tractor getting rain down the stack

MSS3020

Well-known Member
parked the 1180 Massey ferguson in the field while I loaded hay bales and took to shed. While I was gone and before I got back a short rain burst happened. I had put a cup over the stack before I left but when I came back it was on the ground. I started it ran fine.. It is always in the shed when not in use. But went and got a cap for it so no worries if that happens again..

So what does rain do to a diesel tractor down the stack..
 
Head gasket blown. Water doesn't compress. Obviously there is a threshold on problems vs quantity. I just bought a flapper for mine if I worried about rain. TSC has generics.
 

Rain down the stack will do the same thing to a diesel as it does to a gasoline engine. You saved the engine by starting it before any damage was done. If the tractor had sat outside, uncovered through several days of rain, you MIGHT have had a real problem on your hands.
 
On one of my tractors I use a can but bolted some weight on top of it to keep it from blowing off in windy storm or hauling it down the road.
 
One little shower? No more than a few drops actually went down the pipe. It probably didn't even get the top stack of the muffler completely wet inside, and that was gone within a minute of you starting the tractor.

It takes a lot of rain to get enough moisture down the stack to cause any problems. While it can happen in a few days if it rains in Biblical proportions, usually it takes months if not years of neglect for enough water to accumulate.

Realistically the only way for enough water to accumulate to cause a hydrolock is if the piston were far enough down on an intake or compression stroke, and the water seeped past the closed exhaust valve, over the course of weeks/months. If it ran in an open exhaust valve, it would be blown straight out the exhaust as soon as you crank the engine over.
 
If I don't have a good flapper on a tractor and it might get rained on outside I used a 5-7 mil vinyl glove to cover the muffler. If the muffler end is smaller I wrap some tape around the glove. My parade tractor has a large chrome stack so the glove fits perfectly and if I forget to take it off the muffler when I start, the exhaust pressure will blow it off. Works great for me.
 
rain going down the exhuast is not a good thing. once it reaches the open valves it runs into those cyl's. then down past the rings slowly into the oil pan.in the mean time it is forming rust on those nice shiny cyl'd causing little pits in them . it does the same with the valve seats. any shiny metal will get rusty. and form pits. thats if it is not started immediatly as it sits the rust forms and then the rings stick to the cyl's and you have a seised up engine. any engine that was broke free and running is not in good shape. i have torn them down and can see plain as daylight the cyl's that had rust. they are pitted and black. not shiny. these engines most times will have blowby also. because the rings are not seating good.sure they will run, but that dont mean its in good shape. in your situation you are ok.
 

Realistically it depends on how the exhaust is plumbed. My four cylinder Fords for example. Down the vertical stack, around a bend, female onto male fitting at outlet of exhaust. Into the muffler which would hold about a quart before it would fill up and dribble out between the muffler and the elbow. It would be a tough trick to get water into the manifold. My 9000 however, I am very careful of because the vertical stack sits right on the turbo.
 
My 60 got caught in a rain storm at a show this summer, the worst part is it will "Sneeze" black dirty water out and all over it and anything around it,, I made up a "Sneeze Pipe" to keep the mess down..
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And how high does it go when you forget to remove it before starting it up? My AC WD will send an unweigted can up like 40'.
 
I thought to add that after I punched the post button but it was too late....no edit function. Thanks for adding it.
 
I use the can on the 3 1/2" stainless steel stack that I run when pulling it at tractor pulls and can has an old piece of 1 round stock steel bolted to top of can. It won't blow off and to heavy for exhaust to blow it off ( tried that already) + can is a hair bigger than stack. My stack has a muffler inside it that has been modified to lesson back pressure .
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i found a cheap solution by accident one day, for smaller tractors ie cubs, a's b's ect, and now i take a empty 16 oz water bottle and cut the top off it on the angled part of the bottle so it has some resistance when slid down on the stacks of my tractors that have stacks, ive not had one blow off yet, just dont do it while the stack is hot
 
If a 2 1/2" id exhaust stack was plugged at the bottom of the stack, like a rain gauge and it rained an inch into the stack there would be 1" of water standing in a 2 1/2" circle. That would be 2 or 3 oz of water, probably not enough for hydro lock unless every drop entered an open cylinder. My guess is most of that amount of water would get hung up in the muffler. Straight pipe is a different story.
 
I have a souvenier piston pin out of a 1086 IH that snapped in half when it sat out in a heavy rain and they went to start it later. Unbelievable as that pin in 1 1/2 inch dia.
 

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