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Travis_R
Veteran Member
Could a bad injector or a leaking injector pump have caused this? The injector pump has had a decent drip for a while. I’m puzzled over this!
MF 231 / Perkins AD3.152 Blown Head Gasket or Failed Injector?
- Thread starter Travis_R
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Travis_R
Veteran Member
What are the symptoms of a leaking injector?
Agvg
Elite Member
Knocking is a very common symptom, highly unlikely you have a bad injector with so low hours on the engine. Failed head gasket might come from over heating, low coolant level or that nobody retorqued the headbolts when it was new.
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Travis_R
Veteran Member
Good points you make. No knocking noise. It’s possible that the coolant was low because I haven’t checked it in a while. But i ALWAYS watch my gauges. It NEVER ran hot according to the gauge. The only time I seen the needle rise to the warm side was at the gas station when I opened the radiator cap and lost coolant then started it back up. That tractor never ran hot on me though.
When I first started seeing coolant coming out the overflow hose and blue smoke at idle on the hunting lease is when things went down hill. When I got to the gas station is when i started seeing the white smoke AFTER I killed it (to fill up) and then started the tractor back up.
Agvg
Elite Member
The problem with gauges are that without coolant they will not rise to hot even if the head is overheating. Does it never go into normal temp? If I remember correctly it has a green marking for normal working temp.
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Travis_R
Veteran Member
I didn’t know that. Yes it stays in the normal range, about the center of the gauge. The new gauge is red for hot. I had to install the new gauge about 5 years ago. Never had a problem with it and it lets me know when it gets hot when I’m bush hogging. I’m confident the gauge is fine.
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Travis_R
Veteran Member
Are there any simple tests I could do to see what the problem is?
mrmikey
Veteran Member
You could pressurize the rad with a hand pump and see where the coolant is going by taking out the injectors and seeing where it comes out of when you turn the engine over....BY HAND, not using the starter. Using the same method, you may see bubbles in the rad. If you are loosing coolant into the engine, be aware, it plays he77 on bearings.
If you have a borescope you could look into the cylinders, the clean piston top is the one leaking.
Hopefully it's just a head gasket and nothing serious, cracked block, head etc.......Mike
Jim Nelson
Platinum Member
With the hard starting it sure sounds like it is trying to hydro lock which means that some how there is coolant getting into one or more cylinders. This will definitely bend a rod or break the crank. My advice would be to not try turning it over, especially with the starter, until you are positive where the coolant is going and just hope it's not too late. Before trying to turn it over be sure you have some sort of compression release like injectors out. Caring for the injectors is the most important part of working on the head as it is easy to damage one and they are expensive.
