51 B... water in oil.

I will try to give enough information.....

I have known about this problem for a couple years. The leak has gotten WAY worse, bad enough to turn the oil milky almost immediatly. There is no evidence of water in the exhaust, and no leaks anywhere on the outside of the engine.

This time after changing the old oil (which was milky), I filled the radiator.
The water/antifreeze went down to the bottom of the neck after running it for an hour.
I have been thinking about this, and reading on here about what it could be.
This B has been in the family for about 30 years, and no one has been in it except me since then. I have never had the head off before today.

I was convinced it was the pushrod tubes leaking, so off came the head. (2501R) There is no evidence of water in, or coming from the tubes. I looked the head over with out cleaning anything, and still couldnt see anything. I finally ran a cloth through the tubes and they are shiny and smooth, and the ends did not show any signs of leaking around the outside. I didnt have a special radiator cap so I could pressurize the system and watch for leaking in the tubes.

The head gasket that came off was a VIC-2-FOLD, copper side out. Couldnt see anything on it to warrant leaking across the holes in the gasket.

The only thing that I even found questionable was the drain hole on the back, bottom center of the head. It's the drain back hole from the rocker cover, which has a little bit of rusty look inside.

What to do.........

I am not prepared to spend all sorts of money getting everything sent out and tested and rebuilt. I am guessing there could be a crack in the head somewhere, the antifreeze has always been mixed 50/50, but it still could be cracked somewhere. I understand that sending the head out may be the only way out of this problem, as I have to get this leak fixed before I run it anymore. If thats the case, I'm gonna have to shove it outside and cover it till I can find nearby resources and cash.

I would again appreciate any and all experiences with similar problems. Would anyone out there still be convinced its the pushrod tubes?
Whatever your opinions on this, let me know. I dont plan on getting rid of this tractor, I got it from my Dad.
Thank you.

Did you check the cylinders? Possible crack in one of them?

I would recommend having the head magnafluxed. Beyond that the culprit maybe your block, personally to my knowledge that would be the only two item capable of the leak short of the head gasket. It may be worth your time to also pull the pistons and block and have it also checked...you could re-ring without a great deal of expense and possibly obtain another block. I know I had same problem with a 420 some years ago and it had a hairline crack in the cylinder. I had to change out the block. It would be opening when it gets warm...

you did a real good job on explainging things. others who post here need to tke lessons from you. i suggest that you have the head checked first and then go from there. niormally when something is craked and the engine gets hot it swells up and stops leaking and then only leaks when it cools down and the crack opens up. look the cylinder walls over good and you need to be trying to find out some way to get the wter out of the crank case now. setting it out side with holes opened up isn't going to ber good for it. if you do leave the head off. i'd coat the cylinder walls with grease and put some kind of water proof cover over the block as welll as the whole tractor. to get the oil out reemove the cover where you can see the rods and blow it out good. your going to have to wash it out with kero and diesel fuel and then i'd be tempted to turn it over and let the diesel and kero flush all the lines out good and the roids and mains too. i wouldn't crank on it a long time. but just do it in spirts. even doing it over several days and not burning up your starter. next yhou might try hanging a heat lamp bulb down in the crank case and block the hole up o top and leave that light in there until thngs dry out good. then i'd spray every thing in therewith motor oil and cover it up until igot ready to finish the job. i don't know of a thing to use to get the water out with as far as flushing it, but kero and diesel come close. if anybody else knows of something better i'd love to hear abvout it. my old back hoe needs draining and flushing out bad, but you can't get to the inside of it to do it right. good luck

A B that late should not normally have push rod tubes. Are you sure yours has them ? They did use 3 different head numbers all interchange. It is possible yours has an early one with the tubes in it.

Yup, its got tubes.

Mike,

The B"s over 201000 had only two pushrod tubes instead of four. The other two pushrods run through the casting.

Kurt

im unclear, have you reinstalled the head? if so and you want to clean crankcase, the owners manual tells you to re fill crankcase with kerosien and run for a short period fo time and drain. chg filter after. d. coleman

I'm waiting on a few call backs looking for someone who has done the fluxing on old Deeres.

I'm pretty sure there is at least one of the 3 possible cly. head casting numbers that does not have push rod tubes. These heads all interchange from 1941-1952.