rotozuk]

Honestly no idea on the vibration. It is not bad, just not as smooth as I might expect, but it is a big lazy 4 cylinder, something I have no experience with. I'll do a compression check and a leak down just to see where we start, and try one of fluids above and see if it helps at all. I had hoped it would free up with a little run time.

Think the last of the parts finally arrived (bought here) and will dig into it pretty soon.

I am amazed that she seems to be in good condition for her age. I expected all sorts of hacks and half fixes on a working tractor of this age. I do think the guy in Florida put some love on her, but did it well.

I need to get off to a tractor show just to see if a cream puff runs much better. I have nothing to compare her to.

Time to start reading the manual.

 

[Sean in PA]

Those 4 cylinder Ford tractor engines were not the smoothest running engines. They eventually made a diesel version and they ended up having to add counter balancer weights to prevent the vibrations from eventually breaking the crankshaft even though the diesel version had a hardened crankshaft to begin with.

 

[rotozuk]

Yep, that sounds about right. These large bore 4 cylinders are going to have some shake to them.

 

[Eman85]

You need a buddy that has a compression tester and doesn't suggest quick fixes.

 

[MeanGene1]

Everything I drag home, old tractors, cars etc. get a good Seafoam treatment followed by the water dribble. It's amazing how much crap comes out the exhaust, and how much smoother they run