D7 3T - Water flowing from dip stick

[phillipstanley]

The other day I purchased caterpillar and owner said motor was locked up and thought it was sabotaged. I thought rain water had gotten on top of the cylinders because the exhaust pipe was not covered. The other day I got the motor to turn over and cranck, no water was in the engine, it ran for 3 mins. and I had a difficult time shutting it down. I had to cut it off with the compression release. Today, I patched up a few water leaks in the radiator hoses and filled w/ water, crancked it and ran for 5-10 mins. I moved it around and shut it back off and found that I had several water leaks around the engine ( in the pony moter, head gasket, the head, top radiator, metal hose). When I checked the oil, water came out of the dip stick for about 5 mins. ---What the heck.!!!!!!! Never seen this in a hundred years. Please Advise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zootownjeepguy]

I know you are down in Alabama but is there a chance that this tractor could have frozen at one time? All of your water leaks are typical of what we run into up here in Michigan, the Unemployment capitol of the USA. Down south it's not so common but in the northern states EVERYTHING MUST have anti-freeze or be drained before winter. If not, Ice in the cooling system will literally blow an engine apart at the water jacket, radiator, thermostat housing, etc. A cracked block can also leak water internally into the oil pan. If that's the case you might start looking for a block. Sometimes cracks can be welded. I once had a D2 with a small external crack on the main engine behind the Injection pumps that I patched with JB weld.

P.S. Not many people know this but the name "Michigan" actually comes from a Potawatomi Indian word that means "Chief with head up rectum".

[phillipstanley]

could have been frozen i have another d8800 motor with a slung rod through the side i will have to tear down to see what i can use.

[dpendzic]

Try a few bottles of alumaseal first!

[Mike Walsh]

Your liner seals may have dried out and water is flowing into the block around the liners. In any event, you are describing a very large leak. Do you know how long it was sitting. I assume from your post the block was dry when you bought it. Was there any water in the oil before you started it the first time.

[bob]

Philip, I think you should take the pan off, hard as it may seem. Then fill the rad and pressurize it. See where the leaks are coming from and then fix them. Might not be as bad as it seems right now.
Later Bob

[8C 361]

Philip, I think you should take the pan off, hard as it may seem. Then fill the rad and pressurize it. See where the leaks are coming from and then fix them. Might not be as bad as it seems right now.
Later Bob

From the parts book it looks like you have some big honkin' inspection covers on that engine.

Tom

[ccjersey]

Hey neighbor!

Even though odds are if you take off the head and pull the liners and replace anything bad, you'll most likely fix it, Unless you're going to tear it down and rebuild from scratch, (and even then, I would) take off the inspection covers and locate the leakage first. If it's coming down around the cam, take the valve covers off and see it it's a crack in the top of the head. Anything else, you should be able to at least localize it to a cylinder and determine if it's coming from around the piston or around the outside of the liner. This is all good information to have when you want to fix it in one go.

Hope it's under cover, rain coming in today here, but back to nice weather by this weekend.

[3TRob]

I run a late serial # D7 3T series and have purchased several machines for spare parts and rebuilt my own that got water in the engine oil. On my machine, one winter it dumped the antifreeze into the crankcase. I figured it to be the liner seals, it wasn't that exactly upon tear down. Somebody before me had been running water in it and let the block freeze. It had cracked the block between one of the liners and the push rod passage. The crack ran down the wall and right to #3 liner. Someone did a cobble job and fixed the block. JB weld and silcon rubber was their choice of repair. Believe it or not, I owned and operated this machine for 9 years before their afro-engineering let lose.

Upon tear down of this D8800 engine and 3 other machines, I have found several cracked blocks that have been patched. The favorite spot to fix is where the pony motor bolts to the main engine. Two out of 4 engines had a plate welded on the side of the block here. My guess is that this is not from letting the block freeze, but the pony throwing a rod.

After 24 years of running the same machine, you'd think I'd know more.

[phillipstanley]

thank you for your info i will update you later after rain