Thanks for the responses so far. The drill is John Henry drill which, in this case, is a drill boom mounted on a PC160 Komatsu excavator with a compressor setup taking the place of the counterweight on the rear. Because of this the compresor engine is setting a fair distance from the drill itself, even when drilling with the boom sucked in. Usually though the drilling is done with the boom setting about half extended just to keep as much flying debris from hitting the cab.
That said the engine is a diesel with an open draft tube straight off the top of the valve cover. It was not blocked, that was one of the first things I checked. There is no plausible way to hold pressure inside the engine in any way, shape, form, or fashion that I can come up with. Too the end of the draft tube is hanging in mid air and is located in an area where it wouldn't be accessible for someone to get to to manually block off.....especially with the engine running. Like I said the dipstick should have blown out before the valve cover went but it hadn't moved.
As far as something hitting it, the engine is located in an enclosed compartment located at the rear of the machine. The way it sits the majority of the part of the valve cover that broke is covered by a solid sheet of metal located about 3 inches above it. The metal sheet is rigid and can't move so there is no possibility that itshifted and did the damage. The rest is covered by the hatch which, again is solid but sets about 14 inches above it. The way the air to the aftercooler is piped across the part not covered at 3 inches leaves one spot less than 3 inshes wide for a foot, etc to hit it, and another spot maybe 5 inches long for something to hit it. Funny thing the exposed spots aren't where it broke. Beyond something flying up out of the hole, back 20 plus feet, and then reversing direction and heading forward into one of the cutouts on the housing, nothing can get inside. In other words a piece of rock big enough to do any damage is an impossibility.
So, good thinking so far based on just what info I gave
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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