Ford 8N Oil contamination questions

l8000

New User
I am the new owner of a 1948 Ford 8N and new to this forum. It is serial number *8N77725*. I installed a new oil pressure gauge and changed the oil after purchasing it and was not happy with the pressure. Knowing that it probably needed rebuilt, I was not surprised. My concern is seeing some white streaking in the oil. I did add some Marvel Mystery Oil right after the oil change and don't know if that would/could turn the oil white? I don't see the antifreeze level dropping in the radiator any either. I can only run the tractor for 10 minutes or so because it looses oil pressure. With it being in the 20's here; do you think running it in 10 min intervals 5 or 6 times would produce enough condensation to be noticeable? Contamination is white, not gray like antifreeze usually is when mixed with oil.

The tractor does not have a thermostat right now so engine doesn't warm up much at all.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 


How low is low ? If your oil pressure builds up right away and is 10 psi or more when hot , you still have a lot of life left .

The stock 160* thermostat is barely enough . I would not worry about the condensation issue until you can get it up to operating temperature .
 

Cold engine= 10psi@idle and +-30psi@full throttle
Warm engine(10 min or so)= not registering on new guage@idle and 10psi@full throttle

I don't let it run after it drops that low. At the rate it drops off when warming up I'd bet money that it will drop off to nothing if I let it keep running.

The gauge needle fluctuates/vibrates about 5 psi. after about 60 seconds of running.

Do you think that all I'm seeing in the oil is condensation? That would be awesome.
 

I figured so. Fortunately, with what I gave for it I can afford to overhaul the engine and fix some small stuff and still not have as much in it as one with "new paint" on craigslist. I will do 95% of the work myself.
 
Overhaul? why? how does it run? What is its compression? If it runs
OK I'd just put a thermostat in it and go with it. These tractor don't
need much oil pressure to run. Might run for years and might not.
But don't worry about a rebuild till you have to.
 

It could also be that your new gauge is not reading properly. I've had two from TSC that were bad and I'm still looking for a good one. Both of mine stuck at about 25 psi after a few uses.
 
8000.......streaks in yer oil from panzer p*ss is semi-normal until oil is fully "stirred" up. It takes about 1-hr fer yer 6-qts of oil to fully warm up. As fer cold runnin', didja ebber think about puttin' some CARDBOARD in front of radiator??? .......respectfully, Dell
 
Running for short periods of time like that is the best way to get condensation in your oil, so I expect that is what the gray is. so far as the pressure the MMO is thinner than oil, so depending what you put in for oil and how much MMO, you could see a significant increase with another change and using 15-40.
 
It is dying. I believe all the symptoms you have described here warrant just getting your mind set on an overhaul. It sure could last some amount of time , but I think it will be sooner rather than later. If & when you do it, don't cheap out on the oil pump.
 
(quoted from post at 08:00:30 03/01/15) It is dying. I believe all the symptoms you have described here warrant just getting your mind set on an overhaul. It sure could last some amount of time , but I think it will be sooner rather than later. If & when you do it, don't cheap out on the oil pump.

I agree. While I know they don't require much psi they do require some. Mine has none on warm idle. As far as oil pump, if the housing is good it will be rebuilt. If housing is bad it will be replaced. Block will be line bored either way. I am doing a professional quality job. Every tolerance will be checked and machined/adjusted if necessary.
 

I had time to do a compression test on the 8N today. I got the engine as warm as I could until I got uncomfortable with the oil psi and shut it down. Wet is with 1 tbsp of oil in each cyl.

Cyl. Dry Wet
1 95 100
2 85 85
3 70 100
4 85 115

I am just trying to evaluate other areas of the engine before it gets torn down.

Thanks for your help and advice.
 
You know what you are doing thats for sure. I just finished the engine on my 2N today
I cheaped out on the oil pump but lucky for me I changed my mind and found some real issues with the pump. Spent more time on it than anything. Finally got tired of the delay in getting parts way out here and turned out a bushing on the lathe from oilite bar stock. Good luck and enjoy.
 

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