i have a 1978 Case 580C that i need to inspect the engine. Since the Valve Control box was rebuilt, the engine while idling will tend to die after parking the stabilizer, or bringing back a loaded bucket, .or.. any sort of extra load the pump is putting on the engine. ..and it does smoke a lot; esp. while warming up. How do i drop the oil pan? The front axle doesn't allow access to the bolts, let alone to drop it.
The lower end is probably worn being 37 years old. But I doubt that is the source of your power shortage. Lower end's knock and eventually seize up, they rarely cause low power. Cylinders and valve train is where you find out why it dies, so start there. Diesel or gas? Gas, compression tests and leak down test will give you a good idea without tearing it down. Diesel, you'll need the special tools to work on that to get the info about what's going on up there. From your description of the oil pan, I bet you need to support the front, pull the axle, and then have at the pan bolts. Good luck and have fun.
it's Diesel, the 207D unable to do a compression test; I have limited tools/resources. I wanted to look at the rods & cylinders from below.. but i guess I can make do with just taking the head off for now. special tools? My concern now before taking the head off is how I get around that water pump.
You said this started "Since the Valve Control box was rebuilt." Could you have a problem there blocking the flow of oil, causing the pump to put too much load on the engine? If it had enough power prior to that rebuild seems to me that would be the likely cause.
Good advice, no problem before the repair, problem after
And what's the rest of the history of the machine? did it run better before the work, and how long ago was that? I'd disconnect the hydraulic pump, or bypass the valves before pulling the head or pan. At least check the engine valve clearances and injectors for a dead cylinder or leaking injector before you pull the head.
the problem is worse after the control box rebuild.. before it would occasionally die after scooping a heavy load and bringing the bucket all the way back up. i learned to keep the throttle up more when doing that. Now I notice the load on the engine more when simply bringing back the bucket, or the stabilizer. It always smoked heavily while warming up.. about 20 years now since i have had it. I just pressure washed it & have created a couple holes in the fuel tank's sump area; the drain **** is plugged (with rust i suspect). i will need to fix that.. hoping a jbweld patch will work for now. The pump & lines must be fine.. right? ..all the hydraulics are working fine now, though a few leaks here & there. It won't hold the boom up, slowly drops down; but at a quarter of the rate it did before the box rebuild. I didn't go for the $1000/ valve replacement job. How do i test, or look for a dead cylinder? what are the signs? I can check for fuel leaks visually, but i already know that 1 or 2 of the banjo connectors at the fuel pump/dist. leaks. I never was able to get them sealed; lived with them dripping when it runs. The return line needs a washer to prevent a little leaking. I know.. now is the time to address those issues i have been ignoring all these years. I can pull the injectors, but don't know what to look for. How
The holes were there, you just knocked the rust loose. Jbweld is fine for a fuel tank, but you have to clean it up good, so you might as well take it off, slosh the remaining old diesel around and see just how bad the rust and water inside was. Maybe clean the inside by strapping the tank to a concrete mixer and adding a little gravel and water. Then coat the inside with epoxy rather than trying to patch the little holes you see and worrying about the ones you don't see. In a pinch you could use short metal roofing screws to fix the holes, remove the drain petcock (funny **** gets censored but not petcock) and flush the tank with diesel, let it settle in a clean white bucket, siphon the top half off and flush again with that diesel until you get no more junk out. Once the tank is clean, go through the lines to the injection pump to the filter. Take every one apart and blow back through with air until you're sure they're clean. If it doesn't improve after that, then go through the lines to the injection pump, much more carefully because there's not a filter to catch the dirt anymore.
Easy way to find a dead diesel cylinder is a non-contact infrared thermometer. HF sells one for $30, just point the laser aimer at the exhaust runners out of the cylinders. Compare temps; the cool one isn't making much/any power. You should really make up a tool that will screw into the injector hole, attach a leak down tester to it and inject compressed air into the cylinder. You might get a dead injector from a diesel repair place to start you out. Leak down tells you much more than a compression test. It tells you where and how much the rings or valves are leaking. You want to do as much testing BEFORE you start pulling it apart, because once it's apart and you don't see anything obvious, now what do you do? I had a VW Rabbit that wouldn't start, had spark and fuel. Did a compression test and found a dead cylinder. When I pulled the head, didn't see a thing wrong in that hole. Best guess it was a chunk of carbon that was holding a valve open, but if I hadn't don't the testing first, wouldn't have seen a thing in any of the holes....