serious oil loss???????

[lost but makin good time]

Guys,

I've been kind of a creeper on this site for awhile, and appreciate how you guys really try to help each other instead of trashing somebody for even asking a question ( I could possibly change this today). I have a question, I have a mid 80's ford 2600 diesel, it starts great, runs great and dont smoke. the issue i have is that while it is running and being used, and i'm not talking abuse or commeercial use, just shredding or using a box blade I am having pretty significant oil loss. There are a few external leaks but nothing to warrant the kind of loss i'm talking about. The oil pan is beat up pretty good butI cant figure where the oil is going. If anybody has any Ideas that may help me remedy this or find what is going on it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
lost but makin good time,

 

[brin]

Guys,

I've been kind of a creeper on this site for awhile, and appreciate how you guys really try to help each other instead of trashing somebody for even asking a question ( I could possibly change this today). I have a question, I have a mid 80's ford 2600 diesel, it starts great, runs great and dont smoke. the issue i have is that while it is running and being used, and i'm not talking abuse or commeercial use, just shredding or using a box blade I am having pretty significant oil loss. There are a few external leaks but nothing to warrant the kind of loss i'm talking about. The oil pan is beat up pretty good butI cant figure where the oil is going. If anybody has any Ideas that may help me remedy this or find what is going on it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
lost but makin good time,

Since you are using your tractor for shredding / bush hogging ....I would suggest looking over your engine for the dust and debris collection...any oil leaks you have will be magnets for collecting debris...I would check all over and under the engine, the oil pan, filter etc...could be a gasket or something loose...the signs should be there...Good Luck...that is how I found my hydraulic leak....

 

[Ed of all trades]

If you are not leaking oil, and i would check as brin said then you must be burning it and it is going out of the pipe. How is the power? You might want to run it good and park it over a piece of clean cardboard, to spot a leak.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Guys,

I've been kind of a creeper on this site for awhile, and appreciate how you guys really try to help each other instead of trashing somebody for even asking a question ( I could possibly change this today). I have a question, I have a mid 80's ford 2600 diesel, it starts great, runs great and dont smoke. the issue i have is that while it is running and being used, and i'm not talking abuse or commeercial use, just shredding or using a box blade I am having pretty significant oil loss. There are a few external leaks but nothing to warrant the kind of loss i'm talking about. The oil pan is beat up pretty good butI cant figure where the oil is going. If anybody has any Ideas that may help me remedy this or find what is going on it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
lost but makin good time,

The only way that i know of to lose engine oil is to leak it out, blow it out, or burn it up.

Significant leaks should be obvious and don't forget to look at the valve cover gasket. The rear main can leak and it should drain through the weep hole between the block bell housing and tranny.

Blowby will show up coming out of the crankcase vent.

Burning it should show up as bluish exhaust smoke.

If you pan is banged up, maybe your dipstick is not accurate. Change the oil and then recalibrate the dipstick.

 

[Ted Summey]

+1 on what Jerry said.

Check the following for leaks:

Valve cover
front engine seal in front of the oil pan in the vicinity of the fan
oil pan - dents as mentioned could affect the dipstick accuracy. Check the oil pan gaskets for leaks
rear seal - look at the area behind the rear of the engine around the transmission. This seal will leak and if you are shredding the tall grass can wipe the leaking oil away.

The suggestion to park over a clean piece of cardboard is a good one. It may help to park over the cardboard and run the motor at speed to build pressure.

Blow by and burning will require a more experienced mechanic than I am.

 

[ruffdog]

I had a Chrysler 300 that would go through 1.5qts of oil every 5000 miles but would NEVER smoke. (or leak)

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

How much oil are you using in how many hrs. How many hrs are on the tractor. Have you had this tractor for a while. Did it start using oil all of a sudden or get gradually worse over time.
Bill

 

[pedalstomper78]

When people say "it doesn't burn oil, it doesn't leak, but it loses oil still" it cracks me up a bit. Unfortunately, oil doesn't vaporize or teleport into another dimension. Just because there's no visible smoke, that doesn't mean that you're engine isn't burning some of it off. If a diesel engine smokes because of oil consumption, there's a chance that you're coming up on a "runaway diesel". It's where the engine burns the oil for fuel and just takes off to redline. Not pretty.....here's an example.
epic diesel engine fail - YouTube

Unless the engine is pouring oil out of a place where it shouldn't be, it's burning it. Rather than take guesses at what's going on, let's do some diagnosis here.
1. Run a compression test. That will tell you the condition of each cylinder. Compression testers are fiarly inexpensive now. Just make sure that you get one for a diesel. Harbor freight has a kit that's decent.
2. If you find a cylinder a few psi lower than the others, put a few squirts of oil in the cylinder. If the pressure comes up....it's time for rings which is what I think that you'll find.

Put in the time to diagnose....don't just take wild stabs at things.

 

[Soundguy]

for kiks.. you don't have a ton of oil in the hyds do ya?

 

[DieselMonk]

that is what my guess would be too... it's going into the hydraulic