Massey head gasket leak?

[Cascadia Farmer]

Hey all,

I'm new to the forum and only in my first year of tractor ownership. I have a MF 255 diesel with about 4k hours on the 203 Perkins. It seems to leak oil, but only while running. The dipstick doesn't show any significant oil loss and the block always has a layer of oil on it and around it. I cleaned the engine area with a rag and some engine cleaner this summer to see if the oily coating would come back and sure enough it did.

It seems to originate from the top of the engine...how do I know if the head gasket is shot? Could it be a different gasket? Valve cover? The crankcase oil is not watery, it smells a bit of diesel, the exhaust blows pretty clean once warmed up. The tractor still starts and runs great, should I just ignore the leak until something happens? I will probably end up hiring out this job if I decide to get it fixed but I don't want to get in to too much without a bit of advice under my belt. When's the best time to get a leak fixed?

...any clues for a newby?

 

[massey driver]

In my opion it sounds like its a valve cover gasket leaking,a blow head gasket would could cause rough running loss of power.lots of smoke,loss of antifreeze hench more smoke,If its all been washed down and cleaned like you say you should beable to see oil seapage around the base of the Valve cover after running and using the tractor.It will be minimal but the more its used the more that runs down onto the engine.You could try tightening the bolts that hold the cover on just a bit not overtightening.The best is to have it all clean and keep a eye on where it leaks from.Fuel tank and fuel lines could be it as well.Get any dust and dirt mixed in and it looks pretty dirty thats for sure. As always Larry

 

[Cascadia Farmer]

Thanks for your reply. It looks more like it a valve cover gasket to me too. I'll do some cleaning again and look some more for the source of the leak. Valve cover is a much easier fix! Maybe a DYI for someone with my skill level. Any advice in the realm of replacing a VC gasket? I'll try to post some pics of the leak once I clean it all up again. Hows the Massey doing in the snow way up in the far north?
Cheers

 

[massey driver]

Thanks for your reply. It looks more like it a valve cover gasket to me too. I'll do some cleaning again and look some more for the source of the leak. Valve cover is a much easier fix! Maybe a DYI for someone with my skill level. Any advice in the realm of replacing a VC gasket? I'll try to post some pics of the leak once I clean it all up again. Hows the Massey doing in the snow way up in the far north?
Cheers

Valve cover gasket should be easy for any DYI just take your time and watch how stuff comes apart and put it back the same way.Its funny how this year has been for us.Very wet and lots of rain all summer then a nice dry long fall and now that winters here.,where I'am we've had very cold temps off and on been as cold as -38c with wind chill of -48c temps like that are usually the middle of Jan. not Dec. and a total of can you believe it 1/2" of snow.Sure which we had more as we need snow to keep the frost from going down so deep.Being on a septic field system were all getting nervous no snow to keep things from freezing.We all cover the systems with straw etc. but the snow is supposed to be the biggest insulator for us.Can't believe it but where all hoping for snow in our area.Haven't even been able to try out the snowblower this winter yet, As always Larry.