low coolant in ford 7000 diesel tractor

Hello, I recently used my ford 7000 to do some bush hoggging and the coolant level droped severely for some strange reason. I didn"t check the radiator level for a good while but the last time I checked it was full. I guess that was a couple of months ago. The tractor had been having some issues with shutting down without warning and I think it is do to air getting in the fuel delivery system some where. I fooled around with it for a while an must have accidently fixed it because it isn"t shutting down anymore. I checked the radiator the other day and it was a little over a gallon low on anti/freeze. I checked the oil and there was no foam in it so I assumed that the coolant is not going in to the oil. The tractor seems to run okay just don"t really trust it anymore. I am always wondering if it is going to shut down and leave me in the middle of a big field with no way to get it going again, ha ha. /That has happened to me several times over the last two summers. When I got it restarted I ran the rpm"s up to around 1900 and I held it there for a few minutes to help it perge the air out of the fuel system hopfuly. It seemed to work because she ran good for the next 5 or 6 hours. I am wondering if running her hard like that would push the coolant out of the overflow on the radiator. I did not see any evidence of that however. If anyone has any idea about what could be going on with it I sure would appreciate a note and a discussion about it. The engine is a 256 cubic inch 4 cylinder turbo charged diesel. Waiting for your reply on this problem. Thank you very much for your concideration on this one. Signed, very puzzled? Richard E Gwinn,,,,

Check the radiator while the engine is at an idle for air bubbles. Hal

Don't forget Today's Tractors forum.They may be able to help you.Or the Ford forum here.

Check the eng for visible signs of leakage at hose clamps,gaskets at any cast fittings for cooling system that bolt to block,water pump mounting gasket/shaft seal,around edges of head/block where they meet,thermostat gasket & intake manifold gaskets(if water cooled or used as a crossover for block cooling).If you can't find any visible leaks consider doing a pressure test on cooling system,you may have a internal head gasket/intake manifold cooling system leak,this might also be the cause of eng shutting due to coolant leaking into cylinder's after eng reaches operating temp.

Hello Joe. Thanks for the advice on the ford 7000. I have checked closely for any leaks to the outside and there are zero leaks on the outside of the engine. I checked the oil and there is no coolant or water in the oil either. You were saying that maybe the intake manafole gasket could be leaking coolant into the cylinders? I think you may have somethingwith that one. the coolant drops but there is no visible sign of it leaking out anywhere. When the tractor is running wouldn't the drops of antifreeze rain down on me or do you think it would be so fine it wouldn't be noticed. I noticed that the radiator still has pressure on it when I open the cap after it has sat all night. I found the coolant really low that time and it still had some pressure on the cap. Do you think it would have pressure on the cap even after all night if it is leaking into a cylinder? Maybe it only leaks if the heat and pressure is high enough. After it cools and the pressure drops a little maybe it seals and stays like that the rest of the night? Do you think this is a possibility? I am not sure and don'twant to tear it down until I am certin of what the problem is. Looks like a heck of a big job to me. I really need my tractor however. I have a 125 achre farm in WV that I try to keep bush hogged on a regular bases or at least 2 or 3 times per year. She always runs good and doesn't use any oil between changes. It ran really good up until early last summer when she started shutting down with no warning. I was blameing the fuel system for that but maybe that isn't what is doing it. Good to know I will investigate some more. If you have any more ideas please let me know about them. Thank you very much. Richard,,,,

If you have pressure in cooling system after tractor sits all night I would suspect a head gasket or manifold leak,but lean more towards a head gasket leak,gasket on head(s) may be starting to leak when eng gets hot,after you stop eng and it starts to cool down leak may stop but exhaust gas stays trapped in cooling system maintaining pressure in same,as far as coolant out exhaust it's probably evaporateing in muffler/exh pipe as it leaves eng.

This is why I said to do a pressure test on cooling system,it will help you track down/isolate problem when eng cold/hot(you'll probably have to remove thermostat when useing tester).If you can't borrow a tester most autozone stores rent them,just follow instructions included with same,worst possible case is an internal crack in block/head(s).


Years ago I had a similar problem with coolant loss on a 360 V8 eng,after eng got hot it started loseing coolant & I would have pressure trapped in cooling system when eng cold,I suspected a leaking head gasket/warped head,pulled heads twice & replaced gaskets plus had heads ground,still had problem,this problem bugged me for 6 months,I got mad one day & went to junkyard & got a used intake manifold,that cured problem,there was probably an internal crack in same between water crossover & heat riser passage for carb that would open up when eng hot,then when eng cooled leak would stop & exhaust gas would stay trapped in cooling system.

Joe, just curious but AMC 360, Ford 360 or Mopar 360?
Bryce

Joe, just curious but AMC 360, Ford 360 or Mopar 360?
Bryce

Eng was a mopar 360 used in a full size dodge van(b3500),this was also in the time frame when chrysler had thousands of bad porous block castings running around out there in the 318/360 engines.

The eng would run good for 1-3 yrs then develop coolant loss/overheating problems,for the shade tree/shop mech this problem would drive you up a wall trying to locate/figure out problem,chrysler/dealers were aware of problem but jerked you around till warranty expired then tell you,sorry eng out of warranty,block cracked & you need a new eng.I bought van used & was lucky in the fact that it was an intake manifold problem,my son wasn't so lucky,he bought a used plymouth sebring from a local dealer & after a month started loseing coolant/overheating if you ran it for more than 20 min at 50 mph/more,contacted dealer,all they said was sorry 30 day warranty expired can't do anything for you,I suspect they knew of problem & was also reason car was traded in the first place.