Did I kill the engine???

[strawhouse]

Good Day
Need some input on this one : I was out today clearing the snow from the driveway with the Dexta, Ive got a front end loader on mine and I use it for moving the snow. I have been using the Dexta for years for this purpose and it works great. Today when I was out I noticed at one point that the idle dropped the slightest bit and came back up again I checked the throttle and continued, moments later it did it again. About 5 minutes later I started to hear a knocking sound I got off the tractor and looked around and I couldnt find a thing wrong. About a minute later it started to get real loud and I could smell something... a cross between a burnt fan belt and burning oil. I got off the tractor and saw smoke on the right side near the starter, I jumped on the tractor and drove it back to the shop ( 20 seconds away ). On the way to the shop it was really at a loss of power.
Once at the shop I shut it off and noticed that the smoke was coming from the valve cover vent line that exits behind the starter. So I took off the valve cover and took a look, there was smoke under the valve cover as well. With the valve cover off I turned over the tractor, the valve train is running fine but the cylinder that is closest to the steering wheel is knocking real bad. I quickly started the tractor and shut it off and the smoke was coming out of the valve train on that cylinder as well as the small square hole in the head that is on the starter side beside that cylinder. The smoke that is coming out isnt a exhaust smell but something of a smell that I described earlier.
Now the big question Is this something that can be repaired with the motor in the tractor? Should I atempt this in the middle of winter? Im in a bit of a fix, its snowing out and this is my means of snow removal.... what are your thoughts?

[dexta roadless]

It sounds to me unfortunately that you have a piston, or bigend bearing crash. The only way to find out is to take down the sump and investigate from there

[Brian]

I think the answer is yes. Had you been using ether to get her going?

[strawhouse]

No I havent been using either, Ive got a excellent coolant heater that makes starting in the winter quite easy. So I did kill the engine , not a good day at all. It looks like I wont be able to fix up the motor because of time restraints and the fact I have way too many other things on the go. Its too bad I really liked the tractor and the easy availability of parts... not too sure what I am going to do???

[nms-georg]

Hi Strwahouse...
Did you start to fix your lady? It sounds like I have the same problem as you since yesterday:
http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... ton#p26730

Let me know if you've found out something new...
George