So I bought this Ford 3000 built in Feb. 1967 many years ago pretty much what I needed at the time but rode hard and put away wet far to often. I took it in to my local Ford New Holland dealer to have it looked over and repaired as needed. Basically had the engine rebuilt, new clutch to the tune of $6,000.00. Some years later took it in again to the new local New Holland dealer to again have it looked over, another $5,000.00. The tractor has served me well but I started having an issue with wet stacking, the dreaded black goo dripping down from the vertical muffler and down the side of the engine block. Not wanting to get soaked for yet another 5k I decided it was time to get into the thing myself, good for the mind and body when done safely of course. I love machines and how all the parts work together to make things happen.
Into the shop it went where I pulled the head and found the #2 cylinder valves were just floating around and not sealing at all. The other two weren’t much better either so I figured this may be the problem. The engine did not use oil so how could the black goo be engine oil? After digging around I found the wet stacking is caused by clogged up fuel injectors not from engine oil. This being all new to me I had no clue until I tapped that one website that explained what was causing this. I sent the head off to the local machine shop with new valves and to have them put in valve guides which are not how these tractors were made. Stock the passageway for the valves, the guide, is just a machined hole in the head with no insert or valve guide in the common sense of the term. I ordered a set of new fuel injectors and when the head came back I put it all back together checking oil flow to the rockers and valves when I adjusted the valves, very good flow. The tractor ran better than it ever did when I finished, yippee. Maybe this old blue beast was not dead after all so I decided to start replacing things I knew were bad like the starter and the generator. The starter would spin up but not engage until about the fifth attempt to start the thing, I just lived with it. The generator not charging the battery was dealt with by putting it on a trickle charger which did the job well enough. I decided it was time do something about these two problems and bought replacements which made life much easier. I ordered a wiring harness yet to be installed but very soon it will be. Now for the title.
I ordered a new dip stick which quickly arrived but it was shorter than the dip stick that came with the tractor. First thought was I was sent the wrong replacement dip stick so up on the shelf it went not wanting to deal with sending it back. The original dip stick was working well enough but the rubber around the top had seen better days. Time to change oil again even though I had changed it last fall, oil is cheap. So down to my last five gallon bucket of John Deere oil I decided to use Rotila 15/40 synthetic blend T5. I got two gallons, 8 quarts, which is what this tractor takes. I had this feeling that something was not adding up because the waste oil coming out did not look like eight quarts to me, something was wrong. So after draining the old oil and changing the filter I stuck the new dip stick in the dip stick hole which it fit perfectly. Low and behold the oil level matched up perfectly with the full level on the new dip stick! The owner before me or even before them had just used some dip stick from who knows where. This tractor had been running on low oil for all these years because of this. When I changed the oil last year I used a bulk 5 gallon bucket and just added oil until it came up full on the original dip stick that came with the tractor. Evidentially the repair shops had done the same thing, twice. No telling what damage this has caused to the engine but I got a feeling this old work horse will pull through just fine.
The moral to this story is always check your manual, measure the oil you put in it and do not rely on the dip stick. This tractor I have is 53 years old and has had Lord only knows how many owners. I learned a valuable lesson and want to pass this on to others. If you want to call me stupid the line starts waaaay back over there.
Into the shop it went where I pulled the head and found the #2 cylinder valves were just floating around and not sealing at all. The other two weren’t much better either so I figured this may be the problem. The engine did not use oil so how could the black goo be engine oil? After digging around I found the wet stacking is caused by clogged up fuel injectors not from engine oil. This being all new to me I had no clue until I tapped that one website that explained what was causing this. I sent the head off to the local machine shop with new valves and to have them put in valve guides which are not how these tractors were made. Stock the passageway for the valves, the guide, is just a machined hole in the head with no insert or valve guide in the common sense of the term. I ordered a set of new fuel injectors and when the head came back I put it all back together checking oil flow to the rockers and valves when I adjusted the valves, very good flow. The tractor ran better than it ever did when I finished, yippee. Maybe this old blue beast was not dead after all so I decided to start replacing things I knew were bad like the starter and the generator. The starter would spin up but not engage until about the fifth attempt to start the thing, I just lived with it. The generator not charging the battery was dealt with by putting it on a trickle charger which did the job well enough. I decided it was time do something about these two problems and bought replacements which made life much easier. I ordered a wiring harness yet to be installed but very soon it will be. Now for the title.
I ordered a new dip stick which quickly arrived but it was shorter than the dip stick that came with the tractor. First thought was I was sent the wrong replacement dip stick so up on the shelf it went not wanting to deal with sending it back. The original dip stick was working well enough but the rubber around the top had seen better days. Time to change oil again even though I had changed it last fall, oil is cheap. So down to my last five gallon bucket of John Deere oil I decided to use Rotila 15/40 synthetic blend T5. I got two gallons, 8 quarts, which is what this tractor takes. I had this feeling that something was not adding up because the waste oil coming out did not look like eight quarts to me, something was wrong. So after draining the old oil and changing the filter I stuck the new dip stick in the dip stick hole which it fit perfectly. Low and behold the oil level matched up perfectly with the full level on the new dip stick! The owner before me or even before them had just used some dip stick from who knows where. This tractor had been running on low oil for all these years because of this. When I changed the oil last year I used a bulk 5 gallon bucket and just added oil until it came up full on the original dip stick that came with the tractor. Evidentially the repair shops had done the same thing, twice. No telling what damage this has caused to the engine but I got a feeling this old work horse will pull through just fine.
The moral to this story is always check your manual, measure the oil you put in it and do not rely on the dip stick. This tractor I have is 53 years old and has had Lord only knows how many owners. I learned a valuable lesson and want to pass this on to others. If you want to call me stupid the line starts waaaay back over there.
