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2030 Gas, bent push rods

B

Blaine54

New User
Thought I was almost done with the resurrection of a 1975 2030 gas tractor. Started out with the motor stuck. Tore it down and sent the head out for rework. In the mean time, I replaced the pistons and sleeves and got it all back together last weekend. Started it up and it ran pretty good.

Tried to start it the next day and it was very hard to start. When it finally started it sounded like it was running on only about 2 cylinders. The valve train made some horrible clunking noises so I immediately shut it off.

Pulled the valve cover and found 2 push rods badly bent and 2 slightly bent. The 2 badly bent were on intake valves as was one of the others. I now have the head off, again, trying to find out what went wrong.

Has anybody else had such an experience? I'm not sure what caused this nor what to do to prevent a recurrence. I'm hoping to get some advice from some of you guys that know way more about this stuff than I do.

Thanks,

Blaine
 
Are th valve guides getting enough oil. They may be a little too tight and no oil--they will stick.
 

Thanks Mike, that is certainly a possibility. Although the guides were not replaced I plan on pulling the valve springs and checking things out. Possibly the valve stems weren't lubed at reassembly...? IDK, Still kinda scratching my head.
 
A friend of mine had a 4cyl gas in a 300 hoe that bent near all the push rods, he thinks the ethanol in the gas caused it, he had to drive all the valves out of the head, said it looked like a super glue type material was on them. I"ve also heard of a similar thing happening on some lawn engines, no real facts to back up the theory...
 
If you still have the valves in the head tap them with a hammer on the spring end and see if they are stuck. Sounds like they were or are stuck.
 

I would do a Leak-Down test on each cylinder before you are done, to see if any valves may have been bent...for some reason.....
It is not that likely that several valves would "Stick" over night..
Could the cam have somehow jumped time..??

Keep telling us what you find..!

Ron...
 
A year or two ago a neighbor bought a 1950-something GMC truck that had been stored inside for YEARS since the owner retired from farming.

A battery and some fresh gas and it took off and he hauled several small loads of gravel with it and it began to miss worse and worse, then finally wouldn't start.

He asked me to take a look at it. There were MANY bent pushrods.

Looking through the valvesprings at the valvestems, there's sticky goo on them and the valves are gummed in place.

I told him to pull the head and I'd get the valves out, clean them up, grind them (if needed) and put the head back together so far, they haven't got back to it so I haven't gotten to go "hands on" and see what it takes to get the valves out.

I wonder if there was varnish on the stems and modern oil made it sticky or if it was the gas?
 
Well, I know a little more now. Tapped the valves with a hammer and 2 intakes were stuck. Pulled them all out and had to drive out the 2 stuck intakes. Incidentally, those 2 had the worst bent push rods. The stems were gooed up with something that looked like varnish. It took a small wire brush & mineral spirits to clean it off. Ran a rifle bore brush thru the guides to clean them out.

A friend said there was probably enough old gas in the bottom of the tank & fuel line to varnish up the valve stems.

Anyhoo, all the valves now slide nicely through the guides so will start reassembly today...after football of course. Will flush tank and fuel line (I already rebuilt the carb) before trying to start again.

Thanks guys for all the great info and suggestions. I will let you know how it turns out.

B54
 
Sounds like old gas caused the stuck valves. A friend of mine ran old gas in a Ford truck, and next time he tried to start the engine he bent every intake push rod in the motor.
 
I did a complete engine overhaul on an engine
about 40 years ago. Customer drove it home, gassed
it up full, called about an hour later it quit
running. Went out and checked, found all valves
stuck. Looked like someone had literally poured
tar in the intake manifold. He had just go a fill
in his bulk tank of some (bargain) gasoline. It
was awful. Luckily he had not filled any of his
other tractors yet. This was long before anyone
ever heard of ethanol. Old gasoline, is old
gasoline. The high ends vaporize and leave the
tars behind.
 
Thanks to your guys' help I got her back together and running good. I had to flush the gas tank several times until gas running out was the same color as it went in.

Before I drive it much I want to check and fill or change all the fluids but not sure where to check the hydraulic fluid, transmission grease and differential or what to put in them. The manual I have doesn't address this. I have ordered an Operators manual but it may be a month to 6 weeks for delivery.

Thanks again,

B54
 
You check the trans/diff/hydraulic oil with the dip stick in the area of your right heel when setting in the seat. use "only Deere oil",,I'm working on a 2550 now that the guy used "what-ever" in and it dissolved his brake lining and sucked it through the trans pump,,"nasty",,you can't afford to use cheap oil in them, and that's a fact,,but it will keep my shop busy....
 
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