Moisture In My Oil

R

RunningRed

Well-known member
Hey fellas I've been noticing water collecting at the top on my oil fill tube. I've also noticed my oil is kinda of off colored, not sure if it's from the moisture or not. I've have been running rotella 15-40 in my tractor since I had it. We got hot with a snow storm here in Pa with bitter cold temps as well. I was out plowing snow for 2.5hrs with the Cub today and these pics were after I parked it in the garage.
 

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RunningRed said:
Hey fellas I've been noticing water collecting at the top on my oil fill tube. I've also noticed my oil is kinda of off colored, not sure if it's from the moisture or not. I've have been running rotella 15-40 in my tractor since I had it. We got hot with a snow storm here in Pa with bitter cold temps as well. I was out plowing snow for 2.5hrs with the Cub today and these pics were after I parked it in the garage.
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Could be a concern if the level in the radiator is going lower. If that's not where it's coming from it's probably condensation, Are you running the engine with any of the radiator covered to raise the water operating temperature? If it's condensate that might drive the water out of the oil. JMHO Stan
 
staninlowerAL said:
Could be a concern if the level in the radiator is going lower. If that's not where it's coming from it's probably condensation, Are you running the engine with any of the radiator covered to raise the water operating temperature? If it's condensate that might drive the water out of the oil. JMHO Stan
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The level of coolant hasn't dropped much but it is leaking from around the hose a little. That a project after it warms up. No I have no radiator cover, haven't heard of doing that.
 
RunningRed said:
The level of coolant hasn't dropped much but it is leaking from around the hose a little. That a project after it warms up. No I have no radiator cover, haven't heard of doing that.
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The engine runs pretty cool (by comparison to summer) so the moisture does not get driven off. No thermostat and no temperature gauge so it's hard to make a call. You might be able to use a cooking thermometer to reach the water level after it gets warm to see what the temperature actually is. Somewhere around 200 degrees would be ideal. Trial and error with a covering to get the temp adjusted. I have an AC B that has a manual crank controlled shutter to do the covering plus there's provision in the sheet metal to tie a cover over the grill. It gets cold in some parts of the country where these tractors were used, i.e. Minneapolis and West Allis MN right now! Stan
 
Here's a picture of the shutter control crank by the right front light and the 4 small holes in the sheet metal at the corners of the grill.
 

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This is the picture that I couldn't find earlier, copied from this forum some years ago. If the owner sees it please post who you are. Tks Stan
 

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I've seen the white foam buildup caused by condensation but I've never seen the oil discolor due to condensation so I find that concerning. Myself, I'd at minimum, change the oil and filter then work it hard for an hour or so then monitor the oil and see if it discolors again.
 
When I was preparing our Cub to plow snow on of the first things I did was cover the radiator with a manilla folder, opened up and held on with the very small Bungie cords. No more condensation in the oil. I removed the folder in the spring after snow season. No problem with over heating or fluid level in the radiator. There was enough exposed radiator to prevent overheating but covered enough to raise the operating temp to drive off condensation.
 
Bill Hudson said:
When I was preparing our Cub to plow snow on of the first things I did was cover the radiator with a manilla folder, opened up and held on with the very small Bungie cords. No more condensation in the oil. I removed the folder in the spring after snow season. No problem with over heating or fluid level in the radiator. There was enough exposed radiator to prevent overheating but covered enough to raise the operating temp to drive off condensation.
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Sage advice from one of the forum's seasoned veterans.......He's probably forgot more about cubs than I'll ever know!!! JMHO Stan
 
In cold weather and not pulling hard or for long periods of time they dont get hot enough to get rid of moisture so it mixes with the oil. cover the rad. BUT watch that it dont steam---IF it does uncover part of it til it stops. The amount of cover will depend on the condition of the rad and block inside.
 
Bill Hudson said:
When I was preparing our Cub to plow snow on of the first things I did was cover the radiator with a manilla folder, opened up and held on with the very small Bungie cords. No more condensation in the oil. I removed the folder in the spring after snow season. No problem with over heating or fluid level in the radiator. There was enough exposed radiator to prevent overheating but covered enough to raise the operating temp to drive off condensation.
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Can you show me what you did?
 
Yes, here is a pic of the rig I used in the past (I haven't plowed snow for two years. Got too old, getting on the Cub is a real chore). This pic is before I addressed the condensation issue.
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After this pic was taken I addressed the condensation issue by using a manilla folder covering part of the radiator. This is a pic of the manilla folder (tabs were cut off) and bunji cords I used for several years. Enough of the radiator was left uncovered to prevent overheating,
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Bill Hudson said:
Yes, here is a pic of the rig I used in the past (I haven't plowed snow for two years. Got too old, getting on the Cub is a real chore). This pic is before I addressed the condensation issue.
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After this pic was taken I addressed the condensation issue by using a manilla folder covering part of the radiator. This is a pic of the manilla folder (tabs were cut off) and bunji cords I used for several years. Enough of the radiator was left uncovered to prevent overheating,
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Thank you, I will give this a try and see what happens. I ran it again today to plow and pull firewood to the house. The oil was not as off colored as before so It must have cooked some of it off. How much of the radiator did you cover? This first pic doesn't show but that's a sharp cub...
 
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