ParkStRanger
New member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2022
- Messages
- 1
- Tractor
- Ford 1520
I'm posting this on the off chance it happens to someone else. I couldn't find any similar situation documented anywhere online.
In the +15F afternoon sun yesterday, I decided that among my other preparations for the slush-plowing event that is imminent here in PA this evening, I would pull the 1520 snowplow tractor around and put air in the one front tire that has a slow leak. The drive from the “tractorport” on the front porch to the garage is about fifty yards in all. When I arrived at the garage door, I noticed a big red dashboard light – looks like the oil pressure light..? Yes – it took a minute to register, but that was it all right! On steady! Not flickering or going out with advanced throttle.
I looked down on the driveway and saw the huge puddle of engine oil that was forming fast underneath the tractor, and shut the engine down immediately! What the..? Leading up to where I parked the tractor on the driveway was a steady trail of oil – extending all the way back to the “tractorport”. For the entire fifty-yard drive, the tractor had pissed all its oil on the ground and driveway, saving the last quart or two for the spot where I parked it.
The origin of the leak appeared to be at the oil filter mount, so I assumed that the filter had come loose or lost its gasket seal somehow. But even though I could turn it a little tighter, that seemed erroneous as a diagnosis. So I removed the filter, cleaned up the mating surfaces, replaced it, added a couple quarts of oil, and tried it again. Same problem – copious amounts of oil just pumping out from the close proximity of the filter. I was baffled. So I did what every good mechanic does these days, I Googled it to see if anyone had ever documented such a thing on this tractor engine. Nothing!
After a frustrating half hour trying to learn something about the Shubara diesel engine and its oil pump and filter from the Ford New Holland 1520 Tractor Official Service Manual (a $25 download off the Internet a few months ago), I gave up in disgust and went back outside. (The feeling had returned to my fingers and my right foot by then anyway. Did I mention it was +15F and windy?)
That was when it occurred to me to inspect the ground around the origin of the fifty-yard trail of oil leading away from the front porch. And there on the ground, right within the first foot or so of the tractor’s path, was a little shiny aluminum pluggish-looking thing, that had no threads on it anywhere, and looked like the sawed-off tip of a sparkplug. That made no sense to me either, not until I pulled the oil filter off once again, cleaned up the site where all the black oil sludge had sprayed out, and inspected it closely.
The picture shows the problem that finally registered on my slow-witted brain. I was holding an oil galley plug in my hand, and it had somehow blown out of its hole on the side of the block. You can see its twin situated on the opposite side of the filter mount – the one that didn’t come out. Thank goodness it was there so I could recognize the one I found for what it was. The vacant hole didn’t look like much to me, and running the engine without the filter attached so I could see it leak was an obvious dumber idea than most I come up with (although I did briefly contemplate how I might plug up the main filter pipe so as to do just that!).
Fortunately, all it required was a short ratchet extension and a hammer to reinstall the galley plug, and the leak was fixed. I ran the engine with a couple more quarts of new oil (and the old filter – the old “Poor Man’s Oil Change” trick), and it ran fine without leaking a drop. All I can figure is that the old oil that was in the crankcase was sufficiently viscous at +15F, that when I started the engine and revved it, the pressure blew the plug out. That plug may have been working its way out for a while (maybe since 1990?). It didn’t take a hard slam of the hammer to reseat it. But it's holding and not leaking (for now at least), and I’ll be attuned to it much more attentively as tomorrow’s saga of slush-plowing evolves.
Anyway, in case it ever happens to your Ford 1520, it's documented. Hope it never does. Cheers!
In the +15F afternoon sun yesterday, I decided that among my other preparations for the slush-plowing event that is imminent here in PA this evening, I would pull the 1520 snowplow tractor around and put air in the one front tire that has a slow leak. The drive from the “tractorport” on the front porch to the garage is about fifty yards in all. When I arrived at the garage door, I noticed a big red dashboard light – looks like the oil pressure light..? Yes – it took a minute to register, but that was it all right! On steady! Not flickering or going out with advanced throttle.
I looked down on the driveway and saw the huge puddle of engine oil that was forming fast underneath the tractor, and shut the engine down immediately! What the..? Leading up to where I parked the tractor on the driveway was a steady trail of oil – extending all the way back to the “tractorport”. For the entire fifty-yard drive, the tractor had pissed all its oil on the ground and driveway, saving the last quart or two for the spot where I parked it.
The origin of the leak appeared to be at the oil filter mount, so I assumed that the filter had come loose or lost its gasket seal somehow. But even though I could turn it a little tighter, that seemed erroneous as a diagnosis. So I removed the filter, cleaned up the mating surfaces, replaced it, added a couple quarts of oil, and tried it again. Same problem – copious amounts of oil just pumping out from the close proximity of the filter. I was baffled. So I did what every good mechanic does these days, I Googled it to see if anyone had ever documented such a thing on this tractor engine. Nothing!
After a frustrating half hour trying to learn something about the Shubara diesel engine and its oil pump and filter from the Ford New Holland 1520 Tractor Official Service Manual (a $25 download off the Internet a few months ago), I gave up in disgust and went back outside. (The feeling had returned to my fingers and my right foot by then anyway. Did I mention it was +15F and windy?)
That was when it occurred to me to inspect the ground around the origin of the fifty-yard trail of oil leading away from the front porch. And there on the ground, right within the first foot or so of the tractor’s path, was a little shiny aluminum pluggish-looking thing, that had no threads on it anywhere, and looked like the sawed-off tip of a sparkplug. That made no sense to me either, not until I pulled the oil filter off once again, cleaned up the site where all the black oil sludge had sprayed out, and inspected it closely.
The picture shows the problem that finally registered on my slow-witted brain. I was holding an oil galley plug in my hand, and it had somehow blown out of its hole on the side of the block. You can see its twin situated on the opposite side of the filter mount – the one that didn’t come out. Thank goodness it was there so I could recognize the one I found for what it was. The vacant hole didn’t look like much to me, and running the engine without the filter attached so I could see it leak was an obvious dumber idea than most I come up with (although I did briefly contemplate how I might plug up the main filter pipe so as to do just that!).
Fortunately, all it required was a short ratchet extension and a hammer to reinstall the galley plug, and the leak was fixed. I ran the engine with a couple more quarts of new oil (and the old filter – the old “Poor Man’s Oil Change” trick), and it ran fine without leaking a drop. All I can figure is that the old oil that was in the crankcase was sufficiently viscous at +15F, that when I started the engine and revved it, the pressure blew the plug out. That plug may have been working its way out for a while (maybe since 1990?). It didn’t take a hard slam of the hammer to reseat it. But it's holding and not leaking (for now at least), and I’ll be attuned to it much more attentively as tomorrow’s saga of slush-plowing evolves.
Anyway, in case it ever happens to your Ford 1520, it's documented. Hope it never does. Cheers!