Wet liners and cleaning sludge from the water galleries in the block.

[X344chap]

Hi - i've just pulled a cracked liner from an IH 444 and found the the water galleries around the liners is half packed with rusty sludge. My options are to try and pressure wash as much as I can from the block, or pull the remaining 3 liners without damaging them to thoroughly clean the block and then try and refit them.

Any thoughts on this? I'm thinking that trying to remove and refit old rusty liners is just going to end up as a complete new pistons and liners job.

Thanks

 

[flywheel]

Pull other 3 out as your near there ..get block water full cleaned out ..

 

[Andy Nash]

I did what you’re doing.
474 putting water in oil, so Paxtons had an odd liner on the shelf which £40 bought. Bare head gasket, something similar plus a new water pump for another £50.
Tractor up and running again for £130, bargain.
2 years later and it’s started putting water in the oil again!

 

[agrimax]

The recesses in the block for the bottom o rings are probably corroded away by now....

 

[DrWazzock]

I’d replace the whole set. Sealing to a rusty block might be difficult. Resealing an old liner to a rusty block will be nigh on impossible.

 

[X344chap]

The block recess was surprisingly good and new liner and seal fitted with no problems - have put the head back on and filled radiator with water to check the liner seal - and have water dripping from the liner seals on cylinder 1 and 2 which i didnt touch. @flywheel was spot on with pull them all out and start again. Now that the head is back on - the engine has sat dry for a long time - so i was wondering if it was worth starting it and giving it the italian tune up job to see if some pressure and heat will stop the leaks - or am i just kidding myself?

 

[agrimax]

Start again and replace the others...

 

[stitch]

As stated by agrimax, pull the other liners out and replace the rubber O rings at the base of the liners which tend to go hard over time.

 

[Andy Nash]

The block recess was surprisingly good and new liner and seal fitted with no problems - have put the head back on and filled radiator with water to check the liner seal - and have water dripping from the liner seals on cylinder 1 and 2 which i didnt touch. @flywheel was spot on with pull them all out and start again. Now that the head is back on - the engine has sat dry for a long time - so i was wondering if it was worth starting it and giving it the italian tune up job to see if some pressure and heat will stop the leaks - or am i just kidding myself?

Well I would, what have you got to lose? I’d stick a bottle of k seal in and get it nice and hot.

 

[X344chap]

Thanks folks - will tear it all back down again and report back - after i've given it a run to see if theres anything else wrong with the tractor - so i'm not throwing good money after bad.