4200 Overheated once then ran hot thereafter

[Gary_in_Indiana]

My 4200 overheated a bit the other day so I vented it, let it cool, cleaned off the radiator fins of dirt and dust and filled the radiator and coolant bottle with anti-freeze.

I was mowing today and the temp gauge went high very quickly but didn't peg although it did get into the red area a couple times.

I checked and there was no evidence of actual overheating. My overflow bottle was full to the neck as I had filled it in the dark. The radiator cap was hot (of course) but there was no evidence of any problems other than the gauge.

Might I be losing a water pump or have a bad gauge or something else? Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BWa]

Not that I have any great experiance as a mechanic, but ,,,,,, I was reading my owners manual for my JD990, and it said not to use anything greater than a 50/50 mix water to anti-freeze , or over heating could / would be a factor ....also to use distilled water ,,, tap water could / would cause possible build up of fouling and corrosion .... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Bill g.

 

[RoyJackson]

Just out of curiousity, did you clean the grill and radiator screen as well as the fins?

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I'll check with a tester but I'm sure I have at least half anti freeze in there. I didn't add any water at all (just anti freeze) so I should be OK that way. Of course, a lot of times when I'm "sure" testing tells me I shouldn't have been. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Roy,

I cleaned the front and sides of the engine cover inside and out as well as the front of the radiator all around the battery. Is there something else I should be cleaning?

 

[BWa]

I maybe wrong and not understanding what the manual is saying , but I got the feeling that to much anti-freeze caused as much or more problems as to little ,, freeze the block to little and to much over heats engine ,,,,, /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Bill G,

 

[RoyJackson]

"Is there something else I should be cleaning? "

Nah, that's about it...

Why don't you run the machine for a few more hours, then see if it's still running hot.

Check your oil to make sure there's no coolant in it. Slight possibility the head was warped or a head gasket blew,

If no coolant in the oil, I'd run it a few more hours first before I got excited.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Tonight I checked my coolant, oil, air cleaners and fan operation and it appeared everything was fine. I then mowed for a while and experienced the same problem as before.

I let things cool and went and got something to eat and watched part of the Red Sox game. Later, I went back and did some playing around with my FEL and just general running around with no problems whatsoever (thank goodness for those nice headlights). I ran the 4200 for at least as long as I had earlier and didn't see the temp guage even hit halfway to the red.

Since it looked like everything was going to be fine, I decided to mow some more and had the same problem yet again. I think I may just be overworking the tractor pulling my 6' Woods rear discharge mower through some rather heavy growth. It's land I had brush hogged a couple times earlier this summer. It's still pretty thick and heavy and I think that the problem might be that I'm pushing the transition of that field from brush hog land to finish mower land just a bit. At this point (I'm about three quarters or more done) I'm pretty much committed to finishing it this way. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

At this rate I've got about two more sessions (with an hour cool down break in the middle) to get through this. I don't think I'm going to worry about it any more unless the problem recurs when I'm doing something else. I've got some brush hogging I can do and I'm going to see if it overheats then since it never has when I've brush hogged before.

 

[RoyJackson]

Question: You said it heats up rapidly, then cools down? How far down does the temp gage go? Normal operating temp, and does it stay there once the machines heats up and then drops (on the temp gage)?

To me, that sounds like a bad thermostat (not opening soon enough). Of course, I don't even know if these tractors use thermostats, but it might be something to ask your dealer's service department about.

Just a thought...

 

[MJB]

I would empty the coolant and refill with properly mixed antifreeze and water. Water is much better at heat transfer than antifreeze is so you want to have as little antifreeze is the coolant as possible to provide sufficient freeze protection. In Indiana I can't imagine you needing more that 50% antifreeze in the mixture. You might also have an air pocket trapped in the engine block causing the problem but I would think that since the top of the radiator is the highest point in the cooling system, the air would eventually work itself out with some running. Good luck.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

It seems to get to normal operating temperature in the normal amount of time (the same as always) then slowly climb from there with the heavy mowing. It seems to stay right at the green/red line or just into the red for quite a while during mowing (maybe an hour). Then it'll start to move again and I shut down the mower and let the temp drop on the guage before heading back to the barn to let her rest.

The temp drops back to a normal operating level once I stop mowing. The rate at which the temp falls back to normal doesn't seem to be effected by whether or not I shut off the tractor or leave it running at idle. I've never timed it either way so that's just a 'gut feel' kind of thing.

Here's what I've eliminated thus far; Low coolant level, low oil level, bad alternator belt or fan clutch, clogged grilles, clogged radiator screen, clogged radiator fins, clogged air filter.

It's raining today so I won't be mowing any more until at least tomorrow and maybe not until the weekend as it's supposed to rain again Thursday.

Even though I'm still not convinced this isn't the result of just overworking the tractor, I stopped at NAPA yesterday to get a thermostat. They couldn't find the thermostat in their book so I'm calling the Deere store this morning as I think that's a good 'next step' in the process here. If that or a new radiator cap doesn't do it, I'll look at either replacing the sending unit or flushing the system. Beyond that, I'll waive the white flag and take it to someone who's smarter than me on this stuff.

Is there anything else I should try or a better order in which to try these things?

 

[BillyP]

Gary, this is just a thought.

I had a similar problem as you. On my JD 4610, the transmission cooler is in front of the radiator. I took the front grille off and cleaned the trans cooler, screen and the radiator. It help some but still wasn't right. I went back and looked at the radiator from the other side (side next to the engine) and found it to be pretty clogged at the bottom. I couldn't see this from looking from the front. I took an air hose and blew the radiator fins out real good. Haven't had a problem since.

Just a thought.

 

[timb]

Anyone ever use a heat-transfer-improving agent in their tractors cooling system? (Redline WaterWetter type of thing).

Tim

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Last night I tried to get my hand around the fan shroud and between a couple fan blades to see how dirty that side was. I really couldn't tell much one way or the other. I didn't feel much dirt in the little spot I touched but that wasn't much of a test, really.

I'd kind of forgotten about it until I called the Deere service department here today and the guy there told me to make sure I blew that out real good with either a pressure washer or an air hose. Since I have a compressor but no well at this property I grabbed a blower connection for my air line out there and will clean that out real well before I try to mow tomorrow night (assuming this rain stops but the wind remains through tonight and tomorrow).

I'll be sure to report in when I get the chance to try this idea. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I tried blowing out the fan side of the radiator tonight. It's so tight that I couldn't see what I was doing but the lack of anything flying out lead me to believe I didn't accomplish much. I did get my front pasture finished tonight and even did a little more around the old house there.

I think the bottom line on this whole thing might be that I need to be just creeping along at something below walking speed when I'm running that 6' finish mower through heavy grass like this.

I need to keep an eye on it still, but I'm going to be real curious to see what it does when I hook up the brush hog to mow the side and rear pastures tomorrow. I've brush hogged through some terrible stuff and never had a problem so I think that'll be the real test.

Thanks to everyone for all of the suggestions and advice. If I have no problems with the brush hog I'll know it was just overworking the tractor. If I have problems with that I'll post what else I do to solve the problem so you'll all know what it was. Thanks again. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[jackd]

Gary:

FWIW I have a MX6 (recommended) for my 4710...I'm thinking you're right about "overworking" in heavy stuff.

Jack