[Farmall] Farmall H Questions,

[Mike Sloane]

I agree with the comments below. I suspect that the tractor has been 
used with non detergent motor oil, which does not suspend the dirt and 
other contaminants. If you really want to clean things out, change the 
oil and replace it with something like 10W-30 or 15W-40 and run the 
engine until it gets good and warm - maybe half an hour at speed, not 
just sitting and idling. Then change the oil and filter again. You will 
get out a LOT of the sludge and crud.  As DBigdog mentioned, you may 
have to repeat the process to get everything out (as the directions on 
the hair shampoo bottle reads: "lather, rinse, repeat"). And you will 
probably find that the rings will loosen up, bringing the compression up 
a little. But chances are that the rings are worn at this point - if you 
are getting "blow by" (gray fumes out of the valve cover vent) or gray 
oily exhaust, chances are your rings could be due for replacement. On 
the other hand, if you don't want to spend the money or tear into the 
engine, I have several tractors in that state, and they have been 
working for me satisfactorily for several years. :-)

Some folks will have a heart attack over the suggestion to use 
multiweight detergent oil, and they are certainly entitled to their 
opinion. I have been using NAPA "fleet service" 15W-40 (or the New 
Holland equivalent) in ALL of my 4 stroke engines from lawn mowers to 60 
hp diesel tractors and have yet to have a lubrication related failure. 
(I cannot be bothered keeping different oils for different tractors, 
except, of course, for two stroke engines.)

Finally, the IT manuals are OK as far as they go, but I strongly 
recommend getting the IH service manual for the tractor - it is much 
more thorough and helpful. Go to <www.binderbooks.com> for the best 
quality manuals at reasonable prices.

Mike

DBigdog wrote:
> 90 is not great but it should run reasonably well but will be down some on 
> power.  100 - 120 or  a bit higher would be better but it may come up some 
> after you run it a while - especially if it has some rings stuck.
>     Under no circumstances would I run an engine with nothing but kerosene 
> in the crankcase.  Not enough lube value in the kerosene.  Add a little 
> seafoam to the oil and watch it closely - when it turns black - change it. 
> Be prepared to change it often for a while until you get the sludge flushed 
> out.
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Barney Van De Weert
> To: Farmall List
> Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 7:46 PM
> Subject: [Farmall] Farmall H Questions,
> 
> 
> Working on my "52" H today, did a compression check and came up w 90 Lbs in 
> 3 cyls and 100 in one of them. After squirting oil in all of them they came 
> up about 5 Lbs ea. Is 90 PSI about right for a std piston engine? Santa 
> brought me a new I+T Shop Manual but there is nothing in the spects about 
> compression.
> 
> Also, I replaced the valve cover gasket, there is a lot of sludge on the 
> head and inside the valve cover, can I run kerosene in the engine to try to 
> clean it up, or is there a procedure to do this? I think this unit has sat 
> for awhile before I got it.