so its been parked for the better part of the winter. just got started to move out of the garage in anticipation of some digging. about 45 seconds or a minute after start notice oil dripping off one track and turns out it was coming out of what I would call the road draft tube on an automotive engine, i.e. the crankcase ventilation which is just a tube from the top the valve cover running down the side of the machine that ends right above the track. the guy who moved it freaked out and thought he must have lost lots of oil and put a quart in which only lead to more of the same obviously . (and he didn't know where the dipstick was, its kind of obscure on this engine. so he shut it down and called me. we drained the oil back down to the operating range and everything seems hunky dory. but I'm trying to figure out what might have caused the first incident of oil discharge. pulled the valve cover and didn't really see any drain holes as such so couldn't estimate if they might be sludged up or . . . wondering if anyone has had any experience with this engine. seems they use 'em in refrigeration sometimes I've been told, although the net seems to suggest they are limited to sailboats and TB-007 in the sense that I can't find any other uses or applications when googling for that model engine. Thanks for any knowledge of this little power plant. brian
Could it be possible the engine was revved up a bit too soon....the oil level being high in the sump until the system primes and pumps it along may have been whipped into a frenzy and perhaps the cold oil is more likely to cause this scenario... is about all I can think of. This happened around here once and I cant remember what we determined.
G'day, Have a Massey 3090 Tractor with Perkins 6 cylinder Diesel. One day thought I would check the oil and tractor was on a slope away from the dipstick - dipstick is screw in type - oil came pouring out of the dipstick - oil level way too high?????????????????????????????????? After some investigation and thinking and researching turned out the seal on the bottom of the injector pump had failed - with low sulfur diesel - and as a result was pumping/leaking diesel straight into the sump raising the level way high and would easily cause the symptom you described of oil out of the breather pipe. Also made the motor harder to turnover although ran OK and also quicker to go to rest when stopped. Repaired the bottom seal and all good again. Lucky not to have blown the thing up given the amount of diesel must have been in the oil. I expect with yours sitting over the Winter that it could have drained a lot even if a little leak. Was your oil a bit thinner than usual??? Anyway just my ten cents worth and humble opinion as to what your problem might be or might not?? Regards, MX45.
I've actually seen the symptom you describe, fuel overfilling the sump, on several medium size garden tractor engines where the needle and seat fail in the carb. But, in this case no thinning of oil, no evidence of diesel in it. I'm tending to think toward oceanobob's report of one time symptoms on his rig. Guess we're gonna change the oil. watch the level and go from there. I'm thinking of taking it over to the 5/40 Turbo Diesel synthetic I've been using in trucks. make it a little easier and less thick on cold start. Can't think of any reason why that's not a good idea. I'll post that on the lubrication thread so if you want to chime in on that maybe you can catch me there, to keep stuff where it belongs I guess. thanks, and obviously if there are other ideas or reports of similar symptoms that can help confirm oceanobob or suggest an alternative theory, keep this thread going. thanks, brian