1955 300 burns tons of oil

PretendFarmer · Jan 7, 2015

I picked up a 300 A while back. When it's running it burns quite a bit of oil. I figured it just had worn out rings or needed the head redone. Today I ran a compression test on it just to see and it has very good compression. 130 psi on all four. So now I am really wondering how could it be burning so much oil. My thought is it must have some type of crankcase breather blockage. When I say it's burning tons of oil it has burnt at least 2 1/2 quarts of oil in less than 15 hours of operation time. What do you all think?

mkirsch · Jan 7, 2015

Is it smoking blue? If not, the oil could be leaking out rather than burning...

old · Jan 7, 2015

Ah but what the history on it?? If say it sat a long time it could well be as simple as sticking oil rings. Or it could also be caused by carbon build up. I would try this. Put say a 1/4 cup or ATF in each cylinder and also mix a what is left into 2 gal of gas and run it and see if the oil burning slows down.

Dean Olson · Jan 7, 2015

I had an H like that once. Good compression but burned blue
smoke and spit oil droplets out the exhaust. Use a quart every
tank of fuel. I suspect someone in the past did an inframe
cobbled up rebuild and didn't replace the valve guides.

Mattered not as it had plenty of power to run a 6' shredder for
years till I sold it.

PretendFarmer · Jan 7, 2015

(quoted from post at 20:26:02 01/07/15) Ah but what the history on it?? If say it sat a long time it could well be as simple as sticking oil rings. Or it could also be caused by carbon build up. I would try this. Put say a 1/4 cup or ATF in each cylinder and also mix a what is left into 2 gal of gas and run it and see if the oil burning slows down.

I have no knowledge of its use before me. The guy claimed he used it once in a while but it ran horribly bad when I got it. Had to adjust valves as they were way out of whack. I will give the ATF idea a shot. May run a couple bottles through. So 1/4th cup in each cylinder and some in the gas?

old · Jan 7, 2015

Ya a1/4 cup in each cylinder and let it sit a few days. Put the plugs back in to keep dirt etc out. Then pull the plugs and spin it over to clear the cylinder of ATF and start it up. Yes it will smoke a lot at first but should clear up. If the valves where way out of whack they maybe carboned up which will cause oil burning. And yes a qt to 2 or 3 gal of gas the clean things up and lube the upper part of the engine

rustyfarmall · Jan 7, 2015

(quoted from post at 14:32:00 01/07/15)

(quoted from post at 20:26:02 01/07/15) Ah but what the history on it?? If say it sat a long time it could well be as simple as sticking oil rings. Or it could also be caused by carbon build up. I would try this. Put say a 1/4 cup or ATF in each cylinder and also mix a what is left into 2 gal of gas and run it and see if the oil burning slows down.

Click to expand...

I have no knowledge of its use before me. The guy claimed he used it once in a while but it ran horribly bad when I got it. Had to adjust valves as they were way out of whack. I will give the ATF idea a shot. May run a couple bottles through. So 1/4th cup in each cylinder and some in the gas?

If the rings were stuck, your compression test would not result in 130 psi.

Janicholson · Jan 7, 2015

If the smoke (assumed o be there) is much less when running under load, and gets worse idling or going down hill, it is probably valve guides. With good compression, putting seals on the stems under the retainers is cheap and simple. Even umbrella seals will make a drastic difference. Perfect Circle style seals are better. I use a 2 foot length of cotton rope pushed in through the spark plug hole (with some hanging out) then turn the engine by hand till the rope holds the valves shut. (assumes the rocker has been removed and the pushrods pulled out to allow removal of the keepers and retainers/springs. The seals are installed and the retainer/keepers put back on. The seals keep all but a small amount of oil from being sucked past the guides.
If the engine smokes under load, it is going to take additional work to diagnose (possibly rebuild) and cure the problem. Synthetic diesel grade oil 15-40 can also be a partial solution. Jim

jerry-ohio · Jan 7, 2015

You can have bad or broken oil rings and still have good compression. Make sure that your breather isn't plugged.

old · Jan 7, 2015

Oil rings can be stuck and the compression ring not and cause that problem of burning a lot of oil seen it more then once

PretendFarmer · Jan 7, 2015

(quoted from post at 23:52:02 01/07/15) You can have bad or broken oil rings and still have good compression. Make sure that your breather isn't plugged.

Are you talking about the one coming off the valve cover? Its good. There is one on the front of the block that has a tube going toward the throttle linkage.

L.Fure · Jan 7, 2015

Put a can of Seafoam in the crank case. If the oil rings are stuck the Seafoam should clean/loosen them up. A can in the gas tank wouldn't hurt either.

rhtx55 · Jan 7, 2015

Fist thing I would do is change the engine oil & filter.
If the hydraulic pump seals had ever went bad, it had been leaking hydraulic oil into the crankcase diluting the engine oil.
I would also change the hydraulic oil as well, replace with hy-trans equivalent. Keep a very careful check of both levels during operation. If the hydraulic oil gets low, as the engine oil gets higher, then the pump seals are bad.
Could be worn valve guides, if so, it would smoke more at start up & clear up as the engine warms.
What color are the plugs?
Black, sooty, tan, oil soaked ?

pete 23 · Jan 7, 2015

Try some of the suggested remedies and if that does not help, most likely the oil rings are just plum worn out. You can have very good compression and still burn lots of oil. Also, if the oil rings are bad, that much oil moving past will help seal compression rings for a good reading. Also, where does a piston get it's lubrication from. It is from the throw off of the connection rods. Therefore, excessive clearance on rod bearings causes more oil for rings to control. That is one thing no one ever seems to consider but it is a subject preached in rebuild school.

S2710 · Jan 7, 2015

Had a H that had good compression but used oil big time. The motor was supposed to of been just overhauled so I took it apart and every oil ring the spring part was broke. Put in a new set of rings and now it is good.

Bob

PretendFarmer · Jan 7, 2015

The plugs are literally soaked in oil. All of them have oil on them but some are worse than others. It burns a bunch of oil on startup but continues to burn it after that. If you start it with the barn doors shut itll fill up with so much smoke you can't see. After it runs for about a minute the smoke goes down a little. The best way to keep it from smoking a lot is to keep the rpms up. If you let it idle too long it'll foul out a plug.

Definitely not leaking hyd oil into the engine or vice versa.
I'll be starting the atf idea in the morning.

Janicholson · Jan 8, 2015

Massive oil on startup is (strongly) associated with valve guide issues. The oil drains down the guides and pools on the valve/runs into the cyl. If no help with the atf, put valve seals in it as I described below. Jim

cornerpost · Jan 8, 2015

In addition to the engine internals do not forget to
check for a restriction in air filter or breather
such as dirt or critter nest. Will not effect
compression test(probably) but if intake is
restricted it will try to suck air from crankcase
and bring some oil with it.

PretendFarmer · Jan 8, 2015

Where can I get replacement ones? I should do them on my H puller to as it smokes but hardly at all.

old · Jan 8, 2015

Valve seals should come in what is called the head set gasket pack.

D Slater · Jan 8, 2015

That's the way they get when worn and nothing really fails. Time to rebuild.

Janicholson · Jan 8, 2015

IH never used them on older tractors (probably do now) Umbrella seals are generic and purchased according to valve stem diameter. PC style are also stem dependent and also slip over the guide upper end (may require machining, may not). NAPA etc. will have or get. Jim

rustyfarmall · Jan 8, 2015

(quoted from post at 10:32:18 01/08/15) Valve seals should come in what is called the head set gasket pack.

Valve seals are not original to the letter or early number series IH tractors. Therefore, they are not included in a valve grind gasket set.

PretendFarmer · Jan 11, 2015

I let the cylinders soak in atf for 3 days. After I cranked it over without plugs in I put the plugs back in. It was slow to start but after that it ran phenomenally better. It runs so much smoother now. I disconnected the oil bath filter and put more atf right into the carb. It smoked a lot. I'll look into valve guide seals but in the mean time the tractor has much more power. I can let it idle forever now and the plugs don't seem to foul out.

Janicholson · Jan 11, 2015

Very good. Jim

1955 300 burns tons of oil

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