Antifreeze in the oil pan

Hey gang

New member here, sorry if this has been asked before, but I have a Freguson TO30. I bought it knowing there was low oil pressure. Everything seem to run fine besides the oil pressure. I drain the oil and notice milky grey oil and some antifreeze. Check the oil pump which seems to be working fine. Sit on this for a little while. Order new gaskets. Im ready to start back up with this project. I pull the oil pan back off and there s a good amount of antifreeze. I did not put oil back in it and obviously hasn t been started. I need help trying to figure out how deep this problem is.

Thank you
Joshua

Could be a few things, but the first step would be to pop the head off and look at the head gasket - see if you can see any signs/witness of coolant running between passages or (more
commonly) into the cylinders. Before you do that, maybe look around the bottom of the cylinders/sleeves while you have the pan off - see if you can see traces of coolant dripping down
somewhere. If you don't want to pop the head off quite yet, maybe run it with the rad cap open and radiator full - looking down in the rad to see if you can see signs of continuous bubbling
in the rad while it's running. That would indicate a bad head gasket or (hopefully not) a cracked head. Likely just a head gasket issue. Good luck with it!

Thank you for the suggestion. Glad I bought the complete gasket kit lol

I can see antifreeze In almost a cylinders and drops in random other places

Hmmm, I'm surprised you see it in all cylinders. Was it cranked over with antifreeze in the pan, giving it a chance to splash around?

I'm guessing it's head gasket time. Or at least, time to pop the head off and check things out. Maybe wipe the antifreeze off the bottom of the sleeves with a paper towel, let it sit, and
see if it starts dripping around one cylinder more than any other. That will narrow down what area to really check out once you take the head off.

If you go to put a new head gasket on, make sure the mating surfaces are cleaned well and level, and be especially careful to make sure the gasket drops fully onto the block over the studs
without binding. A lot of new/aftermarket gaskets have the stud holes slightly off, so they bind up just a hair on the studs when they slide down against the block. Lots of people figure
it'll just squish itself down and fix itself when the heads bolted on, but this isn't the case: The gasket will bind up and bulge around the problematic stud and not seal correctly. This
is especially common and problematic on tractors like the N's where they have the aluminized head gaskets, but it should be checked no matter what tractor/type of gasket is used. Usually a
couple of strokes with a round file will fix any hole that's slightly out of place.

Before taking the head off, look closely at the bottom of the cylinders.
Those have wet sleeves with oring seals at the bottom.

If the coolant is coming from between the liner and the block, the orings
are leaking. If coming down around the piston the head gasket is leaking.

Those also have a reputation for the block cracking between the cylinders
which will cause the coolant to leak. I believe it is caused by freezing,
not a design flaw.

Changing the liner orings is an involved job. It takes extensive cleaning
to get the sealing surface clean when all the block sediment is wanting
to drain down. Best done with the engine out and fully disassembled.
Chances are the crank will need attention if the oil pressure is low.
Those did not run much pressure, if off the peg at idle it is oiling. But
chances are it has been run with coolant in the oil long enough to have
done some damage.

PS: Forgot to add, a shop manual would be a valuable investment. They are not expensive and will pay for itself in mistakes not made!

Madmartigan

A radiator pressure test kit can sometimes help locate a leak. If you don't have one, or know someone that does, some auto parts stores rent/loan them. Use it to pressurize the radiator and leaks generally show up quicker and larger than when just setting there with no pressure on the cooling system.

This post was edited by Jim.ME on 08/18/2023 at 01:50 pm.

I didn t turn it over. Has been sitting for a couple of months. I drained the oils a month or so back and have added any oil. That s why I was really surprised when I pulled the pan again there was that much antifreeze. I will try the paper towels trick

I will check the o rings. Thanks for the advice

I think my local TS has one

Might do that. Thanks