Ford 4000 Oil Leak

bobfaecullen · Post by **bobfaecullen** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:38 pm

Hi All,

I have in my possession at the moment a Ford 4000 circa 1968. It belongs to a neighbour and I have just sorted out the electrical system for him. It has been in his shed for 5 years as it wouldn't start, turned out to be a faulty connector to the solenoid, but he had pulled the wiring apart in the vain hope of fixing it, also replaced the dynamo and control box as the old dynamo must have got very hot at some time and the insulation on the rotor winding was fried.

When we started the tractor (by pulling it) there was a bit of an oil leak at the filter, so after I sorted the wiring I decided to change the oil and filter and now there is a huge oil leak when she fires up and it blows from the filter to block seal, all the way round.

I have come to the conclusion that it is excessive oil pressure made worse by the new oil and maybe the oil pressure relief valve is stuck or got dirt in it - would anyone else have an opinion on the problem.

When I took the filter bowl off there was a load of gritty dirt at the bottom of the bowl, just wondering if there is more dirt floating around. Does anyone know where the relief valve is likely to be on this engine, is it part of the oil pump, if so can you get to it by dropping the sump ??

Bob

Post by **Brian** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 8:43 am

Bob,

Do you have the big filter or the spin off type. Has it got an adapter on the block to take the spin off filter?

The large filters were always a real pain to get to seal. I have had them seal for a few hours then leak like sieves and pump the engine nearly dry. We had a lot of farmers claim our fitters never tightened the filters up after services but in the end it was proved that the whole design was poor and eventualy changed.

The seal is a flat shape and, if stuck onto the block with grease, will slide inwards and leak like mad. I think you may have to persever with it, possibly stick the seal in with instant gasket. I would very much doubt you are getting over-pressure, just an old problem with (possibly) a suspect filter ring if from an after-market filter.

bobfaecullen · Post by **bobfaecullen** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:14 am

Brian,

You have described the problem exactly, thanks for the info.

The filter is the old canister type with a bolt through the middle. The seal is a flat rubber ring and yes I put a little bit of grease on it to keep it in place while I screwed the filter canister back on and yes it is an after market kit and when you look closely the seal isn't an exact fit, it's slightly smaller than the rim round the block face.

It would very quickly pump itself dry of oil as a huge amount spews out round the seal.

Can you buy conversion kits for these then.

Bob

Post by **Brian** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 4:00 pm

They used to be available from CNH but I would not know now. Would be worth checking though.

bobfaecullen · Post by **bobfaecullen** » Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:14 pm

Well I did try to get the oil canister to seal (several times

) by using some instant gasket, but I couldn't get it to seal perfectly, even to the point it was ok one day, but when I started it next day, it leaked again.

Got the owner to go to local CNH dealer to ask if the conversion kit was still available, and lo and behold he came in today with the kit in his hand. Took all of 5 minutes to fit and sealed perfectly, not cheap though.

Thanks again for info Brian.

Bob