My Bubble was busted

Well after months of burning the midnight oil and bothering you guys on this site My dad and I finally got the 1939 D to fire this past friday. We double checked the timing and we pulled it off with another tractor and lo and behold after about a 10 foot pull the engine came to life. We immediatley shut it down and filled the radiator with water and went to start it again. 3 feet later the engine was running and idling smoothly. Even though I was told by Mr. Glen in Texas that the flywheel was from a 30 model and mine is a 39 there was no vibration or any extra ordinary shaking. It did not smoke or puff which made me feel a lot better about this since I have not heard this thing run until now. With this in mind I idled the tractor back into the shed under its own power and ran the engine and shut off the 3-way and the sediment bowl and the engine died a few seconds later. There was a tractor show this past weekend and I attended it so I left the tractor alone for a few days. Tonight I went to work on the brake and noticed a huge puddle of a gray fluid under the oil pump housing gasket. The oil has water it it. I immediatley drained all the water out of the block and there was a film in the water. Now I do not know what to do. This tractor was supposed to be running when it arrived and it wasnt. It has taken me 8 months of my spare time and money to get to this point only to find out that either the block is cracked or it has a leaky gasket somewhere. I am in a quandry as to what to do. This is my 1st 2-cyl tractor and I am fairly new to the hobby. Are D blocks expensive and I can only imagine whow much they weigh? Are sleeves available? Im not even sure if I want to try to tear it down even though it is the 18 styled D made because I dont really have the means to do so. If you guys have any suggestions I am more that willing to listen. At this point I am open to all options. Thanks again to listening to another of my long winded posts

Sincerely
Brad D

A quick check I use on one that I imagine I will be tearing down, but would just like to check for leaks is to fill it with clear water, let the oil drain plug out, and put a bucket under it. Let gravity do the rest for a day while you look it over. I have even put some food coloring in the radiator before so that I would not be fooled by any other water that might be trapped under a valve cover or elsewhere.

You just never know if you might not have a water injection valve leaking into the carburetor and into an intake valve. The oil film in the coolant would concern me, except for the fact that a few drops of oil can find its way into the radiator over the years, and that can make a lot of oil film, so a good detergent in the water, then flush and drain, and refill for the leak check might be in order.

Frank

I think so, too. Those "D"s have so much cast iron mass, it would take a while on low power to overheat the cast. Not that's a good idea to run one without water, but hey, we all did it every spring. Pull the old girl out of the barn with a tow tractor, get it to start, and head for the hose in road gear!

Frank