If its not one thing its another! Today was driving my D6C for the first time in a month after doing some work to it. It ran great. Used it for about 3 hours and when I stopped I saw oil leaking from the head gasket. It was actually kind of bubbling on one section. took the fill cap off and there was an abnormal amount of fumes coming out of the fill tube. On the inside of the cap there was a yellowish/greenish oily froth (very small amount, but nonetheless very evident). Possibly coolant? The oil level appeared to be slightly higher than when I started, I think. Here are my questions: How hard is it to replace the head gasket? Is it pretty standard procedure to machine the head when this is done? Is there anything else that should be done in addition to replacing the gasket?
Balzomedic, Replacing a head gasket on a 3306 (if that's what you've got) isn't too bad. I did mine without much trouble. In my case it had been done recently, but when the last owner assembled it, the narrow part of the gasket around the pushrod opening was out of place and one bolt missed the hole in the gasket, pushing it inward. As a result it leaked oil badly. (I was relieved that was the only problem) Hardest part was handling the heavy head...I rigged a hoist from the brush sweeps to lift it off/on. If it's a PC engine it would be a good time to replace seals around the precombustion chambers (my o-rings were brittle) and check valves to see if they need grinding. Someone more familiar with the engine might reccomend you check other things before pulling head. I don't know if they're routinely ground or not, but I'd guess flatness should be checked. I spent quite a bit of time getting the block as clean as I could and checked to be sure the sleeves were protruding evenly.
Thanks for the response. My engine is a 333, but it is a Precombustion chamber engine. I'm Thinking I'm gonna go for it myself, did you have to take off the timing chain?
Don't know how the D333 is made....3306 doesn't use a timing chain, has gear driven cam with pushrods to rocker arms. If you're not already on it the ACME site has lots of guys familiar with the older machines http://www.antiquecaterpillar.org/
No timing chain to deal with. D333 head is a straight forward easy head to R&I. It is a little heavier than the 3306, but not much.
You need to find the problem, in the original post you mentioned doing "some work" to it prior to the blowby issue, can you elaborate on that? The head should be checked for straight and cracks, we usually touch up the valves and check valve guides and springs. The liner pertrusion is critical and should be checked as that is what the head gasket seals combustion gases against, the cause of a low liner can be cracking of the counter bore if it's a non spacer plate engine. Also be sure the crankcase vent element is clean and open as is the blowby tube. Take a good look at the liner walls for scoreing etc. Over the years we have had several different problems including a wrist pin clip that was not locked in the groove that worked it's way out and scratched the cylinder. Good luck
DPete is right on. Find out what the problem is before you yard it apart. Is it putting compression in the radiator? Have the oil tested for coolant getting in. If it is you should consider pulling the oil pan and putting air pressure in the radiator. Then look to see where the water is coming from. It is not uncommon to have the bottom liner seals leaking. I've scratched my head more than once and turned an inframe repair into a full bore removal and tear down to find the problem. Good Luck!
Thanks for the input guys, I found some of the same things today. The most notable was what DPete was getting at. That knowledge makes me aprehensive to tear it down myself. Im afraid of getting in over my head and then it being stuck at my house with no way to get it to the shop. The work I was speaking of was real simple. Replaced the transmission pump, new o-rings and hoses on everything taken apart with the trans pump repair, and all the o-rings and hoses on the suction side of the trans pump. Also replaced 1 glow plug, installed a glow plug wire rail, new fuel line to the fuel pressure guage, and replaced O-ring and gasket on turbo oil drain tube. The crank case is venting, I could see the fumes coming out of the tube. Right now im leaning towards taking it to the shop.
head gasket???? I agree with the dropping the oil pad and pressurizing the radiator. Its really not that hard to do, of course if its a linner seal leaking it might be better to let a person that knows what he is doing, repair it. I did have a water pump seal leaking on a Cat engine and it was getting water in the base, causing it to steam. I dealt with this problem for 4 days, I installed a rebuilt water pump and it got worst, now I am really scratching my Butt, I pulled the water pump again and tested it and saw it was leaking. Installed another rebuilt pump and corrected the problem. Cat said we are sorry about that, I asked about help on the oil, filters and labor, they said sorry about that also.
Good things to know. Im assuming you pressurize the radiator just like you would do a pressure test on a car? Sounds like you got burned with that water pump, but thats the way machines can be I guess.