4000 using oil

So we just wrapped up haying season and the 4000 (3 cyl) diesel is using about a qt of oil in 3 hrs. You can see blue smoke in the exhaust and it has
been starting hard when cold so I figure the engine is worn out. From your experience, am I going to have to bore the block oversize and go with
oversize pistons? Is hone and re-ring an option? I'll have the head re-worked as well; any other items that should be overhauled at the same time?
Let me know what your experience has been.

Thanks in advance. TM

As common as cavitation/porsity is in these blocks it's bore and sleeve back to standard or nothing.

Rings may be worn or could have a broke one. Also the ring land could be broke. You will have to take down and measure. Then you can go from there. Most time you can replace new pistons and rings unless it was not serviced and had a lot of dirt getting in engine. Good luck.

I did an inframe maybe 15 or so years ago (been so long I forget) when I bought a 3000 that needed ether to start in April, in Texas......my first diesel.....duhhhhhhhh!! After lots of this and that I realized that the compression was low and the only thing left to correct it was an overhaul.

Upon disassy the pistons (ring groves) and rings were absolutely shot. The low end was ok as it was. The PO used it in a gravel yard and somebody had removed the hose connecting the air filter to the intake manifold....oil sump filter in front of the radiator, not dry cartridge like later models.

New pistons, rings, a full head going over, mains and inserts and I don't remember what else but miked the cylinders and they were in spec, at the limit but not that bad considering what it would take to get the engine to a machine shop, so cross hatch bead honing is all that they got. I went to the Ford house and asked the tech who did their machine work. Went there and got it all done and good price on OEM Ford parts too.

After reading Texasmark's post I agree with doung an inframe on it too. Kind of depends on your long term goals for the tractor. Depending on your bores, giving it rings, rod bearings and a valve job might gain you several thousand hours of useful work out of it. What I meant was if you bore it, sleeve it. Don't bore and go with oversized pistons.

I'm running three 201 diesels with .020 over bores with no problems, 4000 in 94, 4500 in 2000 and 4000SU in 2014. 4000SU has one cylinder sleeved and bored .020 to match the other two because of a broken ring.

Pull the head and check the bores, if their in spec hone them and replace what's needed, if out of spec pull the engine and have it bored or sleeved. Check wrist pin bushings on the rods, I've had to replace a few rods because the wrist pin hole was out of round and it wouldn't hold the bushing, I was cleaning the rod and pushed the bushing out by hand. Also if you to a full tear down check the cam and lifters for wear, I've rebuilt over a dozen engines for -000 series tractors and only had to replace two cams, but with low zink oil now days they need to be checked. Crank shafts in these engine are tough and hardly ever need more than a polishing. Don't get cheap on the head work if you do a full rebuild, my younger brother learned this the hard way when he had to pull the head back off his 5200 and have it fixed right.

If you only use the tractor a few hours a year you may get by cutting a few corners on the rebuild.
If you use it a lot like I do fix it right or you'll be fixing it again.

I'll second that. When boring the block from my 4600 for sleeves (one cylinder had a cavitation hole), a hole appeared in a second cylinder. Just too big a risk for my taste to order pistons and bore oversized just to find a hole.... or get it assembled and running and THEN find a hole.