overheating and the coolant system

I have a 1959 Fordson Dexta 3 cyl. diesel. I tried plowing with it in the wrong gear (3rd low) but it overheated and steam started coming from the radiator. I let it cool off and drove into the barn. It did not overheat when I just drove it around. I drained the coolant and flushed a tiny bit with some water and then filled it with coolant/water. I have checked the thermostat and found out that someone had already removed it! The radiator fins are fine and clean. I have filled it completely up with coolant and there is no air in the system. The temperature gauge is broken. I then took it out and tried plowing with it again to test it under load. This time it did not overheat at all. Some coolant came out of the overflow hole under the fill cap, but I have heard that is normal if you have filled it all the way up. The radiator hoses and the water pump got a little warm and you could tell that it was slowly warming up, but nowhere near overheating and it handled plowing fine. Can I assume the water pump is OK? Remember there is no thermostat. Should I install a thermostat and how important is it? How do I install a temperature gauge? It looks like I need to raise the fuel tank. How do I do that nd is there another way? What is the result of driving it without a thermostat? All advice and help is appreciated. It is very important to me to restore the tractor and have it working correctly. I also rely on it for my hobby agricultural production with plowing, harrowing, etc.

Sounds like the water pump is OK,but put a thermostat in it. They need some kind of restricted flow to make the coolant go to every nook and cranny of the system. If not,it takes the path of least resistance and you get hot spots.

Several things:

1) DO NOT keep running it without a thermostat!!!! I would bet the majority of your usage is just running around with little to zero load on the motor. So without a thermostat the engine will not run at a high enough operating temperature. This is critical for a diesel to run correctly. Running it with a low temperature and light load will mean it runs too cool. This can lead to incomplete burning of the fuel in the cylinders. This unburnt fuel can easily run by the piston rings and dilute the engine oil.

2) Over loading the motor can easily make it overheat. You did not say what the air temperature was when you tried plowing. 30 or 90 degrees??? IF it was warm then it would be easier to over heat it with too heavy of a load.

3) I am not familiar enough with a Ford Dexter to tell you exactly how to replaced the temperature gauge. I will tell you that running it with out a $30-50 dollar gauge can cost you thousands in repairs if you run it too hot again. A Ford major diesel is NOT a cheap motor to repair if you damage the head by over heating it regularly. Post the question of how to replace the gauge down on the Ford forum and there are fellows down there that can tell you step by step how to replace the gauge. Any Ford of that age I have worked on requires removing the tank usually to replace the gauge.

Good luck with your tractor. Get the things fixed and you should have years of use out of it with little cost. They are durable tractor.

Agree on that.

Look along the side of the block on the non-exhaust side for a ?" pipe thread existing sensor or a pipe plug for mounting such. If none, you can get a temp gauge, pipe and sensor in a kit from places like NAPA....that's where I got mine for my Ford reworks. Get a suitable tap drill and tap to fit your purchased sensor and drill a hole in the block between cylinders, mine are toward the rear, like between cylinders 3 and 4 (on a 4 cylinder machine), about an inch or so from the top of the block proper. Being careful and using grease as your lube will help you to retain most of the shavings from your work. The remainder will fall to the bottom of the block and sit there.

That's what I'd do.

Unless you could actually tell from the way it was pulling by luging the engine down you were not in the wrong gear, If it was not luging down then the gear you were in had nothing to do with it overheating. Sounds like you had some other problem like it had gotten low on coolant. But when you put in that thermostat use a 50-50 mixture of antyfreeze as that raises the boiling point of the coolant. Sounds like you might have a bad radiator cap that does not hold the pressure. And that tractor would fit under the Fordson section as well as the Ford section.

Like others said, put a thermostat in it and
a gauge. Some metals are the hardest at
about 400 degrees and softer when hotter or
cooler so a cold motor will wear sleeves
faster if too cool, and as mentioned it will
affect running performance.

I would have the radiator checked for
plugged cores first, then I would look into
whether there is a head gasket issue. Beyond
that I'm confused too. Let us know what you
find if you could.

Hello jasonteem,

One more vote for putting In a thermostat and a working temperature gauge. Also make sure to check the
pressure cap. If all else is good, a bad cap will certainly make it overheating, even if you are in the
right gear!

Guido.