l555

[farmgirl07]

hi all. i just joined the forum. so here's the skinny. i have an old l555 with a kubota v1902. machine has been sitting for a couple years. i found the fuel cap off. dont know how long it was off! anyways, i totally flushed and drained the fuel tank, and changed filters, put fresh fuel in and some lucas. also did oil and filter change. motor starts right up. now the problems. lots of blowby from tube coming off the valve cover. strong oily/diesel smell, although machine doesn't seem to burn that much oil. we did a compression test. cylinder #1 (closet to operators seat) was 280, cylinder #2 & #3 were 320, and cylinder #4 (closet to radiator) was 360. also noticed a small leak near head gasket on cylinder #1. machine almost seems to be running on 3 cylinders. not sure. we will be doing a leak down test in the next few days to try and pinpoint the issue. there is no antifreeze seen in the oil. hoping its a headgasket and not rings. i would like to get this machine up and running before i give it a paint job. any input would be appreciated. thanks in advance. -farmgirl

 

[Tazza]

This is a New Holland machine?
The compression is down a bit on #1 as you have noticed. It could be a crack in the head or a stuck valve too. The fuel smell could be the fact its not burning all the fuel, but i'd have thought there would be smoke from this.
Depending on how bad the bore is worn, you can just throw a set of rings at it, but from the figures you have given, its pretty low so probably worn to beyong spec. New i think they are meant to give around 450 PSI, close to 300 is the lower end of the scale nearing re-conditioning time. As i assume you want it for around the yard, even with lower compression it will work just fine, it will just smoke and not have as much power as with a fresh engine. It can't be THAT bad as you did state it still starts right up.

 

[farmgirl07]

This is a New Holland machine?
The compression is down a bit on #1 as you have noticed. It could be a crack in the head or a stuck valve too. The fuel smell could be the fact its not burning all the fuel, but i'd have thought there would be smoke from this.
Depending on how bad the bore is worn, you can just throw a set of rings at it, but from the figures you have given, its pretty low so probably worn to beyong spec. New i think they are meant to give around 450 PSI, close to 300 is the lower end of the scale nearing re-conditioning time. As i assume you want it for around the yard, even with lower compression it will work just fine, it will just smoke and not have as much power as with a fresh engine. It can't be THAT bad as you did state it still starts right up.

yep, it's a new holland. i primarily use this machine to do jobs around my small farm. i have a NH ls160. just bought an eic board for it. ebay-475 bux. anyways, i love this little l555 and want to bring it back to life. i spoke with the NH dealer and messicks. both told me if the motor was fresh the compression would be around 360-400. i'll know more after the leak down test.