67 IH Farmal gas 656 coolant in oil pan & shifter st

Hello new tractor owner and forum member.

Not a Hydro. The guy said it got stuck in neutral while working in a hay field. It sat for one year in the field with a rain cap on the muffler. Upon inspection the radiator was dry under the cap and the engine oil fill spout was full. Water on the lower portion of the dipstick. He said that he change oil every year. Took it home and drained the oil pan. 5 gallons of coolant and the oil came out...finally. Antifreeze was sitting on top of #6 cyl. and spilled out upon removal of the spark plug and fluid on top of #2 but I'm sure if its coolant yet.
It has been suggested to me to remove the head and have it checked out & machine if needed.
My questions are..., should I do this and / or should I do any more diagnosing? I considered adding new fluids and running it a bit first.
Could this be a head gasket or is it more likely to be a crack in the head or block?
I am not too much concerned about the shifter / trans yet but I'm open to suggestions and advise.
I do have a service manual on the way for this tractor.

Thanks in advance!!

A little history on myself. Born, raised, current Farmer, Done some wrenching for 8 years in the past, but never got into engines except head gaskets.

Hello Buck welcome to YT! That engine is not known
for a lot of problems in terms of coolant loss outside of
the cylinder head and gasket. So just pulling the head
may be the best route to go. Since you really have no
idea of the condition of the engine I would recommend
dumping a couple quarts of diesel fuel quickly into the
oil fill with the drain plug out, in hopes of flushing out
some of the coolant in the bottom of the pan. Then get
5 quarts of the cheapest oil you can find, that will not
fill it but it will be enough to run it on. I believe the
canister oil filter has a drain plug on it go ahead and
drain that, put plug back in. You will want to pull the
spark plugs and turn it over. Put the plugs back in and
start it with no coolant in it. You should be able to run
it 5 minutes with no coolant. This will give you an idea
of the oil pressure it has. After that I would then take a
compression test on it. It would also be a good idea to
check the valve lash when you pull the valve cover off.
Incase there was a low compression reading you could
see if a tight valve meaning it has no clearance would
correlate with a cylinder with no compression. Just FYI
there is a topic section on this forum that is devoted to
IH manufactured machines. There you would likely get
more replies from knowledgeable folks on your tractor.
Future posts on your tractor would likely get more
responses if posted there. I will give you a link that will
get you there.
YT IH topic section

Thank you used red MN! I was not sure were to post it. I really appreciate it!
I'll post it there.
Buck

I wouldnt run it more than 5 seconds with no coolant. The cylinder walls will get super hot with just air behind them. Put straight water in to run it for a test. I have ran them without coolant for a couple minutes but not any more after one locked up. You can run the engine with no radiator or water pump by connecting a long hose between upper and lower outlets or plugging them and fill with water. But the water or coolant needs to be there. I learned my lesson the hard way.