What to do after rollover and hydrolock

[dodge man]

You would be surprised how oil can get past the rings. They aren't designed to keep oil from getting past them if they are covered in the oil from the bottom. It seems like a Forum member had a rollover several years ago and posted about it. He did bend a rod. It still started and ran but the cylinder was so low on compression it had an obvious miss.

 

[LouNY]

While you have the injectors out you may be able to measure with a soft wire or plastic straw how far up all the pistons travel,
if one is a less then the others it would point to a bent rod.
I would recommend pulling the valve cover off and checking the valve clearances,
hydrolocking can tulip the valves, if the clearances are different on that cylinder.
And you could get lucky and have no issues.
If you are carrying insurance on your tractor it might cover the cost of checking and or repairing.

 

[Husaberger]

Thank you Lou
Injectors are still in but think I will pull them and do a rough TDC measurement as you suggest

 

[Husaberger]

hello
my 1st response to a rollover... would be to step back, & be grateful you are still alive & uninjured. glad to hear this thread is not in the safety forum

as to the mechanics, you came to the right place for info & will let others advise. maybe contemplate how the accident happened for future success. walking away unscathed from an accident is a precious gift easily taken for granted... best regards

Agree

 

[Husaberger]

UPDATE
I purchased the Harbor Freight Diesel Compression Tester after work and went to the scene of the accident
I gave the engine a few more turns by hand and no more oil shot out of the cylinders
I tried to install the only adapter in the kit that fit my tractor's glow plug hole threads
It would only seat about half way before bottoming out
I nevertheless gave it a try but there was too much blow by to get a meaningful reading
I abandoned the attempt to determine if there was damage to the engine and simply reinstalled all the glow plugs
The starter had a tough time getting the engine to turn all the way over but once it did the tractor sprang to life with a medium sized puff of gray smoke which cleared quickly
It engine idled as smoothly as ever and once I crawled out of the ditch that caused the rollover I checked the power
No change from prior to the roll over
I feel pretty confident there is no major damage and think I will simply watch things
As one of the previous posters stated, the major takeaway is that I am unharmed
A second blessing is that I there is no major damage to my beloved tractor
Finally, I have learned yet another valuable lesson the semi hard way
If I had been born on a farm I'm sure I would have known how to handle a roll over before I turned 5
Somewhere there has to be a list of 'What to do if this happens' that should be made available to all new tractor owners
Maybe there is and I just haven't found it yet

 

[diesel85]

First thing: Glad you made it out alive. Even dinky lawn tractors kill. The bigger you go, the higher the chance of demise for the operator if they aren't properly restrained.

As far as the "What to do is this happens", can create some lengthy, very biased literature. Everyone is going to do it their own way.

From my experience, whenever I've had an engine go upside down (other than one that is supposed to like a chainsaw or weedwacker, etc), I have my own list of details I go through before attempting to start it again. Whether it's a 3 hp Briggs, to a 500 hp industrial engine, it's all about the same. It's just the level of "detail" you go through on your checklist because of $$.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

If I had been born on a farm I'm sure I would have known how to handle a roll over before I turned 5
Somewhere there has to be a list of 'What to do if this happens' that should be made available to all new tractor owners
Maybe there is and I just haven't found it yet

I was born on a farm, and I never saw any list of "what to do if this happens".

I WAS taught how to "keep it from happening" though.....and I've never turned a tractor over so I guess I was listening. lol

Anyway, I would have done the same thing you did to clear the oil out, and then start the tractor, running it slooowly to see how it ran... It sounds like your engine is fine...

SR

 

[TractorNH]

Glad you are okay and it sounds like your tractor may have made it through okay as well.

The first thing you do is get the tractor upright and walk away...let it sit.

Here's a good video on the topic:
What should you do if you roll your tractor??? - TMT - YouTube

 

[DK35vince]

I couldn't imagine oil getting past the rings on a diesel. That thing wouldn't make compression worth a darn!

I know the old oil bath cleaners would get oil in your intake.

Newer tractors also have the breather vent tube run directly into the intake (most older models simply vented outside the engine). On its side oil can run into the valve covers , thru the vent tubes into the intake.

 

[wicknwobin]

I recently rolled my Kubota BX24 while going down a steep decomposed granite hill. brakes just caused skidding, hydrostatic transmission didn't do any braking, it acted like it was in neutral. I tried to make a slight turn to take the steepness out of it, wrong decision. Rolled it, I jumped/catapulted off landed on my hip, fractured it in 2 places. As I laid in bed for several days, i recounted all the things I did wrong.
The tractor laid almost upside down for 3 days before some friends were able to winch it back up the hill to almost level ground. They tried to start it, but there was just clicking noise, like a dead battery. I read many forums about what to expect next. After sitting upright for about 5 weeks, I was able to go evaluate the problem. There was oil coming out of the exhaust pipe and the air cleaner was saturated with oil. I removed the glow pugs and turned it over by hand. So far so good. I engaged the starter and it looked like 3 tiny oil wells pumping oil out of the openings. I did this off and on until just a vapor came out. reinstalled the glo plugs and started it up with billows of smoke for several minutes. I drove it back to it's parking space but it ran very rough and still smoked. I changed the oil and filter and trans filter and topped off the radiator. I am wondering if a lot of oil went into the muffler and it might be causing the smoke and rough running (I ordered a new muffler), or if a rod was bent during the Clicking part of trying to start it. I am just barely a shade tree mechanic and don't have the experience to tear the engine down. Does it sound like I should go to the dealer and fork over my IRA to get it repaired, or do the forum members have other ideas?
P.S. iam still using a walker and a cane to get about.