Re: tractor overheating

Posted by Hal/WA on October 05, 2006 at 22:33:08 from (66.45.175.118):

In Reply to: tractor overheating posted by ron laws on October 05, 2006 at 21:37:30:

I have to ask: do you live in Western Montana? I used to know a guy named Ron Laws in Spokane, who retired to Montana. I haven't seen him in years.

I would try flushing out the cooling system and replacing the coolant with new mix. Then I would keep a close watch on the coolant level each time I used the tractor, to see how fast it goes down. The level in the radiator will not stay completely full, you will get some airspace at the top of the radiator, but that level should stabilize. If coolant is puking it out the overflow very much after it is warmed up, you may very well have head gasket problems. There are test strips available to test for combustion gasses in coolant, but from my experience, when a head gasket fails, you get lots of bubbles to the cooling system and out the overflow. Be careful with the pressure cap. If you open it hot, it might boil out a bunch of coolant very fast, and burn you. If the tractor just reads hot on the gauge, but does not boil over, I would try to continue to use it--the gauge may be reading hotter than the coolant really is.

You can test most thermostats by putting them in a pan of water on the stove and seeing if they open as the water gets hot. But of course, you have to remove them from the vehicle first.

I have had water pumps go bad, but usually they leak coolant at the bearing seal and the problem is very obvious. But once I had a slant 6 Mopar that somehow had the impeller of the water pump come loose from the shaft. It didn't leak, but sure got hot fast without coolant circulation. You might want to check for coolant circulation, which you can usually see in an open, unpressurized radiator with the engine running and the engine warmed up enough for the thermostat to be open.

Having the radiator rodded out can't hurt, but can get expensive. I haven't needed to have one done since I started using only distilled water to make my coolant mix some years ago. I usually change antifreeze every 3 or 4 years in tractors or trucks I don't use a whole lot.

Good luck, I hope you don't have a big problem!

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