I'm wondering if any one has had the following experience happen: I have a 1955 Wd 45. Runs great and I have it restored with pretty much all the correct parts on it except its converted to 12 volt alternator. I keep it in my shop, don't use it much anymore. Today I started it, and it stopped, I checked the tank and it was out of gas. Adding more gas, I restarted, but black liquid came out of the exhaust stack. I'm assuming it was oil, seems like a quart or so, went everywhere over the engine. I quickly turned it off, removed the hood to get a better look. Restarted it and it ran fine-no more spurting oil out the stack. I don't think there are any gasket leaks either. Anyone had this happen??? I'm at a loss for ideas???

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I tired lighting the oil dip stick and it would not light. Oil level was also at the correct amount. Gonna finish cleaning it up and restart.

you are fine, as i said. the tractor did not get warmed up enough when it stopped. perfectly normal. you car does the same thing in cold weather if you look at the exhaust there will be water dripping out.

So that tell me you had condensation in the exhaust system and what you had was carbon/water mix which can and does make a mess in the right conditions

Thanks old for the tip I'll try and light the oil on the dip stick tomorrow and see what it does.

If it light up easy you need to change the oil or risk having it lock up or spin a rod bearing

By the way, my gas tank looks great inside, I looked into the tank with a flash light, and its clear shiny metal. There seems to be very small marks around I guess 1/16 diameter on the inside, maybe the start of rusting. But compared to other tanks I've seen, this is in great condition. I've always kept the tank full of gas anyway. I've had the tractor now going on 26 years. Always keep it in my shop too. Its never had to sit out for months in the rain or snow.

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Old, yes I did check the oil, I was thinking at first that an oil gasket had failed near the top of the engine, when I looked around, I found no oil leak, I let it set for about an hour and checked the oil which was right at the full mark on the stick. I restarted it to see where the junk was coming from. Started right up and ran great. I'm sure the junk was coming out of the muffler pipe stack. The junk quit coming out of the pipe as well. Turned it off, and started to clean it up.

If the oil is not over full and does not smell like gas and even a better way to check try to light the oil on the dipstick. If it burns you have gas in the oil if it does not light up easy then your oil is just that oil

Actually Russ, no I don't turn the gas off, and it did run out of gas. Is turning the gas off something that I should be doing?

I'd be checking the oil BEFORE you even think about running it again. If the float is not shutting off the gas like it should you can end up with gas in the oil which means it will be over full and then it can cause major engine problems. I worked on a 9N Ford a few years back and the guy did not shut off the gas at the tank and it had over 5 Gal. of oil/gas in the oil pan.

If it was out of gas, are you sure the gas didn't drain into the crankcase? Do you always shut off the gas at the sediment jar.

Thanks for your input rustred, someone else suggest condensation as well.

most likely was condensation, nothing serious.