kleinhhl
Member
Hello all,
I have a John Deere 1050 which I am trying to diagnose coolant loss. Sorry for the long post.
After operating at temperature and letting the tractor cool down, the coolant overflow bottle loses about 2" worth of coolant every time. In other words, it's about 2" lower than before running it to temperature and letting it cool down, after the coolant has expanded into the coolant bottle when hot and retracted into the radiator when cooled.
At around 2500 hours, I noticed white smoke from the stack, coolant loss from the overflow bottle and bubbles in the coolant overflow and white sludge from the blow-by tube bottle when running. I tested the cooling system with my Stant coolant tester and it wouldn't hold pressure. I did notice that the radiator had a leak and several hoses had leaks so I replaced all that with new. When I replaced the thermostat, the old one was broken in the bypass/open position.
That left the bubbles in the overflow bottle and the white smoke when running. I figured it was the head gasket at this point so I put a new one on and torqued the head studs at the low end of the spec. The valve cover had white sludge on the inside top when I took it off. For the record, all gaskets and o-rings that I've replaced have been baked on and past their usefulness. I had already done a new crankshaft seal on the front of the engine previously that was baked on...
After the new head gasket, I ran the engine with new oil for about 10 hours and there was still coolant loss and white sludge from the blow-by tube but not as much. I re-torqued the head studs to the high end of the spec. and took an oil sample to send off to Blackstone Labs (see attached report). They reported 1.8% of the sample was water and 0.1% was antifreeze. There was also elevated iron, potassium, aluminum and sodium levels which I can only assume is ring or bearing material???
I have finally just ran a pressure test of the coolant system again with the Stant coolant tester and pressure drops by 3 psi from 14 psi over a period of about 3 minutes. I also ran the tractor with the Stant tester connected and the pressure rose pretty steadily and slowly as the tractor warmed up. There was no wild jumping from the Stant coolant tester needle indicating major pressure from combustion getting into the cooling system. There are no bubbles in the coolant overflow tank anymore either when running and warmed up at idle or 1500 RPMs or 2000 RPMs.
My next thought is maybe the cylinder sleeve o-rings are leaking. I don't think there is a crack in the block or head although that could be a possibility.
It would be $50 in parts to replace the cylinder sleeve o-rings only but obviously that would entail a lot more work that may be not worth it. I would also need a cylinder sleeve puller tool which seems to start at $450 on eBay for a Chinese knock-off.
If I rebuilt the engine with new pistons and rings, I would need to put new sleeves in as well (all from Hoye Tractor) and a new head gasket because the original parts are no longer available at a decent price from John Deere. That would be $1,000 in parts plus the cylinder sleeve puller tool.
Any thoughts or opinions? Am I missing anything? Don't want to spend the money unnecessarily...
Thanks for any responses!
I have a John Deere 1050 which I am trying to diagnose coolant loss. Sorry for the long post.
After operating at temperature and letting the tractor cool down, the coolant overflow bottle loses about 2" worth of coolant every time. In other words, it's about 2" lower than before running it to temperature and letting it cool down, after the coolant has expanded into the coolant bottle when hot and retracted into the radiator when cooled.
At around 2500 hours, I noticed white smoke from the stack, coolant loss from the overflow bottle and bubbles in the coolant overflow and white sludge from the blow-by tube bottle when running. I tested the cooling system with my Stant coolant tester and it wouldn't hold pressure. I did notice that the radiator had a leak and several hoses had leaks so I replaced all that with new. When I replaced the thermostat, the old one was broken in the bypass/open position.
That left the bubbles in the overflow bottle and the white smoke when running. I figured it was the head gasket at this point so I put a new one on and torqued the head studs at the low end of the spec. The valve cover had white sludge on the inside top when I took it off. For the record, all gaskets and o-rings that I've replaced have been baked on and past their usefulness. I had already done a new crankshaft seal on the front of the engine previously that was baked on...
After the new head gasket, I ran the engine with new oil for about 10 hours and there was still coolant loss and white sludge from the blow-by tube but not as much. I re-torqued the head studs to the high end of the spec. and took an oil sample to send off to Blackstone Labs (see attached report). They reported 1.8% of the sample was water and 0.1% was antifreeze. There was also elevated iron, potassium, aluminum and sodium levels which I can only assume is ring or bearing material???
I have finally just ran a pressure test of the coolant system again with the Stant coolant tester and pressure drops by 3 psi from 14 psi over a period of about 3 minutes. I also ran the tractor with the Stant tester connected and the pressure rose pretty steadily and slowly as the tractor warmed up. There was no wild jumping from the Stant coolant tester needle indicating major pressure from combustion getting into the cooling system. There are no bubbles in the coolant overflow tank anymore either when running and warmed up at idle or 1500 RPMs or 2000 RPMs.
My next thought is maybe the cylinder sleeve o-rings are leaking. I don't think there is a crack in the block or head although that could be a possibility.
It would be $50 in parts to replace the cylinder sleeve o-rings only but obviously that would entail a lot more work that may be not worth it. I would also need a cylinder sleeve puller tool which seems to start at $450 on eBay for a Chinese knock-off.
If I rebuilt the engine with new pistons and rings, I would need to put new sleeves in as well (all from Hoye Tractor) and a new head gasket because the original parts are no longer available at a decent price from John Deere. That would be $1,000 in parts plus the cylinder sleeve puller tool.
Any thoughts or opinions? Am I missing anything? Don't want to spend the money unnecessarily...
Thanks for any responses!
