jcb 3c 2

[dixie-normous]

If you take the head off again (a pain in the hoop i know) you may be able to see to see if there's been a leak on the head gasket now it's a new gasket. Mine does exactly the same, but one of my liners has droppped on one side, i didn't have time to sort it so i just put it back together with a new gasket and drove it steady. I'll get round to sorting it properly one day

[MrF]

Before you take it apart, you can also pressure test it with a diesel compression tester in place of the injectors to see which is the bad cylinder. But make sure you use a pressure adapter that is made for the leyland or make one to suit as its easy to damage the copper injector sleeve with a generic adaptor (different world of pain...) I made one from a old injector hollowed out and a stub to fit my gauge on the lathe.

In the developing world, they just run big diesels with no rad cap pressure and top the fluid up when it gets low where its simmered away as water not under pressure boils at a lower temperature, and run plain water and drop the water if it gets cold. If its not too bad a lot can limp along like this for years. When I have been forced to do this on old motors, I put some soluble cutting oil (suds) in the water so it still has some lubrication properties for the water pump without the whole expense/poisonous to animals aspect of antifreeze.

[Neil king]

So worked it for an hour today with not to much trouble, oil in water but didn't get to hot and didn't loose much water either
Got to work out if its worth saving as not investigated gearbox/diff noise yet and dipper ram seal and steering leak (although not much)
i can buy a full engine kit (pistons and liners) for £380 on eBay but where do i stop as its useable now but would like to sort it as it also breathes a bit and bit smokey . Owes me £875 now so not a lot of money local scrap yard said it would weigh in for £1600 but i wouldn't like to do that

[dixie-normous]

It's surprising how long they will keep going if you don't give them too much stick. As you say, where do you stop once you start going through it? If you do the pistons/liners you should probably do the big end and main bearing shells (and hope the crank is ok) you may also need new injector nozzles, the price keeps rising! My 3c3 uses water and oil and smokes like an old steam train but just keeps plodding on. I keep planning to sort it but it just keeps going, its now a question of who falls off the plate first, me or the JCB!

[MrF]

Where do you stop? the honest answer is you don't ever really finish if you intend to keep on using the machine as it was intended. But hopefully our machines get better over time.
I've been going through my working machine (a 3c3) repairing major things wrong with it when time and circumstances have permitted. Ive done a load of repairs as t when I bought it, it was all I could afford at the time, and I paid less than its scrap value and bought it sight unseen.
I've also had 10+ years of use out of it over this period, and I did a lot of those 10 years knowing it still had issues that were unsorted or with weeping seals etc, but I worked it as sympathetically as I could to them limping it along until I could sort each one. And its done a hell of a lot of work over the period, and paid for itself several times over.
I'm coming to the point when the amount of work I have for a machine left is less than I could justify a machine for, but its not sat around eating stuff when its not in use, so I just pull it out of its slumber in spring and use it when needed and when the urge takes me, sort another of the jobs on the list. The utility of just having something there for a quick 30 minutes instead of having to mess around hiring something and waiting is not to be underestimated. If that has to be a full on 8t backhoe is a different subject though

For the kits, be cautious, you need the correct liner lip thickness and piston design for your exact engine (and remembering its a 38DT, and that will differ to the 4.98 kits as it has different pistons etc). Some will tell you that you can do it in situ, and yeah I swapped a liner with mine in the machine still but its a pig of a job especially if you have a balanced engine like a jcb should, as you have to work past the balancer shafts lying on your back crawling under the machine and you cant see much because of them in the way, and I would pull the engine and do it properly based on this.
However I would carefully run it, with a eye on doing it one day when the time is right. Or you might drop on a spare engine you can rebuild in your own time and just swap it in when its right.

[dixie-normous]

Sounds like we are in the same situation, my 3C3 only cost me £1000 15 years ago. I built my house and lanscaped everything with it so it earned its keep many times over, but for the amount it gets used now i can't justify spending too much on it. And i totally agree about taking the engine out to do liners etc, i rebuilt a 4/98 from a Marshall and was very glad to have an angine stand to do it on! Last time i did anything on the JCB engine in situ (changing rocker cover gasket) i slipped and cracked 3 ribs as i landed on the loader arm

[mechman]

Hi all.
Just curious, Is the 4/98 a straight swap for the 38td
Norm.

[MrF]

I've asked this before, when I was pondering replacing my 4.98 with the engine out of the 3c2 with a leyland 384 skid and fitted with a simms minimec inline pump with tacho drive on the rear (but the early 4.98 had this injection pump also ) and in the end I just swapped it in.
So I think I have what is a 38DT in place of my original 4.98, but the question remains if its *definitely* a 38DT, as the "38DT" also has a re-stamped engine number which it is identified as a 4.98V variant, which I cant seem to find in any of the specs so far
If someone knows a way to differentiate between a 38DT and a 4.98 besides the engine number, without taking it to bits and measuring the bits which the rebuild manual says are different I'd be happy to check and confirm if I have already done it.

Neil's engine is stamped 38DT though, so at least that seems a fair bet that's what his motor is.

[Neil king]

So head gasket can wait a while , can anyone point or send me a link to a dipper ram seal kit please there's so many choices on eBay and I'm not sure what kit will fit mine, can't even find a plate on it ???

[dixie-normous]

Try these guys, always found them very helpful and good prices
https://www.stevensplantsales.co.uk/