Buda 262 engine

well first, he doesnt have a Buda engine, he has an Allis Chalmers, the Buda would have been a 230, the 262 was after they aquired buda, but it is still of the Lanova style. That engine was in the D-17 Diesel, it wasnt  really a problem engine it needed some knowledge of the design to be happy with it. First it is a Lanova, which means it is not direct injection, and not being direct injection means it starts hard when cold, no exceptions. The 7.3 L Engine in the Ford pickups was the same design no glow plugs no start, so knowing that it needs to be glow pluged to start will help the owner out immensly, second let the engine cool down after working so it cools evenly. A new Head gasket will not repair the cylinder protrusion, if it is far below spec's,  he can try a new gasket be careful if it is replaced that the head is true and that the cylinder is free of all old gaskets and any oil, an old AC dealer told me that the company service rep told them to never touch the head gasket with your hands even the oil from your fingers will cause a problem, and if you can optain it find yourself some hylamar gasket sealer, its made for rolls royce engines and it helps the gasket bond ALOT, but if his protrusion is way off none of this will matter it will blow out again. The gasket is probably blown from either from the former owner not understanding that that engine needs good glow plugs to start, even in summer.

That's what I had found also. I had searched this and other sites. I spoke to Bill at Sandy Lake Implement. On his suggestion I used copper tubing to reinforce the water port at the point where these gaskets fail. I don't like the dissimilar metals being used and the copper will go away over time but I did it anyway. I threw out the thermostat and will not replace it. I cut the old fire rings apart and used the .010 thick rings that were produced to shim the new fire rings except on one. The ring that failed was only below the surface by .002-.005. A shim would have put it very high. If it fails in this place again, I will shim it. The others were down .006-.015.

I torqued, warmed it up and torqued again. I'm glad to have the manual. The valve lash was also way out but I got it adjusted. It purrs like a kitten and has no leaks. Right when I got ready to start it, the sun came out. Good sign on a drizzly day. There is a lot to like about this machine. It now idles at 135 degrees and operates at 160. I will warm up and cool down for 10-15 minutes on each use. I will install an alarm set at 210 degrees to alert me to danger. I will pray each time I go out. Always a good idea anyway.

 Thanks for your help Don and Brian. I read all your posts on the subject prior to doing the work but money for a complete rebuild isn't there right now and we decided to chance this route before and after talking with the other members of the subdivision board. The gasket blew after the thermostat failed and allowed the engine to overheat. The engine behind me and the focus on the blade let the problem get past me until it was too late.

There will be other things come up and eventually I will tighten up the steering linkage and be forced to replace the seals in the hydraulic pump that oozes from the main seal but today, I'm gonna work on roads instead of machines. Fingers crossed.

I just ran it for 5 hours. It ran from 160 at idle after it got warmed up to 180 when grading up hill and 170 when light grading on level ground or down hill. Still no leaks. Knocked out 1/2 a mile of road and ditches. This just might be ok. Scared to take a chance on a thermostat. They fail and in this case it caused a lot of heartache and I'm not sure how many blown head gaskets this engine has left in it.