thanks for all the thoughts. The rad is currently out being re-cored. A new one was something over 300 bucks, and naturally, the re-core will be "slightly" less, probably around 200. The rad had previously had a hole punched in it. It had the lines pinched off and was temporarily sealed...all before I had it. It finally had another tube let go and the water went out fast. I did not even notice that the temp had gone up. The tractor had not been running that long and I just flat missed the temp guage going up. The first sign I had was when the engine slowed and stalled.
The plan is to get the rad back, fill up the system and fire it up. Once its warmed up I'll change the oil and filter and then see what happens. I'm going to pressurize the system with air, through the radiator once its fixed and hopefully that might let me know if I've got an obvious head gasket leak. If there seems to be an obvious problem I'll try and rig up a leak down tester. I've never tried that on a diesel, but it must be doable and will normally tell me more then a compression test.
The blow by was definitely more then it had been previously, which was essentially nothing. However, I only ran it for about 30 seconds after re-filling it with water and I'd want to take a better look at it with more running time.
I guess we'll see after I have it together on Tuesday. Hopefully none of the pistons look like the attached. (some of you may have seen this picture before, I think I posted it in another forum)
If it shows some obvious problems then I'll do the in frame myself. Can't be all that tough
The plan is to get the rad back, fill up the system and fire it up. Once its warmed up I'll change the oil and filter and then see what happens. I'm going to pressurize the system with air, through the radiator once its fixed and hopefully that might let me know if I've got an obvious head gasket leak. If there seems to be an obvious problem I'll try and rig up a leak down tester. I've never tried that on a diesel, but it must be doable and will normally tell me more then a compression test.
The blow by was definitely more then it had been previously, which was essentially nothing. However, I only ran it for about 30 seconds after re-filling it with water and I'd want to take a better look at it with more running time.
I guess we'll see after I have it together on Tuesday. Hopefully none of the pistons look like the attached. (some of you may have seen this picture before, I think I posted it in another forum)
If it shows some obvious problems then I'll do the in frame myself. Can't be all that tough
Last edited: