Grey oil in Tractor

[Plowboy_TX]

I have a 1949 John Deere "B" that I noticed the oil was kinda grey looking not 4 hours of running since the oil was changed. Also my Magneto housing in broken on the bottom and every now and then, a little oil would drip out, thats how I noticed it.

I keep her in the barn all the time im not using her, so I'm sure its not rain water. The cooling fluid only dropped about 1 inch over the same 4 hour run period too. I have the antifreeze at -30deg F, and it only gets into the teens here so im sure it never froze.

Im not getting any water out the exuahst pipe or white smoke either. In fact, besides the grey color of the oil, she runs fine, oil pressure, water temp and power seem normal, but im scared to run it till I find out whats going on.

Could this be just a head gasket? I fear its worse

 

[Triple D]

I have a 1949 John Deere "B" that I noticed the oil was kinda grey looking not 4 hours of running since the oil was changed. Also my Magneto housing in broken on the bottom and every now and then, a little oil would drip out, thats how I noticed it.

I keep her in the barn all the time im not using her, so I'm sure its not rain water. The cooling fluid only dropped about 1 inch over the same 4 hour run period too. I have the antifreeze at -30deg F, and it only gets into the teens here so im sure it never froze.

Im not getting any water out the exuahst pipe or white smoke either. In fact, besides the grey color of the oil, she runs fine, oil pressure, water temp and power seem normal, but im scared to run it till I find out whats going on.

Could this be just a head gasket? I fear its worse

Sure it could just be a head gasket or any number of other things. Obviously you got a problem. I had a ford diesel do the same thing. Mine ran fine too, for awhile. It wound up being a a pin hole in one of the cylinder walls. If you don't use it much or don't want to do an overhaul, you could try some of that block sealer (mechanic in a can). They tell me that stuff's come a long way from the old liquid glass. I still don't like it and would only use it to finish a job if I didn't have time to fix it right. Hope things go well for you.

 

[Medic24]

No way around it.... contaminated by water or the like..some how. Good Luck! :cboy:

 

[Plowboy_TX]

Well a friend told me to check the push rod tubes by taking the valve cover off, parking it on a hill facing down and running it to see if water runs out on the tubes. Nadda

I guess I have no choice but to put on my Mechanic hat and get dirty

Too bad its not all clean work like raising cattle

Thanks for the help y'all