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Harry Ferguson Tractors Discussion Forum
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TO35 doesn't like to warm up.

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Lance J.

05-14-2008 14:10:45




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Hey fellas, its me again with another ponderous question about my 1955 Z134 equipped TO35. I purchased and installed a new thermostat from MF and replaced the coolant with new green coolant and water mixed at a 60:40 ratio. The thermostat did open at some point because I watched the coolant suddenly start flowing in the radiator. I ran the tractor for 40 minutes today, both idling and driving around in the field with no load. The temperature guage never rose above approximately 110-115 degrees. The weather today in my location is cloudy and around 65 degrees (I'm using Fahrenheit scale).
Do these tractors not warm up unless they're under a load? All the tune up items were done last year and the tractor starts and runs great. On hot days of bush hogging last year the temperature would climb up to around 140-150, according to the guage. Of course, I haven't run the tractor under a load with this new thermostat yet.
So, if the tractor is supposed to warm up no matter what, I'm suspecting I either have a guage that is reading incorrectly or the engine is not producing enough heat to warm up. If the engine is not producing enough heat, I'm suspecting too rich a fuel/air mix or retarded timing. Any suggestions out there?

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gshadel

05-15-2008 07:16:26




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
either your thermo is stuck open, or your temp. guage is faulty. With no coolant flow your engine will overheat in about 10 minutes even at idle, so your thermo is definitely opening.
You can check your guage by pulling the bulb out of the tractor (make sure the engine is cool)and sticking the bulb in a pot of hot water with a candy thermometer in it and compare temps. You can do the same thing with your thermostat to verify that it is opening and closing at the right temp's

George

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Lance J.

05-15-2008 14:35:33




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to gshadel, 05-15-2008 07:16:26  
Thanks George, I'll pull the guage sender out and test it against a known good thermometer when I get a chance. When I got the tractor the cooling system was full of rust and dirt. I'm thinking that this may have damaged the sender bulb in some way, maybe it is coated with junk and not reading correctly. I'll try to check it out this weekend.



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maxwell99

05-14-2008 17:06:43




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
Ky redneck test solution:

cut a piece of cardboard that fits the front of grill and attach cardboard to grill.

Drive the tractor a bit and watch the temp guage.

The temp should come up, even if the new thermostat you purchased and just installed is defective (stuck in open position) if it were stuck in closed position the tractor would have gotten hot during your test drive.

If the temp comes up with grill blocked and will not come up to temp with grill block removed, then I would think the thermostat you just installed is defective.

Good luck and remember:

The fastest way to ruin a engine is lack of oil pressure, the second fastest way to ruin a engine is lack of coolant or getting a engine too hot.

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Paul Kingsbury

05-14-2008 17:02:23




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
I would think the gauge is not working correctly. You could get a non contact thermometer and check on the engine side of the thermostat.



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Lance J.

05-14-2008 15:52:02




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
The thermostat came from the local MF dealer, fits perfectly, and resembles the old one. This is the second thermostat I've put in the tractor, the first one last year came from this website and behaved exactly the same way. I should have tested it in a pan of hot water but I forgot. I do have a good thermometer with a long metal probe. How would you recommend I go about testing the guage? Perhaps put the probe into the warm coolant coming out of the top radiator hose into the radiator?

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Jerry/MT

05-15-2008 12:41:42




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 15:52:02  
That"s one way to do it. Take the rad cap off and start the engine and let it come to temperature. Initially, ther should be no flow coming out of the upper hose. As the thermostat opens, the flow wil increase. Make sure this happens.
Let the engine temperature stabilize as indicated on your gauge.Put the themometer into the coolant coming out of the upper hose and let the indicator come to rest at what ever temp it comes to. Compare that temperature to the gauge.

If you want to calbrate your gauge, you can remove the bulb from the gooseneck and place it in a pan of water. Heat the water to say 120oF by the thermometer and then place the bulb in the pan of 120oF water, let it come to equilibrium and see what the gauge reads. Record the temp from the thermometer as well as the gauge. Do this all the way up to 200oF (don"t get the water boiling) and plot the results on a graph of T gauge versus T thermometer. You now have a calibration of the gauge that"s good enough for you to use to monitor the engine with. Make a small size of the graph, wrap it in saran wrap and tape it to the dash.

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Jerry/MT

05-14-2008 14:50:37




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
Do you have the correct thermostat? Are you sure about the accuracy of the temperature gauge? The only way I know to check the accuracy is to use a known good thermometer to check the gauge.

There is no good reason for the machine to be "cold blooded". Obviously, working the snot out of the tractor on 105oF day will cause an elevated temperature depending on the actual cooling system capacity, but the at 65F the thermostat should control the temperature to ~180oF.

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Jerry/MT

05-14-2008 14:50:23




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
Do you have the correct thermostat? Are you sure about the accuracy of the temperature gauge? The only way I know to check the accuracy is to use a known good thermometer to check the gauge.

There is no good reason for the machine to be "cold blooded". Obviously, working the snot out of the tractor on 105oF day will cause an elevated temperature depending on the actual cooling system capacity, but the at 65F the thermostat should control the temperature to ~180oF.

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Jerry/MT

05-14-2008 14:50:16




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 Re: TO35 doesn't like to warm up. in reply to Lance J., 05-14-2008 14:10:45  
Do you have the correct thermostat? Are you sure about the accuracy of the temperature gauge? The only way I know to check the accuracy is to use a known good thermometer to check the gauge.

There is no good reason for the machine to be "cold blooded". Obviously, working the snot out of the tractor on 105oF day will cause an elevated temperature depending on the actual cooling system capacity, but the at 65F the thermostat should control the temperature to ~180oF.

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