massey ferguson overheating issue

[massey1035]

Hello everyone...first time post here. Anyway, i have just bought a 1990 model massey ferguson 1035 4x4 31hp tractor. I use this tractor for my business. i have been having a problem with the tractor overheating lately. The tractor has a temp guage that reads in celceus for some reason. Here is what is going on...i will use the tractor under light load (bush hogging) for about 20-30 minutes and the engine seems to stay cool (about 80 degrees celceus) then after that the temp gauge starts to climb slowly to about 100 degrees celceus. i will shut the tractor down and it will blow coolant out the overflow. i have replaced the thermostat and cleaned the radiator. The radiator seems to be clean (i can see through it). The water pump seems to be working as far as i can tell....bearings arent making a noise.
After i shut the tractor down for about 10-20 minutes it will be good to go for about another 20-30 minutes then the same thing happens.....???
Any suggustions would be great! i dont want to go but an expensive water pump or radiator untill i am sure of the problem. Thanks!

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Welcome to TBN! Have you checked to make sure the belt isn't slipping to the water pump and fan? Is the thermostat (if it has one) sticking? How sure are you that the radiator fins are clean? The radiators can have a lot of dust and chaff caught in the fins to limit air flow. Are the radiator hoses firm enough and not collapsing? How much antifreeze is in the mixture?
And I am sure I may have missed something in that volley of questions.
After rereading your post I see that you changed the thermostat. Was it the same temp thermostat? The impellors on your water pump may be worn down or broken not giving you enough water flow as well.

 

[Willl]

The water pump seems to be working as far as i can tell....bearings arent making a noise.

Curious, beings it isn't making any noise, you determine it to be good ?

 

[massey1035]

Curious, beings it isn't making any noise, you determine it to be good ?

well usually in my past experience when a water pump goes bad it will either A.make noise from bad bearings or B. leak coolant and it isnt doing either of these.

i can see clear through the radiator so i dont believe it is clogged. What about radiator cap? could this be my problem?

 

[kthompson]

I understand the best way to test this is with one of the point and read thermometers but my thought is your radiator needs having the core cleaned out. If you have access to one of those thermometers check and see if there "cool" spots in your radiator when it is showing hot. If so that indicates blockage.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

They don't always leak when worn out or make a noise from just a few of the heating problems I have seen in the past on vehicles. They would over heat even after checking thermostats and radiators were checked. Popped out the water pump and found the impellor blades were shot. That doesn't happen too often. Normally like you said they will leak or make a racket. Also like Kthompson said you may have hot spots in the radiator that are clogged.

 

[Volfandt]

I had a similar problem on an old TE20. It would run fine for 30 - 60 minutes then overheat. I'd let it sit to cool then go back at it.
One day whilst using the pond scoop to move some large rocks I twisted the frame enough to cause the fan to contact the cowling and the waterpump started leaking. When I was putting it back together with a new water pump I noticed that the marks I out on the fan indicated that it was going on backwards. Hummm I thought. So I reinstalled it correctly and it never overheated again. (as long as I kept the radiator brushed off and clear when brush hogging in the tall stuff).
Seems a previous owner had changed it to a blower instead of a sucker
Might be worth checking.
Good luck

PS. An easy way to static check coolant flow is to loosen the radiator cap and run the engine to bring it up to operating temp. Once it's warmed up you should be able to remove the cap and observe the coolant moving rapidly through the radiator (once the thermostat opens). If not you've got a stuck or backwards installed thermostat, inoperable waterpump and/or clogged radiator/engine.
Troubleshoot accordingly.

 

[massey1035]

thanks for the help guys...im going to NAPA to buy a radiator flush. Right after i bought tractor i fulshed radiator and the stuff that i drained out looked like rust water. i then flushed and drained it with water only then refilled it with 50/50. so there probably is a good chance radiator need another good flush.

 

[Soundguy]

well usually in my past experience when a water pump goes bad it will either A.make noise from bad bearings or B. leak coolant and it isnt doing either of these.

i can see clear through the radiator so i dont believe it is clogged. What about radiator cap? could this be my problem?

I've seen w-punps with the impellors clean rusted off... I like to do a flow into the bucket test to ensure pumping..

I like to also flow test the rad core with a 1/2" gardon hose on full tilt.. a good core should flow that much with no overflow out the top.

also.. mix your af.. runing straight af is worse than water and af mixed..

soundguy

 

[MMagis]

.
What about radiator cap? could this be my problem?

Certainly worth checking, and would be one of the first things I tried, right after verifying good flow.

 

[massey1035]

ok so now i dont know if i have a overheating issue or not...i flushed radiator with NAPA flush and put a new cap on radiator. i also pulled off top radiator hose while engine is running and the water pump is definantly pumping. so i drove the tractor with bush hog running for about 25 minutes and it went back up to about 90-95 degrees celceus....BUT this time when i shut the engine down it did not come spewing out the overflow. wonder if the new cap made that difference? is 90 degrees celceus too hot when tractor is under load? antifreeze is not comming out around cap or out of overflow now.

 

[clundog]

90-95 degrees celsius = 194-203 degrees fahrenheit.

It kind of depends on where you temp sender is located as to whether or not the temps you stated are high or not. If it's coming out of the radiator that hot then it may be an issue but if it's going into the radiator at that temp then in my opinion it's definately not.

You could remove the t-stat, see what temp is stamped on it. I'd guess it should be a 180 degree stat. If it's a 195, maybe you could put a lower degree stat in it.

Maybe the gauge isn't accurate! I've seen gauges read 5-20 degrees off.

 

[massey1035]

the manual says anything above 100 degrees Celceus would be considered overheating on this tractor so maybe im alright afterall

 

[clundog]

It may indeed be running hot. That being said, do a search on this site for "normal operating temp" and check out about the first three. Some of these explain in more detail what I'm getting at.

I'm not very articulate when giving explanations on certain processes.

 

[Hinomotoman]

The guage is in celcius because the tractor is built in Japan. I have the Japanese version of this tractor and had the exact same problem. A head gasket fixed it even though the old one looked OK.

Eugene
formerly buppy69

 

[Treemonkey1000]

The guage is in celcius because the tractor is built in Japan. I have the Japanese version of this tractor and had the exact same problem. A head gasket fixed it even though the old one looked OK.

Eugene
formerly buppy69

Gee you know how to spoil a party

 

[Hinomotoman]

Sorry

Eugene
formerly buppy69

 

[massey1035]

tractor still running a little hot under heavy load. i was bush hogging tall grass today with it and it got up to about 110 degrees celceus after about 30-45 minutes of use. seems to be better though. Anyone ever try rigging up an electric fan in front of radiator? i have on left over from a car i used to have...thought i might put it on a toggle switch.

 

[Soundguy]

save the bandaid.. find the real issue before you roast the engine..

soundguy

 

[massey1035]

ok found problem....took radiator to radiator shop and had it pressure tested. They said it is definantly clogged. Gonna charge me $65 to fix it. If this isnt my problem then i give up! haha