Diagnosing overheating issue

Hello everyone,

I have been reading the forums posts on overheating as they relate to my issue already however I'm really at my wit's end here and am asking for help in diagnosis on my overheating Massey Ferguson 1030.

Here's the deal: I know very little about tractors but I bought this one 2 months ago. At first it wouldn't start , so I replaced the battery and starter motor and it started right up well then it started overheating. I can bring it down to about 200 Farenheit if I let it idle but when I try to mow with it in 1st gear with 5 foot finish mower then it creeps up to 239, which is the top tick mark on my temp gauge.

So far I have had the radiator rodded out (it had so much rust in there), changed the fan belt, changed the air filter, changed oil and oil filter. So my question is where would you go from here. I can get any photos that you may need.

,Robert

Thermostat. Don't just take it out,they need some back pressure to make the coolant circulate to all areas of the engine.

I did not read that you mentioned thermostat, agree with Randy, should be one in there. The engine might be completely filled up with cr@p if the radiator was that bad. If those are all good, expect that there is a combustion leak into the coolant.

Are you using the gauge or have you determined it is overheating using a thermometer? Check the top of the rad tank with an infer red thermometer and compare to your gauge. Otherwise.....dirty air side on the radiator, loose fan belt, stuck or faulty thermostat, lower hose collapsing at high rpm, faulty rad cap, leaking injectors

....worn impeller in water pump.

Here are some photos of my most recent radiator flush. It started creating these bubbles out of the radiator and coolant system drain plug about 10 seconds after start up. Do these bubbles indicate combustion gases in the coolant system ? Or is it normal to find bubbles in the coolant system ? Oh and I have also seen some bubbles and fluid appear on am indentation in the block itself, perhaps air leaking into a chamber in the block?

As for the thermostat, unfortunately I cannot get the housing off of the posts as they last guy used that sealant gasket when resecuring the thermostat housing. I think I would gouge the housing if I tried to pry it off there...

I'm going to try to look for a combustion leak then. Thanks for the advice.

For sure replace the thermostat.

Overheating under load is a common symptom of a partially opening thermostat.

The bubbles can be an indication of a bad head gasket or cracked head. But usually a combustion leak will cause coolant to discharge from the pressure cap, sometimes even before the engine is up to temperature.

Other symptoms are excess water vapor out the exhaust, misfire, coolant in the oil, mystery coolant loss. Not all the symptoms always appear though.

If the thermostat doesn't help, a combustion leak detector will tell the story.
Combustion Leak Detector

That is first thing I would do, then get a new one with gasket and put on the right way.

180-190 will be fine,

I although I don't know what I'm looking for, I did pull the water pump while replacing the fan belt and it seemed to spin freely. It wasn't squeaking or wobbling while spinning either.

Would that rule out the water pump impellor?

O have replaced and tightened the fan belt, cleaned the exterior of radiator, rodded out radiator although I'm still getting a rust colored fluid to drain out of the coolant system as I continue to flush. I have replaced the cap. Oh and I am not testing the temp with a thermometer, just the gauge. Do you think that could read incorrectly?

Would the lower hose only collapse under load?

Oh and injector leak is new. How could I tell if this is the culprit?

Even if the hose is not leaking or collapsed . The hoses are over fuel for replacement .

What if the gauge is reading incorrectly? You might not be overheating at all! The lower hose could collapse due to high rpm; if you under load at high engine rpm you"ll overheat if the hose collapses.

Pull the injector and have it tested.

No that won"t tell you if the impellers corroded. Bring the engine to operating temperature and look for water entering the radiator through the upper hose. IF there is none, then either the thermostat is not opening or the impeller is corroded. Remove the thermostat, re-assemble the thermostat housing and start the engine. If you don"t see coolant going through the upper hose, the impeller is bad.

Old radiators can have a problem where the fins are no longer in good contact with the radiator tubes, when this happens the heat has trouble getting from the tube to the fins and then from the fins to the air. During manufacturing the tubes are typically stretched internally to make contact with the fins, there is no way that I know of to fix this issue. The way I fixed my Oliver was to replace the radiator with a new one.

I have increased the air flow with an electric fan, this helped but did not solve my problem, until the radiator was replaced.

As outline in the other posts, there can be lots of other causes, but this one was not discussed.

Rich

Hello- wanted to reply to this post even though it's rather old, but I have the exact same tractor with the exact same issue. Wanted to see if RobsRed found his problem, or anyone else had more input. My 1030 has an overheating issue ONLY when mowing or under load.
Here's what I did so far:
new head gasket -OEM
head resurfaced, valves done
new water pump
radiator flushed
new cap
new fan belt
new thermostat
tested for exhaust gas in coolant (negative)
tested temp sensor (good)
tested gauge (good)

Talk about wits end... what else is there?
New radiator?

thanks in advance, I'm about ready to roll this thing over a cliff!

Welcome to the Forums.

Please start a new post of your own. As you are new to the site you likely wouldn t know the following. This site uses two different views, Classic and Modern. Anyone using the Modern View sees the old post, your new post, and any responses to your post together as seen on most forums. Those using the Classic View only see your post as a RE to the original post, which does not include the original post, as after a post is a few pages old in Classic, replies do not link to it. Because of this for anyone using Classic view there is no background to what you are asking and it may get you off the wall replies to your post. Then any replies, like this one, to your post will generally show as random RE:s in Classic, with no connection to the original or your post. And you will get replies that have no bearing on your tractor, since people on classic are only seeing that you have the exact same tractor, they don't see the original post that tells what the tractor is. (And RobsRed has only the four posts in this 4-year-old thread on record, he may not be around to answer you.)

Start a new post of your own, give all the pertinent info about your Massey Ferguson 1030, Toyosha built compact utility tractor, and the problem, then it can be responded to and stay grouped together in both views.

You can use a temperature ''gun'' thermometer to survey the radiator while it is running. You should see it warm across the top and cooler as it goes down to the bottom. The flow should be spread across the tubes, not a narrow track down a few tubes. If you see that, removing it and having in checked by a radiator shop would be in order.

oK, Thank you Jim!

Exactly as Jim posted.

actual temperature instead of what the gauge indicates ?