quick question on early 60s 188D case backhoe head gasket

[diver]

I have an older 188D case backhoe that i believe needs a head gasket.. After reading forum i see i could be in for a major repair.. My question is when running i get a slight sucking sound in exhaust and engine oil in radiator . Not a lot of oil but have to leave radiator cap loose to let out pressure from engine. No coolant in oil.. Does this sound like a blown head gasket. The tractor starts and runs fine . I have never use either on it and have owned it for 4 years. any info would be greatly appreciated.
diver

 

[onemank6]

Hi Diver is yours a power shuttle if so there should be oil lines that are attached to the bottom of your radiator it has a cooler in the bottom of the radiator that cools the shuttle oil.I have read where others have had trouble with this cooler leaking into the antifreeze not saying thats whats happening in your case but you may want to eliminate this before you pull the head....heres a pic of the front of my 580 with power shuttle you can see the lines attached to the bottom of the radiator and the orange shuttle oil filter housing on the right.....is your tractor the 580.???? let us know what you come up with theres some really smart good guys on this site that im sure will jump in here.....

 

[diver]

Hi xpackdeals thanks for your reply. Mine is a mechanical clutch shuttle if that makes any sense. I have to push clutch in to go to reverse or forward.. I have a high and low range and 4 speeds and the lever for forward and reverse. I know i have no oil lines going to radiator , The oil going into radiator is black like the engine oil. Heck i change oil every month in summer and do not run it in winter but never see oil with more that a qt low between changes
thanks diver

 

[onemank6]

Ok diver i have heard of the mechanical shuttle but have only seen pics of them and yea they are different than the power shuttle. So it has to be like you have said somethings up within the engine for sure i wish i knew more about the internals of these so i could be of more help to you but hang in there as there are others on here who know these like the back of their hand on im sure they will help you ....

 

[diver]

Thanks for the reply. I know if its more than a head gasket i will be parting the ol girl out. Ive read on forums it costs over a grand to fix just in parts if rebuild is needed.. . I am just so afraid of killing the engine if only a headgasket.. thanks again
diver

 

[onemank6]

Hey diver i hope you dont end up parting it out .....I dont know if you know how to pm someone on here but if you go to the top of this page you will see a thing saying private message click on that and it pretty much walks you threw it...You might try to pm melben he is very knowledgeable about these and he maybe able to give you the info your looking for.....

 

[El Hombre]

Get your hands on a cooling system pressure tester; Stant is a popular one. Remove the rad cap and install the tester cap on the rad. Guessing you have a 5# cap, so pump up the gauge to 5. Watch the needle on the gauge. Is it steady, or dropping? Dropping means you got a leak, all you got to do is find it.

Oil into the cooling jacket isn't a common failure point. Does this engine have wet sleeves? You get a lot more complications with those instead of a normal block. Usually it's a crack in a block that contains an oil passage and the crack is into the water jacket. The oil pressure is probably around 50# and the pressure in the water jacket is maybe 5#. So the oil injects into the water.

Does it overheat? If all you're getting is a little oil, and everything else is OK. I'd be tempted to leave well enough alone.

 

[diver]

thanks for the reply hombre ,I could not tell you if is has wet sleeves as i have not opened the motor up yet. I do remember a couple of years ago i saw some black oil in coolant and added some block sealer. The oil cleared up but now is back with a sucking sound in exhaust.. The tractor does not overheat but i have to add qt coolant for about every hour of use as im sure it would if i was not on top of checking fluids. I have to leave radiator cap loose or the coolant shoots out the overflow at the driver(me lol).. ,, I guess what im asking is if most people thought it was a head gasket id change it. I know i cant afford to do a rebuild.

 

[El Hombre]

When can you hear a sucking sound in the exhaust? Normally there's so much noise, all you hear is the exhaust pulse. Having to leave the rad cap off is not good. Is the cap ancient? Try a new one with a functional seal and pressure spring.

Do the fast, easy, cheap, stuff like the cap, pressure testing the system, then go from there. Lots of places to go wrong, so don't assume it's a head gasket. Find out where/what it really is.

There's another thread on the 188d on the first page here. That one has sleeves, you probably do as well. But then who knows exactly what was installed and or if it's still in there!

 

[diver]

I can hear sucking sound plain as day lol.. I even pulled the muffler off and could hear it. I read that whole thread of xpackdeals. Lots of good info.. Heck i might tear the head off and find some stupid thing from someone else that has been in it.. I found this gentleman that has the gasket sets i will need if it is a narrow flange or wide flange....http://saeliimplement.com/product/case-430-530-630-tractor-g37093-gasket-set/ ............thanks for the info
diver

 

[diver]

Here is a vid of engine running, tell me what you all think the problem is if i even have a problem http://vid1172.photobucket.com/albums/r571/budvoss/tractor_zpssat9nxub.mp4
thanks diver

 

[lantraxco]

If you have to leave the cap loose, you have a combustion gas leak into the coolant, probably a bad head gasket, cracked head, etc. The black that you think is oil may be from combustion gasses, I've seen it before.

 

[diver]

thanks for the really great info .
diver