freeze plugs?

[Joel Shackelford]

Hey guys,
I'm new to the forum, so here goes. I'm going to look at a 350B crawler next week and I was told that it had just water in the radiator and it was drained however, the block wasn't. Do you think the freeze plugs did their job? Or do you think it might have a busted block?
Thanks, Joel

[digitup]

I hope that they didn't run it like that ! .That is the best way to ruin the sleeves that you can imagine .DO NOT pay full price to any one that did that to a John Deere engine I hope you are getting it cheap.That just eats the bottom of the sleeves out of them . the running engine heat and the straight water will eat out sleeves in 20 hours or less .If he let it freeze then watch the block side will be damaged between the cylinders. If this is on a newer machine than the oil cooler can be damaged as well . watch the water pump for cracks.You have a 50% chance that the frost plugs gave out first with poor antifreeze .The lesser the anti freeze the greater the block crack will occur .When you start to thaw it out watch the bottom of the rad freezing will spread the tubes and bust them .Remember frozen water takes 11% more space than liquid state and one side of the block or the other has had a beating if the water was left in Digitup.

[Lavoy]

I would have to agree with Digitup, buy it assuming worst case scenario, or pass it up.
lavoy

[Joel Shackelford]

That's what I was thinking too but, he only wants $2750.00 for it And I get to take it ome to make sure the engine is not damaged. It has other problems too in that it won't turn to the left and I think it is the steering clutch.
So does the price make a difference?
Regards, Joel

[digitup]

Cheap at twice the price! Hopefully the water in the engine hasn't done too much damage. Check it out, don't change the motor oil before you put anti-freeze in it. If there is anti-freeze on top of the oil the next morning, and the blocks not cracked, you still got a deal.
Digitup

[Joel Shackelford]

Thanks digitup,
So what you are saying is that if there is anti freeze on top of the motor oil the next morning, then it does have a cracked block? And I need to start it to get anti freeze through out the engine but, Don't I need to put new oil in it so start it if it has water in the oil?
Sorry if i'm sounding dumb. I just don't want to damage it more.
Thanks again,
Joel

[wwattson]

Joel,

If you fill the radiator and end up with antifreeze sitting on top of the oil, you don't have to worry about damaging it much more than it already is. Antifreeze in the oil from just sitting overnight would pretty much tell you that it needs to be torn down to get to the root of that issue being either a cracked block or bad sleeve seals.

[digitup]

When the engine is ran on straight water the sleeves get eaten out or pit around the bottom the first thing you notice is antifreeze in your motor oil when the sleeve seals leak it is always at the bottom because of the combustion heat .It is a weak spot on a lot of sleeved diesel engines if you do not have good antifreeze in them .Digitup.

[digitup]

If your block is cracked on a Deere engine it will leak to the out side if head is cracked or gasket pushed out of shape then it may be internal leak into engine oil the best thing to do is get a rad tester and pressure up to around 15 lbs that will find all leaks fast in engine and rad .My old Snapon pressure tester will go to about 30 lbs and this will bugger up an older copper rad so watch it and test at 20 lbs max .These are the ideal tool to have if you are on e bay you can pick one up for very little.Digitup.

[Joel Shackelford]

Ok, Thanks! You guy are the greatest here

Regards, Joel