John Deere 850

Yeah. Even had it ran I was planning on changing the oil a second time soon after starting. Just wanted to run it long enough to drive it on the trailer.

As it stands now…not even sure yet if I’m going to take the tractor. Just not sure. If I do I’ll load it up and bring it home to work on it a little at a time. If I do take it it’ll be brought home, oil drained, and the entire crankcase will be filled with a 50/50 mixture of k-1/transmission fluid filled up to the tip top of the engine until it runs out…and it’ll sit like that for a long time, probably for a year.

I once seen a farmer on RFDTV do this to an old tractor he was planning to restore that had the engine locked up. It had sat outside for decades. After sitting for a year he was able to turn it over by hand and was able to salvage the engine. Now I’ve never done anything like this, but I have a feeling that old farmer was on to something because he had an entire barn full of old tractors he’d restored. All of them looking better than they did when they were new.

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Tue. May. 02, 2023 9:19 pm

Yeah. Even had it ran I was planning on changing the oil a second time soon after starting. Just wanted to run it long enough to drive it on the trailer.
SNIP

Run away. Fast. Very fast.

Billy, acetone/atf 50/50 mix give it a try! Fill her up!

Drop the oil pan and look. Fastest way to know if something broke. It will be sitting in there.

Bill, if ya want it REAL clean when/if ya get it started---get some Marvel Mystery Oil & pull the spark plugs & funnel some in each cylinder on top of oil that's already in the old girl.& let her idle for 15-20 minutes---then drain & put your 50/50 in. I thought these were freebies??? It sounds to me like ya got a fun project goin with the 2 of them, I had an old Pan-Head that was seized up--the guy GAVE it to me--an old guy about the MMO trick. Damn if it didn't work, rode it for years. Do NOT start with pullin the motor apart till ya try this--or the acetone mix mentioned above. I've found that MMO works better. Just an opinion.

Me and Dad drove down to work on the 450 C John Deere track loader this morning. It needs batteries and we’ll check all the fluids before we try to start it. Hopefully it fires right up without any other measures.

We got lucky with the 939 CAT track loader yesterday. Installed the batteries and had to drain some water out of the fuel tank and sediment bowl. She fired right up and purred like a CAT…pun intended. I’ll drain some water out of the tank again this morning then fire it back up and let it run awhile, track it back and forth some and work the hydraulics. Going to do the same process every day until all the water settles down and out of the system. We covered the fuel spout with plastic since the fuel cap had been missing. It will idle high for awhile then sputter a bit then clear out. I shut it down before it stalls. Then we let it sit over night to let the water settle back into the bottom of the fuel tank and we’ve been bleeding that water out little by little. Good news is, she’s going to run just fine once all the water is gone. Dumped some dryer in the tank as well so that should also help.

So…back to working on this JD 850 that was locked up. Or was it?

Dad is an old mechanic from his younger days (Mopar muscle) and he’s had a round or three with some GM gas converted diesel junk.

So, we got to thinking since we drained so much water out of the oil pan and then the oil also drained out, and since we was going to pull the injectors and squirt some “super juice” down inside, maybe there is some water also sitting above the pistons keeping it from turning over…sort of like a hydro lock. Just a wild guess on our part. That baby wasn’t moving a few days ago. Certainly locked up, it was.

So I pulled the fuel lines going to each injector and then pulled the tops of the injectors off. The entire injector seemed a little stuck and may need to soak and/or need some minor persuasion. Dad said hang on, let me get my jumper and let’s see if it’s locked up or if there’s water in there above the cylinders keeping it from turning over. Hit the button, Dad!! Whoop…there it is…shot one injector right out of the block and turned and turned and turned, sprayed us with some sort of fluid which was likely water. Yeahhhhh! She’s NOT locked up. Shot the water right out the top. Now we’re going to spray some “super juice” in there and let her sit for awhile today. Put her back together and see if she’ll run. I’m feeling blessed today. How about it boys and men?!?! If she starts going to shut her off quick. Then I’ll load on trailer, get her home, maybe use some of that MMO in the top everyone keeps talking about and just let her rest like that for awhile before we try and run her for any length of time.

Keep the tips and suggestions coming gang. Much appreciated.

Going to fill it full of “juice” let it sit, crank it just enough to move juice around and let it sit more. Not going to try and start it for now.

Did it strip the injector out?

Didn’t appear to. There was no threads on it. Like a rubber sleeve holding it in place with a metal “keeper” holding it all in with two bolts…that were loose and I had removed the “keeper” (no idea what they call it).

Anyway, once I removed the two bolts and the keeper over top of each injector they were pretty loose. Only thing keeping me from removing the other two was the fuel lines that I didn’t want to chance messing up with my wrenches. I couldn’t get them loose and we didn’t have any line wrenches with us. So for now they’re soaking in PB Blaster.

Once I get the line wrenches and remove the other two injectors we’re going to fill them with some juice and let it sit a few weeks before we turn it again by hand and decide to run it…if we decide to run it. Just trying to be observant and patient for now.

Thats great news! Its worth a shot at getting it running now.

Hoyt...
Bravo!!!!! Progress....that sounds real promising.
Cheers

It’s a waiting game now. Cylinders are full of 50/50 kerosene and transmission fluid. It was cheaper since we had it on hand.

A little PB Blaster, a good line wrench and the fuel lines loosened right up and was able to easily pull the fuel injectors out.

Poured in the 50/50 mixture and slowly turned the engine some and now we wait until likely Wednesday of next week before we put her back together to see if she’ll run. I’m feeling pretty confident about it at this point. We shall see.

When I was a little kid my dad had an old tractor in the shop with a seized engine. He removed the cylinder head and put some kerosene in the cylinders, and banged each piston with a block of wood every day. After about a week it was all loosened up.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Fri. May. 05, 2023 2:06 pm

When I was a little kid my dad had an old tractor in the shop with a seized engine. He removed the cylinder head and put some kerosene in the cylinders, and banged each piston with a block of wood every day. After about a week it was all loosened up.

LOL he got lucky.

https://static.speedline.dk/ai/800/storage/images ... 472434.jpg

They make honers ... low cost. An option .. seems like OP is will to do some work to get it running.

I'd be gone by now. Persistence has rewards. Sometimes.

We have a winner…she’s freed up and running…sort of.

After soaking the cylinders and rings for nearly a month with a 50/50 solution of kerosene/transmission fluid the 850 will at least run on one cylinder (medium to dark gray smoke, but not white or black).

When we pulled the injectors out to get the water out of the injector sleeves and jumped the starter (not working…bad wiring) there were a couple of parts on the bottom of the injector nearest the fuel tank that shot out onto the ground. Two small parts, so we thought.

Put it all back together knowing the packing (insulator) on the bottom of two injectors wasn’t in the best shape for some reason. It was at this time that my dad discovered a small brass washer laying on the lower deck and according to my manual that washer goes in between the other two injector parts (I forget the name as I type but they’re pictured in the manual).

Deere informed me they no longer carry parts for this tractor, but I can buy equivalent and cheaper identical Yanmar counterparts…pun intended.

We did get her to run on one cylinder but she is going to run…and that’s good news.
For some reason the lines are leaking at each injector where each line screws into each injector. I started them by hand and screwed them in by hand until a line wrench was needed and tightened them down, so I’m not really sure why they are all three leaking. I’m positive that isn’t helping the engine to run right so I need to find the cause and address it. Also, the rubber return lines going from injector to injector are hard and cracking, even splitting (but I removed the split part of the hoses). This could further negate a smooth running engine by air leaks as well as the hoses could be breaking down and bits of tiny pieces of rubber may have gotten inside each injector. Comments & suggestions are welcome.

I’ll certainly be taking things apart again, getting new packing for each injector as well as making sure brass washers are in their proper place, and we will install new rubber hoses as well.

I am told John Deere no longer makes parts for these tractors and engines but the injectors can be rebuilt if somehow they are bad or clogged with possible rubber from hoses. Yanmar injectors are $90 each…which I’d rather not spend.

Currently all the tractor has cost me is some time, a gallon of oil and $50 for the new fuel shut off valve assembly.

The injectors should not be bad or ruined I wouldn’t think because the tractor only has about 862 hours on it.