Combine engine again....

Thanks to all the guys that responded to my post yesterday in regards to the 1680 combine engine "replace" question. I still don't know what I'm going to do. We replaced the turbo a couple years ago and that did not help the oil consumption problem. It has been using oil for about 3 years. The MAJOR oil leak started to get bad the last week of harvest last fall. I'm sure it is the rear main seal. Talking to several CIH mechanics, replacing the seal along with the other things(the oil pan gasket and I'm not sure what else the said to do)that SHOULD be replaced when doing the seal would be a pretty major job. Would have to raise the motor up to get the pan off and replace the gasket correctly. As I understand it, some of the first engines that came out in the combines had "soft" sleeves. These were supposed to be fixed, but I bought this machine used with 800 hrs, so I don't know if they were replaced. We have serviced the engine religiously and used the CIH oil and filters, so it is not from lack of service or inferior products. The combine is in pretty fair shape for the amount of hours it has on it. We try to keep things replaced that need to be replaced. Finding a "parts machine" with a good engine would be at least $15000-$25000 around here. Unfortunatly replacement of the entire combine is not finanacialy(sp?) possible. Although most people think us farmers are having "record" profits with the high grain prices. The salvage yard said they have a 1 year warranty on the used engine, so that might make the decision easier to go with the used. Have to think about it for a while.

If you go for the used engine you will still have to remove the old one so I would after pulling the engine open it up for a look se and then decide base on looks if to repar or replace. Either way the engine would have to come off so nothing wasted to open up for the look se.

its not that big of job to change the rear seal. there is enough room to remove air cowl and fan and leave rad in place move engine forward and turn it sideways. weformed a boom on a backhoe loderbucket done easy in one day with two men. RENE'

If the rear main seal is your leak, in all likelyhood the seal is clear out of its retainer and spinning with the shaft, have seen that many times on the Case hoes. Thats a major leak and probably responsible for most of your oil loss. A new style seal will press back in the housing tightly, have not had to redo any even useing the old retainer, Easy to do, no need to remove pan, Case supplies a wear sleeve style replacement and there is a special pusher that screws fast to the crank flange to push both the sleeve and seal into position you could most likely borrow/rent that. mEl