Thread: crazy cooling !!!

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my old man is selling out the farm this summer and now has got the idea that he is going to reserrect a old massey 55 tractor we have to just do some farmyard work pull a scraper a small culivator etc. this is a running tractor that we had parked a few years ago cause the motor (a large 6 cyl gas) kept pulling a little water into 2 of the cylinders. i think its a cracked head cause it doesnt pump back nto the cooling syst and when you idle down it puffs white for a few seconds(i suspect when under high vacum it is puling fluid into the intake syst and then into the cylinders. it may have even leaked a little into the cylinders when sitting.
tractor isnt worth much but runs fine doesnt even miss.
a old mechanic my dad knows suggested this, he advised drain every thing out the the tractors cooling syst and fill the radiator with diesel.
yeah diesel???
dad did this and it works he used the tracor for about a week aroung the yard now and has had to put about a gallon more in the rad as its used about that much but it does work.
now instead of puffing white when it idles it puffs a little blue.
other than the obvious fire hazard and possible eventual damge to the rad hoses what else could this hurt ????
weideest thing ive heard of in a while

Shouldn't hurt anything much. Everything that the deisel touches is metal, except for the rad hoses and the water-pump seals.

I would guess the head gasket is leaking. I ran a W9 IHC tractor for years with the rad full of diesel fuel, the cracked head was too expensive to fix. As long as you keep a close watch on the temp guage it won't hurt anything.They do run hotter with fuel oil in the rad, not as efficient I guess. Might be a fire hazard if it gets to boiling!
Don't be too quick to condemn any old tractor as "not worth much". Go to a few auctions and see what they go for!

i know its worth more than dad thinks but to him its the tractor hes had for 50 years and its worth nothing to repair.
i thought that they used some kind of flamable coolant in warplanes in ww2 also like alcohol or something ?

WW2 planes used glycol coolant, much like antifreeze now. Its more efficient than water, allowing smaller radiators and scoops, thus less drag, more speed.
I'd try to convince ol' Dad to let you change the gasket.

GO buy some Bar's Leak. It will cost you $12 or less and it DOES work.

we tried that 1st off but it wouldnt seal. ill let dad use the old girl for the summer and see what i can do with it this winter