What does a sign of water in engine oil mean?

I just bought a 4020 JD diesel tractor that the owner said it had a sign of water in the oil . But i can not find any water pulled the drain plug just oil came out . There was some water out the weep holes on the side of the block but not bad. I ran it a good 30 to 45 minutes wide open and it never wanted to get hot . So maybe the seller did not know what he was talking about. I bought it well worth the money even if i have to put a head gasket on but as of right now i do not think it needs anything but i may be wrong.

Water in the oil usually means the owner found some gray looking oil on the dipstick. It might take some time for it to accumulate enough internal leaking for that to be apparent. Antifreeze in the oil WILL eat the bearings FAST. If you want to chance it, I would drain the antifreeze and put in straight water and some Barr's leak and run it for the summer monitoring the oil closely, then switch back to antifreeze in the fall if the oil stays clear.

Any sign of knock and shut it down fast before you throw a rod through the block.

Try this. Let the tractor sit for a few days- the longer the better. The crack the drain plug so you can work it by hand. Use a small pan and crack the plug very slowly until it starts to weep a little, keeping the pan or cup under it. If oil is coming out, no problem. If water comes out, you're getting water from somewhere. If it's antifreeze, you'll be able to tell. This may signal a cracked oring on a cylinder, a cavitated cylinder, or a blown head gasket, and may be worth looking into.

Ask him what sign he saw. Sometimes, you can get condensation build-up on the dipstick, and valve cover caps, on engines that are used little, and not run enough to heat the water vapor out of them.

I'll second DonJr and DIYDave. If there really is a problem it will be under the oil in the crankcase. Condensation in the oil is not uncommon if the engine is not worked hard enough to get hot enough to make the condensation evaporate, but it will show up in the breather.

Just keep an eye on the color of the oil.

If it's light coffee colored you've got issues.

If it's clear and clean you've probably got nothing to worry about.

Also keep your eyes open for white smoke (steam) from the exhaust.

On a head gasket, if one is leaking bubbles in the radiator reservoir while running will give it away. Also, if you find yourself adding water. As I recall that radiator has the baffle right up at the fill neck so it is hard to see water in the tank. Other thing you might do is smell the radiator. If it smells like something other than antifreeze then it possibly is a problem.

That engine is wet sleeved. Has a gasket to seal off the water on top, then a weep hole, then another gasket of the bottom to seal the crank case. The weep hole is there deliberately to warn you when a seal is leaking, type of fluid tells you which gasket is at fault.

And, as mentioned, pin holes do occur in wet sleeve engines and that lets coolant into either the combustion chamber, the crankcase or both.

JD makes a pint bottle of coolant treatment that I used to put in mine every spring which is supposed to reduce the "ions" in the water which are supposedly responsible for the pin holes. I had an OTR truck with a 800 cu. in. Cummins and it had a filter in the water line called an "ionization filter" for the purpose of preventing the problem.

HTH,

Mark

youre screwed

What Redneckpuller said,

When those weep holes are seeping, she's gotta come clear down to parade rest.

Allan

I also agree with what DonJr and DIYDave stated.Very good advice

I had a 4020 that did that. Pinholed sleeves, total overhaul. Be prepared to spend over $7000 depending on what you find.