A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted!!

[Oleozz]

After only putting 40 hrs on the IH 1066 I found out today that it needs a major overhaul. It was using lots of antifreeze, started to heat up real bad with steam coming out of the blowby hole. It looks like I have a cavitation problem in one or more of the sleeves. It has the water cooler but probably wasn't maintained and I don't think much attention was paid to the ph of the antifreeze. More than likely the folks who sold it to me knew about the problem and that's the reason they got rid of it.
Fortunately I have a good mechanic to work on it and he can start this week. He is also going to check for any other problems while he has it split open. The cab will not have to come off and that's a plus.
Hopefully after the overhaul I will have a decent tractor that can take some hard work.

 

[Bird]

Sorry to hear about the problem, but after an overhaul I'd expect it to be a fine machine for a long time.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I am sorry about your tractor problems, these are the chances we take some times buying used but when he is done you should be good to go for at least another 5k hours (still is a lot cheaper then a new tractor of similar size)

 

[AKfish]

Is that the same 1086 that you posted pics of plowing this past Spring? Sure looked like a real clean, straight tractor. Sorry to hear about your $5,000 dollar SURPRISE!

Those IH's were/are really good 'ol workhorses, though. My uncle had an 886 (around 85hp, I think) and it was (still is) a great hayin' tractor.

I use coolant conditioner in all my diesels -- even the ones that aren't wet-sleeved.. (I know that it's probably not necessary) but it's part of my "maintainence drill".

Best of luck on the repairs.

AKfish

 

[Oleozz]

Same tractor AKfish but a 1066. Today I drove it the 9 miles to the mechanics with my wife following, twice I had to stop and put water in the radiator because it overheated, steam was blowing out the blowby hole bigtime. Then for some reason the temp gauge went back to normal and it worked perfect the last 5 miles. The mechanic is going to drop the oil pan and see if there is antifreeze dripping down, he will also check the oil cooler before doing much else.

 

[flusher]

After only putting 40 hrs on the IH 1066 I found out today that it needs a major overhaul. It was using lots of antifreeze, started to heat up real bad with steam coming out of the blowby hole. It looks like I have a cavitation problem in one or more of the sleeves. It has the water cooler but probably wasn't maintained and I don't think much attention was paid to the ph of the antifreeze. More than likely the folks who sold it to me knew about the problem and that's the reason they got rid of it.
Fortunately I have a good mechanic to work on it and he can start this week. He is also going to check for any other problems while he has it split open. The cab will not have to come off and that's a plus.
Hopefully after the overhaul I will have a decent tractor that can take some hard work.

Just curious: how did you determine that cavitation is the problem? Did you eliminate the simple stuff like belt slippage, bad thermostat, bad water pump, hose collapse, faulty temp gauge or sender? How about the coolant? Any evidence of oil and/or diesel mixed in?

 

[Oleozz]

The mechanic is not 100% sure it is cavitation. If he drops the pan and pressurizes the radiator that should force any antifreeze out where it doesn't belong. The coolant is new, fins were cleaned with ac foam cleaner a while back, hopefully he will check the thermostat or water pump. He worked on a 1086 not long ago (same 414 engine as mine) and it showed the same symptons and when he tore it down it was leaking antifreeze through the sleeve in no. 6 cylinder.
He will do an inframe overhaul, will replace the main bearings, have the head sent away and the valves reground.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Sounds very much like electrolysis. (Cavitation X acidic coolant X dirt/debris in cooling system) You'll probably get a sleeve or two to sit on your workbench that look like someone took a cutting torch and blew small pin holes through them.

Common after-effects are bearing/crank/cam/lifter scarring or gaulding. If the pin hole(s) are at the base of the sleeve, there is anti-freeze being pumped into the oil pan.

Watch the temp gauge "returning to normal". They'll do that when the sending unit is trying to read AIR temps in the water jacket of the block (NO COOLANT LEFT!) Don't ask me how I know that one

Certain John Deere's (XX40 series especially) are proned to this problem. They ALMOST always develope the holes right at the point where the base of the sleeve presses into the block. I'm shopping for a couple more tractors to pull batwings with. Got my eye on a VERY sharp 4440, needing a new motor. Block and crank ruined when owner continued to run it with several gallons of coolant in oil pan. ($20,000+ tractor can be had for under $9000)

 

[Oleozz]

Sounds very much like electrolysis. (Cavitation X acidic coolant X dirt/debris in cooling system) You'll probably get a sleeve or two to sit on your workbench that look like someone took a cutting torch and blew small pin holes through them.


Certain John Deere's (XX40 series especially) are proned to this problem. They ALMOST always develope the holes right at the point where the base of the sleeve presses into the block. I'm shopping for a couple more tractors to pull batwings with. Got my eye on a VERY sharp 4440, needing a new motor. Block and crank ruined when owner continued to run it with several gallons of coolant in oil pan. ($20,000+ tractor can be had for under $9000)

The mechanic who will work on mine mentioned the JD series claiming that even after an overhaul the engines will go bad again after 1000 hrs or so due to lack of proper maintance.
The temp gauge returning to normal had me worried, what you are saying makes sense but what was happening didn't make any sense. I saw that happen when I was plowing but would stop and let it cool down and I always had the antifreeze and distilled water handy.
I can't do anything now about mistakes made before I bought the tractor but I can sure do my best to see that it doesn't happen again.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The mechanic who will work on mine mentioned the JD series claiming that even after an overhaul the engines will go bad again after 1000 hrs or so due to lack of proper maintance.
The temp gauge returning to normal had me worried, what you are saying makes sense but what was happening didn't make any sense. I saw that happen when I was plowing but would stop and let it cool down and I always had the antifreeze and distilled water handy.
I can't do anything now about mistakes made before I bought the tractor but I can sure do my best to see that it doesn't happen again.

A good friend is a mechanic at a John Deere dealership. He's been there since the early '70's. I stop in and visit when I'm passing by. John gets almost all the engine work at that dealer. I recall one, a 1530 that had something like 800 hours and a hole in one sleeve. Deere offers a coolant filter kit for the 40 series. That, a good coolant anti-cav treatment, and testing/changing coolant routinely, the problem can be eliminated. My 2440 has almost 6000 hours now, and hasn't had any problems. That's what proper maintenance from day one'll do for 'em.