400 coolant in oil

Denis in MI · Jan 15, 2011

I have a International 400 that I bought with a seized engine, that had coolant in the oil. I assumed the head gasket blew dumping coolant in a cylinder and the resulting rust seized the engine. I can not find any concrete evidence that this is what happened though. I just got the engine freed up and wonder where the best place to start looking for problems is.

Thanks in advance for any help or opinions,
Denis

Nebraska Kirk · Jan 15, 2011

(quoted from post at 18:59:07 01/15/11) I have a International 400 that I bought with a seized engine, that had coolant in the oil. I assumed the head gasket blew dumping coolant in a cylinder and the resulting rust seized the engine. I can not find any concrete evidence that this is what happened though. I just got the engine freed up and wonder where the best place to start looking for problems is.

Thanks in advance for any help or opinions,
Denis

I have worked on several 400s and if I were you, the first thing I would do is take the head off. If the head gasket is blown it will be easy to spot once the head is removed.

rustred · Jan 15, 2011

well the best place to start looking is where you are finding the coolant, in the oil pan. that requires removing pan and watching for leaks coming from around cyls. did you have this tractor running? if not then things may be rusted up and you wont find a leak. head gskt. possible also.good idea to pressurize the cooling system. if unit is in running order can check for bubbles in rad also.

Denis in MI · Jan 15, 2011

I bought this from a friend. He had used it to brush hog and left it outside for about a week after using it and then it would not crank over by starter so he put in a new battery and then it still wouldn't so he pulled the starter out and bench tested it and it was fine. So he tried to turn the engine by hand and it would not budge. I bought the tractor from him after that and have torn the engine down and managed to free it up. My problem is that I could not find any obvious problem with the head gasket. Is their a common place that the heads or blocks crack on these tractors, I need to take the head into the machine shop any way and probably need to take the block in and have new sleeves pressed in, so I can have it magnufluxed but that will not do any good if their is a crack internally. May be I should put the head back on with the old head gasket or some permatex and try pressure testing and see if I can find a leak.

Thanks

Ohiohillbilly · Jan 16, 2011

Just asking but was the coolant in the oil before you pulled the head??? If not it might have just gotten water in the exhaust from sitting out without a rain cap on the muffler.

Denis in MI · Jan 16, 2011

yeah the coolant was in the oil prior to removeing the head. I did have some rainwater in two of the cylinders but they were siezed before that. I don't know if coolant stayed at or above the head gasket because I drained all of the fluids before I took anything apart.

Denis in MI · Jan 17, 2011

I took the head to the machine shop today and the owner was very knowlegeable of Internationals and upon inspection we found that the washers that go on two of the head studs had not been used when it was installed the last time which allowed the bushings on those stud holes to sink and the head to lift causing the coolant leak, whicj in turn caused the engine to sieze. He is going to grind the valves, magnuflux, and mill the head back true and I should have my W-400 back in action.

400 coolant in oil

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