Damaged block installing block heater L5240

[sixdogs]

That is a beautiful looking block.

What an informative thread and great OP to document all of this. Sometimes there are unintended consequences to these things and I think you are going to be pretty happy when it's all done. Great workmanship and detail on the OP's part.

 

[user4211]

The more I read this thread, the more I appreciate that Yanmar molds a 1 inch NPT spot on their blocks to thread in a coolant heater. This should be a standard feature on any diesel!

That's about the extent of the nice features of a yanmar.

 

[JWR]

That's about the extent of the nice features of a yanmar.

There is another real nice feature of Yanmar -- the Yanmar 4cyl diesel engine in my JD4700 which I had for 10 years was totally reliable. Extremely reliable. And my guess is Deere would never have committed to using so many Yanmar engines in their compact tractors unless they were very reliable. Way too much business risk without having been sure of that. I have no experience with Yanmar brand tractors however.

 

[HHR]

There is another real nice feature of Yanmar -- the Yanmar 4cyl diesel engine in my JD4700 which I had for 10 years was totally reliable. Extremely reliable. And my guess is Deere would never have committed to using so many Yanmar engines in their compact tractors unless they were very reliable. Way too much business risk without having been sure of that. I have no experience with Yanmar brand tractors however.

A tractor mechanic I once knew said: "I would trust a Yanmar to get me to the moon and back."
I would take his words with a grain of salt because he also worked on Belarus air cooled tractors. The 3-cylinder Yanmar in our skid steer has never been touched in the last 19 years other than oil changes and the block heater element going bad. I have seen a Yanmar in a JD855 utility tractor need an overhaul due to lack of air filter cleanings (intake manifold full of dust and low compression on #2 cylinder).

 

[sixdogs]

Since we are off topic and onto Yanmar engines for a moment, I have seen two go bad from low oil. Apparently, as a mechanic explained, low oil starves the main bearings first and it shows up as low oil pressure. Some Yanmars are hard to check the oil on, mine included, so it's easy to understand not checking the oil as often as you should. Other than that, they are bulletproof.

 

[Adiredneck]

Been busy lately. Not much time to put into the repair. If you notice from some of my earlier pictures, there was some heavy rust on the outside of the block where it was sandwiched in the frame. All I can figure is that the previous owner must have used it on a road that was salted and this was a place where the snow/salt mixture flung off the front tires. On Wednesday night, I scraped all of the rust off this area and anywhere Else I could find any rust on the engine.

Let me tell you, I had to use my dremel tool to get into some of the castings. It was not fun. The $15.00 cans of spray pain I bought from Kubota could not have matched any better though. It seemed like I couldn't make overspray show up if I tried to. I only painted the areas that needed it. I used it to touch up all of the bolts also. You cannot tell it was ever opened up.

 

[Adiredneck]

We set her back in the frame Friday night. Wasn't too hard once we got a bolt started on both sides. I will eventually hit all of the frame bolts with paint as well.

 

[Adiredneck]

We also bolted up the clutch housing on Friday. Once that was in place, i was sitting directly in front of the end of crank contemplating installing the clutch when I noticed something wasn't quite right with the rear main seal. It looked like one of the inner "ribs" was folded back in a small section on top of the seal. I pulled it back off tonight. I'm not happy with the way it looks. I think it would probably be fine (I even fitted it back in place and the problem went away). I just can't take the chance of an oil leak. New seal and gasket will be ordered. When the new seal arrives, I think I will have it pressed in for a better fit. We used a large 3/4" socket and tapped it in before.

 

[murphy1244]

We also bolted up the clutch housing on Friday. Once that was in place, i was sitting directly in front of the end of crank contemplating installing the clutch when I noticed something wasn't quite right with the rear main seal. It looked like one of the inner "ribs" was folded back in a small section on top of the seal. I pulled it back off tonight. I'm not happy with the way it looks. I think it would probably be fine (I even fitted it back in place and the problem went away). I just can't take the chance of an oil leak. New seal and gasket will be ordered. When the new seal arrives, I think I will have it pressed in for a better fit. We used a large 3/4" socket and tapped it in before.

Good call, as I think that would of been a leaker.

 

[Adiredneck]

Parts have been ordered. Another $50.00 including shipping. Looks like she'll still be down next weekend since the rear main seal said 5-7 days to ship.