Compression numbers for IanC and any other interested par...

Bern

Well-known Member
Location
Mount Vernon, WA
I just came back from the local stealership, where I snapped 3 pics from service bulletins related to engine compression testing. First image is from 1965. Note that it gives two options for compression testing: cranking and running. As you can see, they want 420-500 PSI cranking, and go on to say that you should get 555-635 running! WOW! That sounds almost dangerous to me.

The second image is from a bulletin less than a year later, where they advise not to test at running speeds. They retained the 420-510 PSI figure for cranking, same as the service manual.

The third image is from a bulletin from 1980 for the x600 and x700 series tractors. As you can see, compression pressures dropped noticeably for engines that are essentially identical to the pre '75 engines. The "350 +/- 50 PSI" numbers are what I have consistently obtained over the year checking compression on various Basildon Fords. I have never seen any over 400.

To add one more thing: I have a booklet put out by Ford tractor in 1987 titled "Diesel Engine Diagnosis". Under engine compression, it states "290 PSI minimum on all 3,4, & 6 cylinder non-turbo tractors, and 275 minimum on tractors with turbos". It does not give a "normal spec" in that manual.

Clear as mud?
a282764.jpg

a282765.jpg

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Thanks Bern, now I've got to figure out how to save & print them. Were the bulletins released by engineering in Basildon, or service in Dearborn, or did it even say?
 
I'll e-mail you the images - they're a lot more clear than what I can post on this board. I'll send you an e-mail.

For the benefit of all, the bulletins in question come from monthly bulletins sent out by "Ford Tractor Operations", so to answer your question, I would say "Service in Dearborn".

My local dealer has saved 99% of all of the bulletins between 1965 and 1990 something, after which time they were recorded digitally, originally on PAL discs. If these binders were all stacked on top of each other, it would be about 18" tall. To say that these are a gold mine of Ford tractor information would be an understatement. I wish there was a way they could be easily scanned.
 
Got'em, thanks Bern. What's funny is the bulletin is dated 11/65, and my manual is dated 7/67, but the bulletin is more thorough. Let me do some thinking before volunteering, but they've got document scanners now that will scan both sides for less than $300. Might be worth doing if there was enough interest. I don't know about copyright infringement though.
 
I can't see how there would be any copyright infringement on 50 year old documents. I don't recall that there were even any copyright marks on those bulletins.

As for scanning them, I'd bet someone at NH has already done it. I wonder if someone would be willing to contact the folks at NH to see if those pdf files already exist? No sense doing the work all over again if it's already been done.
 
The dealership I worked at in NY has most of those same bulletins. Pretty neat trove of information. Binders of parts marketing info that does not exist in any other form like a chart with dimensions and information on front axle spindles for AP, SU and Utility tractors. There?s also a SOS service training book there signed by the father of one of the current techs when he worked there in the shop.
 
I seriously doubt anyone at CNH has dug that far back. The more time goes by, the less chance there is of anything like that happening. There is certainly no way of accessing any of that old stuff at the dealer level.
 
I'm thinking about going to my local dealer someday and asking flat out if I can simply have those old bulletins, or maybe even buy them outright. I fear that someone, someday, will take a look at those and simply decide to throw them away. I think I'm gonna put that on my "to do" list.
 
I can't even get those numbers, I think on our gas 3000, its right at the minimum compression numbers on one or two of the cylinders.
 
Under "fair use" you can copy them for yourself, where the infringement comes in is when you try to sell the copied material to recoup your time and materials &/or profit from it. When I had the P.A.L. discs it did not have ALL the bulletins. I'm going to call the dealership I used to work for (the store I worked at is closed, but the main store is still open) and see how it works on the current electronic system.
 
As I recall, PAL discs went back into the late 1980s with regards to service bulletins. That still leaves over 20 years worth of valuable info collecting dust on my dealer's shelves.
 

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