engine on 856

I got some tips from here a couple years ago about what to do to an 856 that went in the shed running about 5 years ago. Initial look and the oil looked good...nothing in it. Changed the fuel & filters and she started right up. I noticed the radiator was down so I put antifreeze in it. Poured in the two gallon I had and then went to change the oil. Surprise, out came almost five gallon of runny black liquid. Oil should have been 2.5 gallon and my antifreeze was another 2+. I"m not really mechanical, so what can I do? Is this going to be a $500 or $5000 fix? It was my grandpas, so junking it isn"t in the mix. Just want to figure how long it is going to be before I can afford to get it looked at and what might be the issue. Gasket failure?

I would fix it.Since it was grandpa's,even more so.I would look at head gasket first.Its a dry sleeve engine,so no o-ring/liner issue there.Even if it cost $5000(It wont).Can you buy another 856 for $5000? NO.Who says you have to fix it all at once/now?Pull the head and look.See what you have,save some money,shop around.It can set right there where it has(5 years) for a little while longer while you fix it....

Well is the rad. down two plus gallons now??? if the radiator is down then yep ya got a leak some place as to where not sure as i am not there looking at it . But antifreeze would come out first when ya pull the plug normally . And runny BLACK would sound more like fuel in the oil due to the seals on the injection pump. And if the oil cooler was leaking you would have oil in the Rad. As for coolant level it should be down about two inches from the bottom of the filler neck otherwise it will push it out as the engine warms. Now if this tractor did not have a strong enough antifreeze mixture in it it could have froze and cracked the block or head over time . Here again i am not there to look it over . Before i would have even thought about getting it running i would have checked the rad first to see if there was coolant then i would have cracked the drain plug to see what came out first. Now normally if it did have coolant in the crankcase and you did fire her up the oil would look like milky mud and antifreeze oil and engines don't mix well and will take out the bearings and crank and cam . SOOOOOOoooooo hear is what to do , remove the oil pan fill the rad with coolant -water if it is not freezing and get a radiator pressure tester and pump up the cooling system to around 18-20 psi and start looking for drips also remove the valve cover as that way you can see if it is coming from on top of the head , may save ya extra work. If you find nothing then all you are out is a pan gskt and a valve cover gskt.

I agree to all of the above...my Uncle sold his like-new 856 in 1986, I was away at college and had no idea he was selling all his stuff, I'm still kicking myself for not asking him if he was keeping it after he sold his farm! Don't make the mistake I did, fix that rascal and enjoy it on a cold day out plowing and listen to that 407 roar! Hugh