stuck piston rings

[Elliot Woodman]

hi,I have a 3 cylinder David brown that has started to burn oil. I have taken the sump off and there was a solid inch of sludge in the bottom, I am wondering if the piston rings are to blame being gummed up. is there any way I can attempt to wash the sludge off them without removing the head or pistons themselves? possibly an engine flush additive? any help would be appreciated. thanks.

 

[trebornella]

If there's a inch of sludge in the sump, there's bound to be more around the engine block. You can try a flushing additive, but its likely to disturb more bits that may get into oil galleries and make the situation worse. If you intend to keep the tractor, I would bite the bullet and pull it apart and overhaul it properly.

 

[Netherfield]

Do it right, there's no magic cure.

 

[Wesley]

Few squirts of fairy liquid in the fuel tank will work…well it will bugger things up enough so you’ve got no choice but to strip it & do it properly

 

[Sharpy]

Refill with clean oil, change filters and use the tractor, ideally give it a thrashing on a slurry pump or similar. Change oil again.

 

[Welderloon]

When was the last time the oil was changed ?
Try Forte Diesel Engine flush, local Motor Factors, seems to work O.K with gaspy old engines
Straightforward instructions on the bottle, might need a couple of goes with it, might seize your engine what have you got to lose

 

[essexpete]

When was the last time the oil was changed ?
Try Forte Diesel Engine flush, local Motor Factors, seems to work O.K with gaspy old engines
Straightforward instructions on the bottle, might need a couple of goes with it, might seize your engine what have you got to lose

Well I guess the crank might be damaged?

 

[AlCapone]

David Brown engines are good for 15,000 hours if used and maintained properly
Has thermostat been removed from cooling system?
Is oil filter sludged up?

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Stick it on a slurry whisk, flog it's tits off, but keep an eye on temperature gauge,
Need to do this for couple of hours, the heat build up should let the rings go

If that don't work then
Last resort before full rebuild
Vim, rev it till 1600, sprinkle vim in to intake manifold
It will take glaze off bores and can release rings

 

[pycoed]

I've never done it myself, but when I had vehicles with Merc OM602 engines I was running on new veg oil. Apparently ring sticking could be a problem if not used hard. Those running them on reused oil who had this problem used occasionally to spray an aerosol of water into the intake manifold (hand held spray bottle like the Wurth ones) with the engine at about 2000 rpm. May be worth a try for yours at say 1400rpm?

 

[ford 7810]

If you,ve cleaned the sump out you have already got rid of the biggest percentage of the sludge it may not be too bad up above, but when running has it a lot of blow bye if the rings are proper stuck, I expect it would have a lot of blow by