Water leaking into oil pan

Roger Clark · Sep 23, 2019

Let me start by saying I am new at this,and have never rebuilt an engine, and wish I had never started this project, after finding a large amount of water in the oil pan of my ferguson TO30 tractor,I talked to people and was told that the seals on the wet sleeves were leaking,I purchased a rebuild kit,after removing the sleeves,I found two hairline cracks between the sleeves in the web at the bottom of the block.
My question is this engine junk?, or is there anything I can do to save it?. Is it possible that a commercial stop leak in the water would work.I would appreciate any help I could get.

Steve@Advance · Sep 23, 2019

I've heard of them being repaired, not sure that would be my first choice.

That's a common problem, not sure what causes it.

There are still some blocks out there, try some salvage yards, Ebay. Just be sure they guarantee it not to be cracked.

Someone on here might have one.

Steve@Advance · Sep 23, 2019

Forgot, on the stop leak...

That might be a solution if it were together and running, but I would never put something back together broken and hope stop leak would fix it.

pomester · Sep 23, 2019

There is a running Z129 on eBay right now (I am in no way affiliated with the listing) - there are a lot of threads on this forum that discuss this issue as it is common - I believe the alternatives boil down to having the block furnace welded by someone who knows what they are doing, or 'bolting' the block by running bolts from one side to the other - it doesn't sound very elegant to me, but it's cheap and there's lots of bolted block engines running around if this forum is to be believed -

Tom H. · Sep 23, 2019

Where do you live? I?m in western Massachusetts and there is a shop in Belchertown, MA that has fixed four blocks for me. All still working great. He
puts a bolt through the block, one side is tapped, and then tightens the crack closed. As long as all the metal is still around the crack it can be easily
fixed.

steve19438 · Sep 23, 2019

there was shop near here that did the same thing. then the "old" guy that did it died.

Roger Clark · Sep 23, 2019

(quoted from post at 14:24:42 09/23/19) Where do you live? I?m in western Massachusetts and there is a shop in Belchertown, MA that has fixed four blocks for me. All still working great. He
puts a bolt through the block, one side is tapped, and then tightens the crack closed. As long as all the metal is still around the crack it can be easily
fixed.

Thank you for the reply,I live in WA state north of Seattle,do not know of anyone in my area that performs that task, if anyone knows of someone I would like to hear from them

Tom H. · Sep 23, 2019

The common cause for cracking was not maintaining proper coolant. The gentlemen that repaired my blocks learned from his dad. In the mid 50?s there was a cooler than normal winter and since most southerners were not using antifreeze in their engines a lot of Z129 blocks started cracking. After a lot of trial and error his dad figured out how to drill a hole into the water jacket above the crack and tap the other side of the block. Bolting the block together and closed the crack. So, three bolts, tapped holes, a bit of effort made a great permanent repair.

If you do a search for pinned z129 blocks you can see what this looks like. A local machine shop may be able to do this for you.

Chad121 · Sep 23, 2019

(quoted from post at 10:54:02 09/23/19) Let me start by saying I am new at this,and have never rebuilt an engine, and wish I had never started this project, after finding a large amount of water in the oil pan of my ferguson TO30 tractor,I talked to people and was told that the seals on the wet sleeves were leaking,I purchased a rebuild kit,after removing the sleeves,I found two hairline cracks between the sleeves in the web at the bottom of the block.
My question is this engine junk?, or is there anything I can do to save it?. Is it possible that a commercial stop leak in the water would work.I would appreciate any help I could get.

We ran Bar's stop leak in a TO30 for 15 years and in 2000 we took the block to dover cylinder head in Greenville SC. My dad asked if it could be fixed and he said yes and that it would be better than when it was new. He put it in a large hydraulic vise and welded two metal plates clylinder walls and have no leaks we just finished a motor rebuild were we replaced the pistons, sleeves, rod and main bearing, crank shaft, valves. Started tractor up and no water in water. it been 19 years of no water in oil

Roger Clark · Sep 23, 2019

(quoted from post at 12:55:36 09/23/19) Forgot, on the stop leak...

That might be a solution if it were together and running, but I would never put something back together broken and hope stop leak would fix it.

Thank you for your reply,My mistake is buying $400+ worth of parts before discovering the cracks, that is why I'm trying to find an inexpensive fix.
If I though the stop leak would work I would go ahead and put it back together, and try it.

steve19438 · Sep 24, 2019

do you use anti freeze ? I put bars leak in a Z-120 block and it worked fine until I put AF in the eng. next day eng. oil was green.

Roger Clark · Sep 24, 2019

Thanks for your reply, I haven't used AF for many years, but that's good info

Roger Clark · Sep 24, 2019

(reply to post at 04:48:41 09/24/19)

I should have asked, did you have cracks in your block?

Roger Clark · Sep 24, 2019

Thanks for your reply, you mentioned furnace welding,how does that work? I looked closer at the cracks, they look like something has been done to them, they don't look like just a crack,I wonder if that has been done in the past,I can feel some metal at the bottom of the crack.

pomester · Sep 24, 2019

re: furnace welding -

I'll preface by saying I am not an expert, and cannot tell you specific details for repairing your block

In general 'furnace welding' involved heating the block to a suitable temperature (1000*F+) before performing the welding operation and then cooling the block in a slow controlled manner, thus avoiding failure of the repair -

I consider it a job to be handled by a professional who knows what he's doing - hopefully there is someone within a reasonable distance from you, altho I have found trucking heavy items is not prohibitively expensive - strap the block to a pallet and build a plywood box around it -

good luck -
David

pomester · Sep 24, 2019

Here's a link to an article that explains furnace welding -
https://www.aa1car.com/library/ar497c.htm

Roger Clark · Sep 24, 2019

(quoted from post at 17:56:24 09/24/19) re: furnace welding -

I'll preface by saying I am not an expert, and cannot tell you specific details for repairing your block

In general 'furnace welding' involved heating the block to a suitable temperature (1000*F+) before performing the welding operation and then cooling the block in a slow controlled manner, thus avoiding failure of the repair -

I consider it a job to be handled by a professional who knows what he's doing - hopefully there is someone within a reasonable distance from you, altho I have found trucking heavy items is not prohibitively expensive - strap the block to a pallet and build a plywood box around it -

good luck -
David

Thanks,haven't found anyone in my area that can help me.

Water leaking into oil pan

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