Ford 881 running hot

Hi,
I've been trying to figure out why my Ford 881 (gas tractor) is running hot. I have a temp gauge plugged in where the original temp gauge would go and when brush hogging it will climb up over 225-230F. It goes that high within 20 minutes of hogging with a 5ft mower in 4-5 inch tall grass. When it starts getting to that point I let cool a bit and shut it down. I checked the timing with a timing light. It was off and now set at 4degrees BTDC. Points gap is good. I adjusted the carb so it was less lean, though you have to turn the air adjust a lot to make a difference. None of this made a difference and still runs hot. It has a fan shroud and belts are tight.
I replaced the coolant today. Funny though, according to the manual the cooling system holds 15 quarts. I could only get out may 1-2 gallons. I removed the lower radiator hose to drain. I then opened the stopcock on the engine block, but nothing came out there. Added new coolant and only took as much as came out. Tried running and could add maybe another half gallon.
Looked in the open radiator cap while running and a lot of sloshing around. No obvious bubbling. I kept watch till engine reached about 200F at idle with no change. Capped it back up. I checked for possible blown head gasket by disconnecting the fan belt and revving the engine up briefly with the radiator cap off. No disturbances or bubbling in the rad fluid, so I am assuming the head gasket is good. No white smoke from exhaust.
Could it be the thermostat is stuck closed? Or is it the waterpump? Should I have gotten fluid out, or does the smal volume of rad fluid drained indicate the T-stat is stuck? How do you tell if one of these isn't working. Looks like impossible getting to the thermostat with the pwr steering pump in the way, and a loader attached to the tractor. I don't want to deal with that if that isn't the problem. I may be overlooking something dumb...I'm not a mechanic! Any help and suggestions greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Nothing came out of the block drain to me says the block is clogged up with rust and lime deposits. You need to flush the cooling system. While many will say it does not work I have used a vinegar flush many times and it has worked just fine.
 
One other easy thing you could do is to pressure wash the radiator - dirt and dust and dandelions and everything else in the air gets pulled thru and sometimes stuck between the fins -

it does seem likely that it's a thermostat problem - changing it is not impossible, just incredibly difficult and frustrating - do be careful about maintaining correct placement of a new thermostat as if it slips out of position during assembly it's easy to break the housing -
 
I'll just throw this out there probably not the problem. I had a Silverado pickup not too long ago that did the same thing. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why it was overheating. Changed the thermostat...not it Turns out it got a little low on coolant and there was an air pocket that formed in the lower hose right before the water pump I believe. It must have traveled from the reservoir into the hose. Long story short...I finally disconnected that hose and filled fluid through the hose and that finally pushed the air bubble out. Hence the water pump was able to work. Just a thought.
 
Thanks Pomester. There isn't much trash in
the rad fins, just along edges. May need to
remove the loader to get to the t-stat.
Thanks for the tip on installing the t-stat.
 
One other easy thing you could do is to pressure wash the radiator - dirt and dust and dandelions and everything else in the air gets pulled thru and sometimes stuck between the fins -

I would not use a pressure washer on the fins of a radiator as you can easily bend the fins.
 

Thermostat on Silverado's after 98 I believe are in the bottom radiator hose inlet, it's made in the inlet housing.
My 01 with 5.3 is that way.
 
If your upper radiator hoe gets as hot as the engine, it's opening. Blockage in the radiator can be checked with either a non contact thermometer going slowly around the entire core after it warms up and the thermostat opens. Don't wait too long or you may get false readings from heat transfer. You can also shut of the tractor after you've reached operating temp. and feel for cool spots in your radiator by touching the core.
 
I do believe I would take the thermostat out. when you start it up and it gets up to about 1/2 way on temp you should notice a drop when the thermostat opens. if you look where your top hose comes off in front of the motor you will see what apperars to be a round device where the hose fastens on. that's where your thermostat is. two bolts to remove, just my thought
 
Agreed, Sean.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use a pressure washer to clean a radiator core.

One can damage a radiator with high pressure compressed air if not careful.

Dean
 
Verify that the centrifugal advance mechanism is functioning properly. If it is stuck or broken, the engine will be SERIOUSLY retarded at operating speed even with the timing set at 4 DBTDC at 400-450 RPM.

Of course, your tractor has a fan shroud in place?

That said, are you certain that the engine is overheating? Aftermarket temperature gauges for these tractors are notoriously inaccurate. Try filling the cooling system with H2O. If the temperature gauge reaches 225 - 230 and the radiator is not boiling, you have found your problem.

Try the above and post back if still concerned. We can then address the issue of radiator cores.

Dean
 
"NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use a pressure washer to clean a radiator core.

One can damage a radiator..."

eh - I'm sure some could damage a radiator with a feather duster and they should probably just stay inside and watch TV -

for myself, I will continue to use high pressure water once every year or three to clear radiators of accumulated debris - as I have been doing for 40 years (yes, some of the same equipment) when I have to replace/repair a radiator due to this practice, I will report it here -

nothing to report, currently -

something, something, judgement, something -

David
 
how do you clean radiators? - if you're going to tell someone 'NEVER, NEVER, NEVER' you should explain your alternative -
 
Thanks Sean and Dean for the warning about using a powerwasher or compressed air. I was going to go to a local manual wash place to clean the tractor and also try cleaning the fins. Good thing I didn't.
 
Thanks Dean. Yes, I checked that the advance mechanism was working when I did the tuning. Seems to be okay since the 4-mark on the flywheel is no longer visible in the view port when increasing the rpms. I was going to replace the rad fluid with water since I hear it is better at cooling, but haven't done that. That a good idea about seem if the water boils to determine if the temp gauge is accurate. This may be dump question..... would you check for the water boiling by leaving the radiator cap off, or keep it on and look for water or steam released from the overflow? I assume the latter, but seems like either way would work.
 
Thanks for the discussion about cleaning the radiator fins. I came across an archived post on tractor talk about cleaning radiators. Sounds like some used pwr washers/compressed air and many don't or recommend not using it.... you just have to be very careful, like anything else, as all say it can easily bend the fins. Some also claim to use engine cleaners, something call "purple ZEP", or even scrubbing bubbles. I don't think my radiator is too bad dirt-wise, but I will try a cleaner and use a garden pump sprayer to wash it off just to be sure that's not an issue. With the loader attached to my tractor it might be hard to keep a straight spray angle on all the fins anyway. Hopefully there's nothing in engine cleaner or scrubbling bubbles that will harm the outside of the radiator.

I don't know how to post an active link, but here's the address to the tractor talk discussion:

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=ttalk&th=917282
 
(quoted from post at 11:38:41 09/17/16) how do you clean radiators? - if you're going to tell someone 'NEVER, NEVER, NEVER' you should explain your alternative -

Blow it out with air from the back side, I have a brake line with a bend on the end on an air nozzle that I use
If you have been using a pressure washer, you are either very lucky or have a week pressure washer or you would have surely wrecked the radiator
Boss
 
I finally got around to replacing the thermostat in the 881 tractor. Pulled the housing apart, and no thermostat was there! Not sure if that is the source of the over-heating problem when working the tractor hard. Seems like there should be max coolant flow with no thermostat. Hopefully putting in a thermostat will make the difference. Thanks
 

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