Thoughts on MD

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
I have a decent running MD (starts readily, switches over well, runs smooth with no smoke exept under load). After 3+ years with a new head gasket, it has developed the characteristic oil leak in the right front corner of block/head. Only see it when first starting up and goes away after about 10 minutes of running. The tractor never seems to really warm up, even after plowing with a 3/14 little genius for several hours. Gauge (new) only moves toward "run" zone but never actually gets there.I checked the thermostat with boiling water and it seemed to work fine. ARe there different temp thermostats available? My "theory" is that if the engine were running hotter, the head gasket leak might not develop, but I don't know if this is correct.
It's nice to have a good working cooling system, but engines should be running at a good working temp. when under load (180-190 degrees). What does anybody think about this?
 
I would start off with verifying your new gauge by swapping it out with a good mechanical temp gauge with numbers on it. Work the tractor for a while and see how it reads. Also, when the tractor is good and warm a retorque of the head bolts probably couldn't hurt. Just do it in the proper sequence and to the proper spec.
 
Not sure about the diesels, but the gassers have such a big bypass that they struggle to warm up to run without really working them. I cover about 2/3 of the radiator on my M during the winter. It is hard on the fan blades, but it always warms up to run and I don't have tons of cold air blowing on me (it's my loader tractor and used daily year around). I've always been of the mind that it needs to get to operating temp also.

I've wondered about doing a little welding in the bypass area to reduce the size and help them warm up. I haven't wondered it enough to take time to do it, though. There are always other projects first and it works just fine like it is.
 
Cold nature they are. Blocking some of the thermostat bypass passage is a good way. 50% of the passage can be a good start. In the past the thought was to keep them cool while working it hard. Today we know they need to be warm to run efficiently.
I had the same leakon mine. I cleaned it with carb cleaner and sanded it with course silicon carbide paper. It is not a dramatic pressure leak, so I used urethane door and window sealer and 2 layers of fiber glass mat applied over the leak area, extending 1/2" onto the surrounding metal. let it harden for 48hours if warm out, or warm it with a light bulb to help it along. The material remains flexable, and sticks. Don't substitute silicon TRV. Jim
 
In my opinion, if your leak stops when the engine warms up you may be able to retorque it and stop the leak. Chances are the head is warped a little, so if you do take it off to fix it, get it resurfaced. As far as the temp issue, remember it is a diesel and they love to crack heads, so you are better off with the lower temp. If you are certain that you need to get it warmer make sure your new guage is working correctly and DO NOT restrict the bypass, also be very careful when changing thermostat temps. If it gets too warm one time you may be looking for someone to weld the head for you. Good luck!
 
Not a flame. In my opinion a more uniform medium temperature is better than temps fluctuating from cold to warm and never at operating temp. I do realize the need to stabilize the temp on start and shut down At least 5 min on start and 5 on shutdown. Jim
 
Thanks for all replies. It's not a serious problem right now, just aggravating. I'll address it in due time. Thanks again. Always a pleasure to be on this website.
 
" it is hard on the fan blades"
when covering radiator properly a round hole should be used such as in cardboard. have the hole in centre of fan. this prevents the fan from flexing and draws in an even flow of air. cut hole size as desired, plastic ice cream pail is a good size to start with.
 
It seems that the tractor is OK.Since I have a few Farmalls in the shed and restored I was cured from buying the gauges over here from big parts supplier called Granit.Had same problems with my tractors.

They are rubbish and the pointer isnt on the place where it should be. Boiling water 212 at right absolute air pressure outside and non pressurized pointer at the middle....

All these gauges are from china india and real bad quality and see these also everywhere on ebay

Happyly we have a guy over here who sells quality 52mm gauges for US and Britsh Farmalls even to USA. Small one man company and he told me these facts.Showed me also internal mechanical differences between his and everwhere sold gauges.

His convincing advice to me.Don t look for the problem to your Farmall but look for a working gauge.How?Just put it in boiling water and pointer must be between N and H of the Cold Run Hot scale.

Also on 176 F it muts be exactly horizontal.
Scale of these gauges are 104F-248F or 40-120 degrees.

Number of his gauge is 67135-D.Also sells oil and ampere gauges for Farmall.

Boiling water has everyone available.....

Just my ten cents.....
 

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