Major Engine Breather fills with Oil all the time!!!! HELP!

stevebeanie · Post by **stevebeanie** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 2:01 am

Hi, I have a major fitted with a power major engine with an engine breather. It keeps filling with oil all the time and covering me!! and the tractor in oil. Does anyone know what the problem is?

Cheers Steve. 54 fordson major

stevebeanie · Post by **stevebeanie** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:04 am

it has only just started running again after being restored 10 years ago.

Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:07 am

Oil in the breather is usually an indication of a worn engine. However if you are certain that it has been overhauled properly and not just a rings and paint job, it could be one of the following:

1. Check the pipe is fitted between the rocker cover and the air cleaner.

2. Engine is not bedded in. Get it into some really hard work as soon as possible. Not light work or you will completly ruin the engine. Oil blowing out of the exhaust is another symptom.

3. The oil slinger that fits on the auxillary gear that drives the fuel pump is missing. It has either broken off or has npt been replaced during overhaul. This means the gear which is directly beneath the breather is throwing oil out of it.

stevebeanie · Post by **stevebeanie** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:43 pm

I have been topping with it for the last 3 weeks, doing about 6 acres a week. It hardly smokes when running. I will check the three things you have told me.

stevebeanie · Post by **stevebeanie** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:08 pm

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Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:44 pm

Pictures are better than words! You have a Mk1 rocker cover on a Mk 3 engine. You don't have a breather from the rocker cover to the air cleaner stack. That is your problem. There is no through draft of air through the engine, she is building back pressure and blowing instead of sucking through the timing cover vent.

Looks like the engine is made up of NP Super block, Power Major/Super Mk 1 head and Fordson Major Mk 1 Valve gear. Could even be a Fordson Major Mk 1 head as I can not see the screws that normally mount the rocker cover on those engines.

You need a breather from the Rocker cover to the air cleaner stack, just before it expands for the filter medium.

stevebeanie · Post by **stevebeanie** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:03 pm

Thanks for the help Brian,

Do you think I could adapt my rocker cover or should I look for a Super major cover with the correct fittings. If you have any pictures or know anyone who has it would be really great to see one fitted.

Thanks Steve

Post by **Brian** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 9:05 pm

You are going to have to adapt yours as a Super one won't fit your cylinder head. You need a short piece of pipe drilled and brazed into the rocker cover and air cleaner stack then a piece of either metal or rubber joining the two. I am away from base so have no pictures with me and will not be home until early next week.

Dietmar · Post by **Dietmar** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:57 pm

It looks like I have the same issue a rocker cover from MK1 or 2 and a MK3 Engine in my Power Major. I verified the casting codes and engine serial nuber which fits to the delivery documents.
Could it be that Fordson changed the rocker cover design and breather piping just around that numbers?
My engine has the breather on the timing cover but I have no oil spill out of that at all.

Best regards

Dietmar

Emiel · Post by **Emiel** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:44 pm

Brian,

Are you sure there is a super engine on the above pictures?

The throttle rod comes through the block, which usually is only on the MK1 engine, isn't it?

Strange is it also, with the rod through the block on a "six bolt" engine. I do not remember having seen that before.

I'm not trying to be the wise guy here, but just curious about these pictures and the problem.

Best regards

Emiel

Post by **Brian** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:29 pm

Emiel,
If you look back at the earlier picture in the post "Industrial Major" you will see it has the Super lift pump. This pump would only fit on the Super block. All engines with the breather fitted should have a tube going back to the air cleaner.

Otherwise they don't draw enough air to create the suction needed to keep air going in the timing cover breather.

Throttle through the block on a Super style engine is something I posted on here last year and included a picture. I had never seen that before. We used to fit all the linkage around the back of the block and a bell crank under the manifold. The throttle through the block was discontinued way back in the 1950's. Yet we have proof of two tractors at least that will take a fuel pump from a Super, a new timing cover and possibly a single bolt fixing cam shaft AND have the throttle linkage through the block!

The only thing I can think of is these blocks were meant for petrol tractors or even petrol/kerosene tractors which had a mechanical governor with the rod through the block connecting to the governor shaft and then up to the throttle butterfly. That is the only explaination I can think of. Petrol tractors went on right up to the Super Majors so it is feasible.

Mervyn Spencer · Post by **Mervyn Spencer** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:59 pm

Brian, please may I suggest that Steve's picture be placed one beneath the other. The way they are at the moment makes reading text that follows rather difficult as the page then becomes rather wide. Hope you understand what I mean.

Kind regards
Mervyn

Post by **Brian** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:42 pm

How's that Mervyn.

Mervyn Spencer · Post by **Mervyn Spencer** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:20 am

Thanks Brian thats much better, I was actually running out of arms length trying to reach the end of the line.

Kind regards
Mervyn

Dietmar · Post by **Dietmar** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:51 am

As an extract from the OEM Manual:

.......Breather hose from the air cleaner to rocker cover breather
pipe (Mk. II and III engines).
The Mk. I breather pipe is fitted between the inlet
manifold and the side of the rocker cover......

best regards

Dietmar

Dietmar · Post by **Dietmar** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:11 am

Now I identified it!
Head is M3X = 3. Oct 1955 Mk. I
no breather connection on cover

best regards

Dietmar

Post by **Brian** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:20 pm

Sorry Dietmar, I missed your earlier post. Mk1 engines had a breather that was tapped into the inlet manifold and pushed through a rubber grommet into the rocker cover. Later engines did not have the manifold tapped for this pipe and the rocker cover had a short extension pipe on the top that was connected to the air cleaner.

If a Mk1 rocker cover has been fitted to a Mk2 or Mk3 engine then there is no way for airflow to be drawn through the engine as later manifolds were not equiped for the Mk1 pipe and Mk1 manifolds will not fit the later engines because of the different port arrangement.

A Mk 1 head and manifold will fit on the later block but I don't think that the system fitted on that engine is good enough to draw a good flow of air through the engine as, if it was, it would draw oil out of the valve cover. It is just a piece of pipe with holes in.

Dietmar · Post by **Dietmar** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:16 am

Dear Brian!

The 1954 Major is kind of original and I like to complete it during wintertime

New Fordson Major Mark I 1305788 August 1954
Inj. P. Model SPE 4A 70S
Firewall Plate: 1305788
Engine SN: 1305788 August 1954
Front Axle: 22J4 22 July 1954
Engine: J8V 08 July 1954
Head: J22V 22 July 1954
Gearbox: J20V 20 July 1954
Aft Axle: K11V 11 August 1954
Hydr. Lift: H22V 22 June 1954

The 1960 Power Major is original except the head, rocker cover and intake / exhaust which is
from a 1955 Major. This is the reason why the breather is different.
I do not like to change it right now, but I will have an eye on breakers for finding a MK III head system within the years range.

If I understand you right, the MK I intake manifold will not provide sufficient vacuum for MK III ventilation.

My idea would be - as the items are painted fresh I do not like to modify the rocker cover - block the MK I intake manifold connection,
install a tube in the rocker cover grommet and connect it with the air cleaner.
This should provide the same result as the MK III rocker cover, I believe. The MK I head on the MK III engine should work (the rods clear).
What is your opinion?

Power Major Mark III 1566832 August 1960
Inj. P. Model: SPE 4A 75S 647
Firewall Plate: no number
Engine SN: 1566832 August 1960
Front Axle: 18F0 18 May 1960
Crossmember: J14D 16 July 1960
Engine: F11D 11 May 1960
Head: M3X 3 Oct 1955
Gearbox: J8D 08 July 1960
Aft Axle: K13D 12 August 1960
Hydr. Lift: *11* unknown
Inj. Pump: 355672

Best regards

Dietmar

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Major Engine Breather fills with Oil all the time!!!! HELP!

Major Engine Breather fills with Oil all the time!!!! HELP!

Question for Brian,