L185 questions..

6

6.0believer

New member

Equipment
L185, Ford 8n, Ford F250 6.0 diesel
Apr 29, 2011
2
0
0
Milford, Ohio
First, I want to say hi! I have went through the current 124 pages of topics and am in need of some help.

What are the 2 bolts for on top of the valve cover? I have a leak in the valve cover gasket and want to check what these do before I go to tightening. On the same note, the local Kubota dealer has ordered me a new valve cover gasket.

I found the valve adjustment post for the L175. Are the values/tolerances/procedures the same for the L185?

I am preparing to do a good little overhaul on this tractor. It has served us well for quite a few years, but recently has started to lose power, blow black smoke under load, and takes a little longer to start than in past years.

There is some bubbling around the valve cover gasket and the injectors. Is this just in need of a simple tightening?

The "oil" idiot light is on, but the tractor runs good and still has the power to run a brush hog or finish mower with minimal bog. Could this just be a short or bad sensor? How would I check compression?

Having some experience with my diesel truck, I am going to tackle the obvious maintenance procedures first before I dive deeper (if needed).

In the last month it has had--New battery, New glow plugs, Repaired radiator (neck was busted), New coolant, New radiator cap, fuel drained and refilled with fresh diesel and power service 911 diesel fuel water remover added.

Next week when the parts come in--New fuel filter, Oil FIlter, Oil change, Air filter, Valve cover gasket, and valve adjustment, new upper and lower radiator hoses.

The belt is in good shape. No water in oil issues, no excessive blow by from what I can tell.

Is there more I should do and look for?
 
6

6.0believer

New member

Equipment
L185, Ford 8n, Ford F250 6.0 diesel
Apr 29, 2011
2
0
0
Milford, Ohio
S

stoatspur

New member

Equipment
L185DT, FEL, post hole digger, grader blade
Feb 5, 2012
2
0
0
Finchville, KY
Re: L185 questions..valve cover "bolts"

You've probably figured this out by now, but since no one seems to have answered your post about the valve cover, here's my two cents:

The two "bolts" on top of the valve cover are actually barrel nuts that thread onto studs from the head. They secure the valve cover. I've had the valve cover off my L185DT a number of times and have never replaced the gasket. I use a high temp (red) RTV sealant and snug the barrel nuts up. Never had a leak.
 
Stumpy

Stumpy

New member

Equipment
L175
Dec 1, 2011
848
3
0
NE Ohio
What do you mean when you say there is bubbling around the injectors and valve cover gasket? Is there a pool of oil or fuel and you're seeing it bubble as it runs?

To check compression you need a diesel compression gauge that fits the glow plug port threads. You remove all the plugs and loosen the nuts on the injectors so they're not pushing fuel into the cylinders. Then screw the gauge into each cylinder and crank it for 2-3 seconds to get a reading. Compare the cylinders to each other, if one is more than about 15-20psi away from the rest then there is a problem. You can compare it to the service manual but I've found wear and environmental tolerances tend to make that an ideal rather than real number even in new engines.

I'd get a gauge on the oil system before I did anything else with the tractor. It's probably just a bad sender or loose wire but taking chances with oil pressure is a bad bet in my book. Running with low or no oil pressure will wreck the motor real quick. You want to see between 30-70psi depending on oil viscosity, oil temperatures, engine (oil pump) rpm and the bearing clearances. A little lower at idle would probably be fine, it never seems to bother the old 2 stroke Detroit Diesels (5-10 at idle), but I'd want to see it near 30 myself.
 
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