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Ford 861 blown head gasket?

C

Cowboy2005

Member
Hi, so our ford 860 (or 861 it one of the two) has always smoked a little from a minor gas leak on the line coming from the gas tank, it's on my to fix list. Anyway while brush hogging the other day it started smoking a lot more and seemed to be a little overheated, so I stopped brush hogging let the tractor idle down to cool off and then shut it off. I had fill the radiator fluid almost completely full and checked the oil, so it should have been fine? Whenever I run the tractor tho it smokes pretty good and kinda appears to be coming from the side of the engine block which makes me worried I may have blown the head gasket? How do I tell? I talked with my moms cousin who is a dairy farmer, he thinks I may have been working the tractor a little to hard, which I wouldn't doubt. It's a five foot brush mower and Ethier a ford 860 or 861 again not really sure. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
 

How many hours on it? They don't go forever without a rebuild. A head gasket usually resents itself as low compression in one or 2 cylinders, water in the oil or oil in the water. The overheating can be as simple as no one washing the radiator fins out in the past month, much less 40 years.
 
Most of the time a compression check will tell you if you have a blown head gasket. A few weeks ago I got a call to work on a 641 that didn't have the power it should have had. I checked the compression and #2 and #2 cylinder had 30PSI so I pulled the head and sure enough it was blown head gasket
 
I dont know the hours on it, it's my
brother's tractor and it he bought but
then it sat for 4 years with two flat
tires and bad brakes. I just recently got
it running. How would I check
compression? I will flush the radiator
tho, I doubt if that's ever been done on
that tractor
 
Buy or rent a compression gauge. Place like O'Reilly's rent them sort of. You buy it then use it bring it back and they give you your $$ back. When you do a compression check you pull all the plugs out. Do not mix up the plug wires so as to not get the firing order out of wack. Throttle wide open and choke open.
 
Usually smoke from the side of the engine is oil leaking from the valve cover onto the exhaust.

A blown head gasket is usually internal, as in blown between cylinders or from a cylinder to the water jacket.

Symptoms are mystery coolant loss, blowing coolant out the cap even before the engine is hot, steam out the exhaust, coolant in the oil, overheating, misfire, liquid locked engine when starting.

These are extreme symptoms, not all will be present early on in the failure.

Be sure the radiator is clean, inside and out, the thermostat is in and working, the radiator cap is good, no leaks, the water pump belt is good and not slipping.

First though, fix the gas leak!!! Look for the oil leak. Keep a watch on the temperature and coolant level. The coolant won't stay totally full, just keep it above the core tubes, see if it will level off after a few uses. Keep the radiator fins clean, always check frequently.
 
It doesn't take long bush hogging to plug the outside of radiator and grill area. Clean that area, check coolant level and and try again. There is a crankcase breather on the engine and you may just have normal blow-by coming out of it which would resemble smoke. The blow-by would be heavier if the tractor is not run regularly and is burning off condensation in the crankcase oil.------Loren
 
If the radiator was completely filled cold, you will push some out when hot. Normal full cold is 1 inch above the radiator core. On the right of the engine towards the back is a breather which will emit a fog of crankcase blow by. If the engine sat for a long period of time you could be losing some compression to the crankcase or water from the oil out this breather. New oil and filter; blow the radiator out air side and new antifreeze coolant are in order.
 

Cowboy, As others have said it is not that likely that you have blown the head gasket, most likely you just have blow by, and as long as it powers your mower you have enough power. As Brett said you should clean between the fins of the radiator. That is NOT flushing it. Just spray some water through the fins from the fan side of it towards the front. When I am brush hogging I watch the temp gauge and once it climbs a little above normal I stop and clean the screen. It takes about an hour and a half of mowing. If you really want to check compression the kits are not that expensive. The same one came up for me from $19.00 to $35.00
 
I'm a little confused. Was the coolant level in the radiator lower after you stopped then when you started? Where does the smoke come from? Is it coming out of the oil fill cap? As stated the front of the radiator can collect lots of debris and reduce air flow through it. Fold the grill down to access it and wipe it off if need be.
 
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