4455 John Deere. Black engine oil on top of the water in the radiator. No water in crankcase. Engine is equipped with oil cooler in side of block, and water pump is geared off front of engine, not belt driven.

I have some ideas and have talked to a Deere mechanic. Just wondering what diagnosis folks have...

Pump seal or gasket, I would hope. Could be crack in the block but that would be difficult to diagnose.

Oil is under more pressure than water only by the head gaskets, I would think. The water that gets in the crank case would evaporate to steam due to the heat of operation, but oil in the radiator would not. I'd think maybe a head gasket leak?

Is the cooler one of those sandwich plate type coolers with a coolant entry/exit?

My guess is to start looking for a bad weld/solder in that or a failed gasket that is part of that.

Bad oil cooler

I know in the Deere 9L motors with the same type of water pump you would start to find oil in the water when your water pump is going out.

So the local (Abernathy) JD mechanic said there were four possibilities:

1) Contamination. Someone put water in the tractor with a contaminated bucket. Unlikely, but he recommended that we siphon the oil out, then run it to see if oil reappears.

2) Water pump. Unlikely,while pump is geared to engine, and thus has a possibility of contamination, any leak will likely come out the weep hole. Will check hole for leaks, and make sure it is clear.

3) Oil cooler. Unlikely, as he says he's only seen that once. However, from looking at the parts catalog, it looks pretty easy to remove. Eight bolts, four o-rings, and three gaskets. It might be worth checking before calling for the $100 truck ride to the dealer.



4) Head gasket. Sadly, this is apparently the most common failure. Near the rear of the head, there is an oil passage going up to the valve train. No way to check this without eliminating the other three, then pulling the head.


I can't check on the tractor until at least late next week, so I'll have to keep you guys in suspense as to the final diagnosis.

If it is the head gasket you should be getting compression from the motor in the cooling system. Do you get pressure on the radiator on a cold start before the coolant warms up?

I can check this later. Tractor is an hour's drive away. Was my dad's, my brother was using it and not taking care of it.

However, it seems to be a leak between an oil passage and the water jacket, not between the cylinder and the water jacket.

Agmechanic said:

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Bad oil cooler

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This.

Happens a bit with VAG cars.

BigRobSA said:

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Agmechanic said:

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Bad oil cooler

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This.

Happens a bit with VAG cars.

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Done one too many turbo passats with chocolate mousse in the overflow bottle...

I thought you salvaged that tractor in a thread on here a while back when someone messed it up.

milkman00 said:

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I thought you salvaged that tractor in a thread on here a while back when someone messed it up.

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Sadly, this is a second tractor.

I was hoping that wasn't the case, for your sake. Good luck with it.

In both cases it was simple neglect and lack of use. I think he quit farming about 5 years before he quit farming.

But isn't contamination the only one of the four potential causes that would have been neglect? I'm not saying that you are wrong, just wondering your reasoning (besides that fact that both 4455s have had rather severe issues in his care relative to the dependability that that model usually has).

The first was a 4440. I don't know when the trans oil and filter was last changed, but the mechanic said water in the transmission dissolved the glue holding clutch pads together. So that was a lack of use, as much as anything, allowing condensation to build up in the trans. On the arid high plains, that's a trick.

The 4555 shows about 180 hours of tach use in the last 22 months, since the last oil change. I normally change at 100 hours. The trans fluid is also dark, which shows a lack of care.

I probably shouldn't be airing dirty laundry in public, but it is highly frustrating. Dad had these two tractors left over from his farming, and were at my brother's place. Dad passed, over 5 years ago, and he wanted each of us to have one. I took the 4440 to my place, but brother thought he needed it for some reason and came and got it back. A year or so later I was trying to retrieve it permanently when the transmission problem manifested.

I hadn't fought to get it, because having it would had been a convenience, not a necessity. So I assumed brother really needed the tractor, in spite of having 2 of his own. Then I found out that the 4440 ruined the trans due to lack of use, and the 4555 shows obvious lack of use, too. Eight hours of use per month.

Family dynamics are weird. I can speculate on his possessiveness, but it's not my problem. Like the 4440, my focus is to get the tractor sold for my mom at the highest possible price and the least spent on repairs.

CanyonAg77 said:

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I think he quit farming about 5 years before he quit farming.

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That's a pretty awesome tautologism.

Family dynamics are weird, particularly on "heirlooms". People lose their minds and good sense, because the object has some connection to a deceased relative.

I have cousins who have fought harder than Easy Company at Bastogne over meaningless trinkets their mother never cared for anyway. It's destroyed their relationship. From a sober perspective, I think it's just their way of mourning the deceased.

Sorry about the situation, Canyon.

Yeah, these aren't exactly heirlooms, just expensive property.

Along the lines of family fights, we had a neighbor who was an wonderful, devout member of the Church of Christ. For those not familiar with their theology, they believe your salvation can be lost if you sin and don't ask for forgiveness. (I apologize to my CoC friends if I mis-stated)

Many years ago, I was sitting in the pickup with Dad, as the neighbor confided his despair over the family fights that came when the neighbor's mother died. His siblings were fighting to get household appliances that were not theirs to have, and that had no emotional significance. His disappointment was not only over the property, but the selfishness and what he perceived as sinfulness. I'll never forget when he told my Dad:

"Somebody is going to end up going to Hell over a refrigerator."

CanyonAg77 said:

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So the local (Abernathy) JD mechanic said there were four possibilities:

1) Contamination. Someone put water in the tractor with a contaminated bucket. Unlikely, but he recommended that we siphon the oil out, then run it to see if oil reappears.

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Finally got the chance to do this. Oil reappeared. We're sending a truck to pick it up. Mechanic says he could test the oil cooler, but thinks it's unlikely. Probably the head. Truck will pick it up next week, will probably be week after that it gets work done.