I forgot to ask does anyone now if there are any of these frost plugs under the valve covers?

"treestandman" wrote:

I forgot to ask does anyone now if there are any of these frost plugs under the valve covers?

Only about 28.
Bob

"bluox" wrote:

Only about 28.
Bob

Ok thanks Bob, I'm kinda thinking that might be where the water is coming from

I would assume you’re right and just go ahead and replace all the soft plugs in the heads. It’ll take removing the rocker arm assemblies I think, so you’ll want some rocker box and valve cover gaskets or at least silicone gasket maker and some solvent to clean things up so it will stick. Also a good time to retorque the heads and then adjust the valves while you’re in there.

If you just want to get it off the road, you might get lucky and be able to just plug the leaking ones long enough to get it done. I would hate to hear that someone stole the radiator core before you got it moved.

If you are dealing with just water and no antifreeze, you will probably be able to drain most of the water off the bottom of the oil pan enough to get it loaded and unloaded. If it’s got antifreeze in it, that isn’t likely to be possible since it makes a more stable emulsion than the plain water.

Thanks ccjersey
I managed to get 8 1" frost plugs up town, so I was going to remove valve covers and water it up and see if any water leaks under there which I'm hoping there is, but not more then 8 haha, thanks for the tip about removing the rockers, I have never replaced frost plugs before so I'm not quick sure how to remove them, I'm hoping I can just pry them out.

Then I was going to drain the oil, and fill with diesel fuel crank it over a few times just long enough to get the fuel up to the head, then drain, replace filters and oil.
(what do you guys think, will that damage any thing)

Ya I was pretty disappointed when the truck driver had issues (some permit issues), I did remove the batteries from it, I'm kinda worried about that nice new shiny starter, and I'm sure the diesel will be sucked out of her, but there isn't much I can do but keep my fingers crossed.

Virgil

Well went out to play with the old girl again.
Found the biggest rubber made container my wife had, about 70 liters, and drained the oil/paint out of it, well I had to put the plug back in because I thought I was going to over fill the container. Cut the bottom of a javex jug and used it to scoop the slop into a 5 gallon pale and then into a barrel in the back of the truck (what a pain in the butt that stuff would hardly pour) finally got that stuff all cleaned up. Then I decided to fill the rad up with water with the oil plug out to get a idea how much it is leaking, well about 10 seconds later water was just pouring out the plug.
I had the hood off already so I quickly removed the valve cover farthest from the rad, there was water spraying everywhere under there, by the time I got to the second valve cover there was not enough water left to see the water leaking but you could see water on the valve cover so water had being leaking there to.
I was so relieved to see that water spraying there you would not believe it. I ended up replacing four 1" frost plugs in each head, was I ever glad that I made a little jig to install the plugs, it made it so much easier then just a socket. So once I got the plugs all replaced I watered up again and nothing was leaking out the oil plug this time thank god.
So now it was time to flush the motor, I put 10 gallons of diesel fuel in it, and turned the motor over for about 15 seconds or so and then wait for 5 minutes and did it again, did that for about 1/2 hour, then I started it for about a minute, then I drain the fuel and let it drip for about 1/2 hour, in the mean time I drained the oil filters and replaced. Filled it up with the cheapest 10w 30 oil I could find and started it up and run it for about five minutes or so just to watch the water level and it seemed to level out once all the air was bleed, checked the oil once it was stopped to see where it is on the dip stick.
So the game plan is to load the machine on the low bed and get it home, dump the oil again and put the proper oil in and change the filters again and run it for a couple of hours, and see what the oil is like.
I realize I'm not out of the woods yet, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that I caught it in time.
I just want to say to anyone out there that is lucky enough to find one of these old girls that has been sitting for awhile, check these frost plugs under the valve covers.
I'm having more fun then when I was five years old playing with one of these in the sand box!

Thanks for all the help guys
Virgil

I would not ever start an engine with just diesel instead of oil. Much better to spend some money on another oil change than to take a chance of damaging some bearings.

But what’s done is done so let’s hope you were right and I am being an opinionated old codger!

Just did an in-frame overhaul on an 855 Cummins because several injectors apparently went bad and it scored the cylinder liners and scuffed the pistons. It was a sudden failure with immediate loss of power and a huge amount of blow-by, so the oil didn’t get diluted and the bearings were still fine.

AT BEST, the cost and time to repair would have both probably doubled if it had failed a crankshaft bearing.

At WORST, there would have been very little salvageable below the heads and above the oil pan.

Doesn’t pay to take chances with lubrication and bearing problems.

I don't want to go back and re-read everything. Hahaha Did you clean your fuel system more than just the bottom of the tank? There should be a separator inline before the filter. It can be cleaned out (the one on my 14a was a mess). Then pull the fuel filter from the housing, remove the drain plug and clean everything there too. Mine was really clogged up even though it ran.

"ccjersey" wrote:

I would not ever start an engine with just diesel instead of oil. Much better to spend some money on another oil change than to take a chance of damaging some bearings.

But what’s done is done so let’s hope you were right and I am being an opinionated old codger!

Just did an in-frame overhaul on an 855 Cummins because several injectors apparently went bad and it scored the cylinder liners and scuffed the pistons. It was a sudden failure with immediate loss of power and a huge amount of blow-by, so the oil didn’t get diluted and the bearings were still fine.

AT BEST, the cost and time to repair would have both probably doubled if it had failed a crankshaft bearing.

At WORST, there would have been very little salvageable below the heads and above the oil pan.

Doesn’t pay to take chances with lubrication and bearing problems.

this is Gospel....lubrication problems usually (never) do not repair themselves...just my experience...