Overheating update

Today I started it up and waited for it to warm up. It noticed that as the engine warmed up there was a lot of movement in the radiator water, but it never warmed up. As the engine temp started to climb very quickly, I turned off the engine before it overheated. The water in the radiator was still just as cool as when I started the engine. When I felt the top hose going from the radiator to the engine, it was very hot just below the thermo, but cool above it. I gave the hose a squeeze below the thermo and suddenly the thermo opened with a vengeance. Very hot water surged from the engine and into the top of the radiator, and cool water in the radiator flowed into the engine through the bottom hose. Needless to say, it was something like a geyser out in Yellowstone, but certainly not Old Faithful!

Okay, so the problem appears to be a stuck or malfunctioning thermo, which I installed new about a year ago. Just to make sure, I installed it with the spring coil side toward the engine just as I do with the one in my car. Is that correct? Also, when I pulled it out about a week ago and did the hot water test on the stove, it opened fine right at 80 degrees C.

So does anyone have any suggestions other than trying a another thermo? Thanks.

John

George

I pulled the thermo completely out of the hose and checked it again with the hot water on the stove. This time I watched it very carefully and had a thermometer in the water right next to it. And lo and behold the thing didn't open until about 210 degrees, and when it did, it sort of popped open with a jerky motion. So that explains a lot.

I did pull off the water pump and checked it very carefully, and it was in great shape. I think it must have been replaced not too long ago. I think the leak might have been caused by the pressure that built up from the sticking thermo. I cleaned it and the surface on the block to which it mounts very thoroughly and made a new gasket for it. I reassembled it and there were no leaks, so I will give that a try with the new thermo.

I've found working on this tractor that it really is best to use Jerry/MT's philosophy of diagnostics to go about tracking down the source of the problem systematically by checking one thing at a time. Also, I spent a fair amount of time just sitting on the wheel of the tractor thinking through the issues and pondering possible causes.

I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks again for providing a "peripheral brain." Sometimes mine reaches its maximal operating capacity.

John

Thanks.