Vanishing Oil

[Casetractorman]

Got an issue with my Hoe (Case 9030B) .. Came back to the shop for an oil change after about 150 hours .. (she has 8300 hours) Only about a gallon and a half left in it .. cleaned it up .. Exhaust is good .. blowby virtually non-existent .. turbo is clean .. front and rear main seals are good .. oil pan gasket is good .. there was some loose bolts with some oil on the side cover, but Im having a hard time believing all that oil came out there .. Any thoughts .. my techs are kind of stumped .. granted they are Ag Techs but we service those 5.9 Cummins all the time. She runs like new with lots of power .. and yes I fired the operator .. knows how to run a hoe but forgot how to use a grease gun :Banghead

 

[cat320]

that is amazing with so little oil your lucky you still have an engine.

 

[Casetractorman]

I am lucky I know .. that is a great motor though .. we have them in the field working up here in the crazy hot summers and bitter cold winters that have gone 25000 hours with no major issues .. When an engine lasts that long on a farm here in the northeast its got to be good

 

[cat320]

I have a 580L and i think they have the 3.9's in them . never had a problem with it yet.

 

[Bob Horrell]

What year is the motor. There was a few years - between 94 and 98 - where the 5.9 had a dowel pin problem. Behind the timing chain cover there is a dowel pin that would work its way out on about 1 to 2% of the engines in the above years. When this happens it gets lodged between a gear and the timing chain case and cracks the case causing a pretty good oil leak. This is the only problem it caused and usually it wound up in the oil pan after the damage was done. If your engine is in the above range, look on the left lower timing cover (standing in front of the engine) to see if there is any damage. If there is, sometimes JB Weld will fix the problem - a lot simpler and cheaper than a new cover. The only function of the dowel pin was as a locator during assembly. It does not need to be replaced.

 

[Casetractorman]

Thank you Bob .. I will check that out .. it is a 96 Model Year .. I will repost tomorrow with results

 

[rino1494]

.. knows how to run a hoe but forgot how to use a grease gun :Banghead

Sounds like he forgot how to check the oil. We check ours every morning before start up.

 

[Ford LT-9000]

There are all kinds of places for the oil to dissapear have you checked the radiator ?

Have you checked the turbo if the turbo seals are gone that eats up alot of oil.

With us out here where I'am at before the key even goes into the ignition of the machine the oil/water is checked and check the belts and hoses. It doesn't matter if its a brandnew machine still have to check the oil and other fluid levels.

 

[Casetractorman]

Checked the timing chain cover for breaks or cracks and found nothing .. one of the first things we checked was the radiator .. clean fluid not overfull .. both sides of the turbo are dry .. was going to start using synthetic oil but given I cant find where the old oil went am not gonna spend premium dollars to see it all leak out .. Will watch it very closely and keep you posted .

As for the operator .. he no longer runs my equipment .. I am meticulous bout my hoe .. greased every 8 hours .. oil change every 150 hours .. all fluid levels checked morning, noon and night. If it needs it .. it gets it. Takes two minutes to check .. lesson learned .. dont "EXPECT" that the daily maintenance gets done without some spot checks if you want your investment to last. Hopefully my hoe is still sound and the lesson is just aggrivating not expensive

 

[Ford LT-9000]

I wouldn't use synthetic oil its a big waste of money on a old B series engine it doesn't need it. Keep using a good dino oil like Delo 400 or Shell Rottella the synthetic has no benefit on a old engine. If the manufacture specifys it use it but other wise stick with dino oil.

 

[KSSS]

I wouldn't say there is no benifit to synthetic oil in an older engine. I run Amsoil in my pickups, and dump trucks. I don't run it my heavier equipment only because I trade the iron out at around 1500 hours. The 9020B is an exception and I may use synthetic in that as I will have it for a while. Other benifiits of synthetic oil are better starting ability in the winter, run cooler, less soot build up (big thing on older engines). If you run synthetic you most likely get by only changing filters at you scheduled oil change interval rather than the oil. An oil sample would tell you if the oil needed to be changed.

 

[Ford LT-9000]

The engine in the machine has 8300hrs on it and if the engine hasn't been rebuilt its on the verge of needing a rebuild. A marinized version of the B series Cummins don't get that many hours without needing attention.

If he wants to run a full synthetic go with Vavoline Premium Blue Extreme its used by Cummins for all their new big trucks and run fleetguard Filters.

Any of the contractors I work for all run dino oil in excavators and change it at the recommended hours. Excavators work in pretty extreme conditions being its dusty the machine is working on extreme angles the oil is sloshing around in the oil pan.

I would run the machine on dino and when it comes to doing the next change take a sample to get tested to see how well the engine is doing.

 

[stevinmonteur]

cummins 5.9

Worn out valve-guides ?
I had the same problem with a Liebherr, no leaks, no smoke. The oil vanished into the hydraulictank because of a leaking seal of the servo-pump mounted on the distribution of the engine.

marco