Sludge in 1945 M oil pan

tcanthonyii · Jul 10, 2008

I was changing the oil tonight in the M and noticed a fair amount of sludge in drain plug. I stuck my finger up in the whole only to find that there was more than a 1/2 inch of sludge all of the bottom. How bad is this? I am planning of pulling that oil pan off now and cleaning it out. Would I be right in doing so r would it cause more harm? Also what would I expect to pay for the new gasket?

Thanks

T.C.

PaulW_NJ · Jul 11, 2008

By all means drop the pan and clean it out. Be sure to clean the oil pickup. . . . see if there"s a screen on it. I"m not familiar with the M"s design, but I"ve done the same with my 240 and 340. I"ve had to remove the oil pickup screen and soak it in kerosene. I buy pan gaskets, and filters, at NAPA, where prices are lower than from IH. Some of these tractors didn"t see many oil changes.

Bob M · Jul 11, 2008

TC - Not at all unusual for a tractor that ran many years on non-detergent oil. (My Super H had a good ½” layer of gray, putty-like sludge in the pan when I dropped it)

Not a bad idea to drop the pan and clean the stuff out. Also while the pan’s off remove and clean up the oil pump pickup float/screen assembly.

For a replacement pan gasket I’ve had excellent luck making my own with Permatex black RTV “gasket maker”. The stuff seals better than the original cork gasket, yet it comes apart easily if/when required. And a tube of gasket maker is cheaper than a replacement gasket.
RTV gasket maker

kossuth · Jul 11, 2008

Probiably won't hurt a thing to clean it out. In fact if it gets bad enough it could plug up your oil pump pickup. I wouldn't be in a super rush to do it though, but if you have the time what the hey. Thing I'd be saying to myself though is if there is that much gunk in the pan how much is there everywhere else IE valve cover ect ect. What kinda oil you running in it? I'd run just regular old cheapo 10w40 and haven't had a problem with our M or 450 sludging up. When you get the pan off you're gonna see all that crud all over the rest of the inside of the motor too. At that time you'll say to yourself "Man, I gotta get that outta there too". You can get most of that crud out of the bottom end of the motor pretty good with the pan off using 3-4 cans of brake cleaner, but you would have to pull the valvecover to get the topend and to be honest it isn't a super big deal to be honest that I'd be yanking the valvecover for that. Brake clean should get most of the gunk outta the bottom end, but you'll inevitably have some left in there. I'd pay particular attention to the oil pump pickup and the oil return passages and make sure you got them cleaned up good. Also, as far as the gasket goes it's probiably right around $10 or so but I'm not sure. You could try some RTV and get by if you're comfortable doing such (I've done it a few times and haven't had a problem) but you can't have it seep into the crankcase. RTV vs oil pump = destruction of motor so that one is up to you. If you do clean the inside of the crank case out with brake clean you gotta and I mean gotta take a squirt can of fresh engine oil and spray it all over everything up in there after the brake clean evaporates. That brake clean will dissolve and remove every little bit of oil it comes in contact and not leave a residue like carb cleaner. The chrolinated stuff works much better and evaporates faster but can be very harmful to engine seals and such. The nonchrolinated stuff isn't nearly as bad for seals or you for that matter LOL. I'm sure someone else will chime in but I don't see a problem with it you just gotta be smart about it.

kossuth · Jul 11, 2008

(quoted from post at 05:14:18 07/11/08) Probiably won't hurt a thing to clean it out. In fact if it gets bad enough it could plug up your oil pump pickup. I wouldn't be in a super rush to do it though, but if you have the time what the hey. Thing I'd be saying to myself though is if there is that much gunk in the pan how much is there everywhere else IE valve cover ect ect. What kinda oil you running in it? I'd run just regular old cheapo 10w40 and haven't had a problem with our M or 450 sludging up. When you get the pan off you're gonna see all that crud all over the rest of the inside of the motor too. At that time you'll say to yourself "Man, I gotta get that outta there too". You can get most of that crud out of the bottom end of the motor pretty good with the pan off using 3-4 cans of brake cleaner, but you would have to pull the valvecover to get the topend and to be honest it isn't a super big deal to be honest that I'd be yanking the valvecover for that. Brake clean should get most of the gunk outta the bottom end, but you'll inevitably have some left in there. I'd pay particular attention to the oil pump pickup and the oil return passages and make sure you got them cleaned up good. Also, as far as the gasket goes it's probiably right around $10 or so but I'm not sure. You could try some RTV and get by if you're comfortable doing such (I've done it a few times and haven't had a problem) but you can't have it seep into the crankcase. RTV vs oil pump = destruction of motor so that one is up to you. If you do clean the inside of the crank case out with brake clean you gotta and I mean gotta take a squirt can of fresh engine oil and spray it all over everything up in there after the brake clean evaporates. That brake clean will dissolve and remove every little bit of oil it comes in contact and not leave a residue like carb cleaner. The chrolinated stuff works much better and evaporates faster but can be very harmful to engine seals and such. The nonchrolinated stuff isn't nearly as bad for seals or you for that matter LOL. I'm sure someone else will chime in but I don't see a problem with it you just gotta be smart about it.

lso wanted to mention plan on doing two filter changes and oil changes if you do this. Clean er out and work the snot outta it for 3-4 hours and come back with the motor good and hot and change it again. You'll be surprised how much more junk comes out if you run it with just detergent oil IE 10W40 in it. You may notice a few more oil leaks here and there though with that crud gone. Just a FYI

tcanthonyii · Jul 11, 2008

Wish i had the means to work it to death. I only have an acre which includes my house, but I can come up with something!

I had planned on doing 2 changes or maybe even more if it needs done.

T.C.

Sludge in 1945 M oil pan

tcanthonyii

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Bob M

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kossuth

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tcanthonyii

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