My Satoh ohh Satoh

[Pon Cho Ballz]

Hey everyone,
I am at my wits end with my Satoh 550g. I'm loosing coolant, and she is flooding. If I get her to crank she it will idle for 90 seconds and flood. This tractor has served me well for 10 years. 2 years ago the accelerator pump went out, and it has not been right since. Then the mechanical fuel pump went out and it has been a limp since then. The carb kits I keep getting have a different accelerator pump design but they do work. Either way the coolant loss and flooding has me concerned. I have no water in my oil, but i cant find a leak. Could the coolant loss be going through the intake? I love this tractor but I do not have the time right now to go on an in depth rebuild. I need her running to power the wood splitter. Fun time with cold weather ahead. Looks like I'm swinging a maul to stay warm.

 

[Roadworthy]

The coolant could be evaporating if the tractor is running hot. My Mitsubishi had no catch tank on the radiator to keep the coolant in when it got hot. Newer tractors do have this tank and the plumbing to handle it. As far as the flooding check the float level in the carburetor. Make sure the needle valve is operating properly and the float it not sticking. Can you get a replacement carburetor? I got some good deals on my Mitsi through eBay. It was a diesel so no carburetor issues.

 

[etpm]

Hey everyone,
I am at my wits end with my Satoh 550g. I'm loosing coolant, and she is flooding. If I get her to crank she it will idle for 90 seconds and flood. This tractor has served me well for 10 years. 2 years ago the accelerator pump went out, and it has not been right since. Then the mechanical fuel pump went out and it has been a limp since then. The carb kits I keep getting have a different accelerator pump design but they do work. Either way the coolant loss and flooding has me concerned. I have no water in my oil, but i cant find a leak. Could the coolant loss be going through the intake? I love this tractor but I do not have the time right now to go on an in depth rebuild. I need her running to power the wood splitter. Fun time with cold weather ahead. Looks like I'm swinging a maul to stay warm.

The flooding sounds like a stuck float valve or a flooded float or mis-adjusted float. Remove the float valve and look for a tiny particle of dirt. Check the float to see if it is full of gasoline. Check the float level. As to the coolant loss, check the radiator hoses. Recently my Yanmar YM2310 lost coolant. It was very slow at first and I thought it was just evaporative loss. But then it lost a lot just while being parked and it turned out to be a loose clamp on the radiator hose that goes to the water pump. I never saw coolant on the ground because it is parked outside on wet dirt.
Eric

 

[etpm]

The flooding sounds like a stuck float valve or a flooded float or mis-adjusted float. Remove the float valve and look for a tiny particle of dirt. Check the float to see if it is full of gasoline. Check the float level. As to the coolant loss, check the radiator hoses. Recently my Yanmar YM2310 lost coolant. It was very slow at first and I thought it was just evaporative loss. But then it lost a lot just while being parked and it turned out to be a loose clamp on the radiator hose that goes to the water pump. I never saw coolant on the ground because it is parked outside on wet dirt.
Eric

 

[Pon Cho Ballz]

Hello everyone I have an update. I changed the coil which did have fire and it solved the flooding issue. Thank God for an old cat that used to mechanic forklifts and his advice. The coil I replaced had less than 100 hours on it. I would say it really has never worked right. Ill chock that up to cheap Chinese parts. I still have not found where my coolant is going, but I have always had a problem with it pushing coolant out because there is no catch tank, just not at this rate. Either way I do feel better about this. Just think I was on the search for another tractor over a malfunctioning new coil.

 

[Pon Cho Ballz]

And we are back. New coil worked fine for 4 hours splitting wood. I went to haul a trailer load of wood to the house and she died. No fire from the coil. The new coil is hot. So now back to square 1.

 

[etpm]

And we are back. New coil worked fine for 4 hours splitting wood. I went to haul a trailer load of wood to the house and she died. No fire from the coil. The new coil is hot. So now back to square 1.

I wonder if you know what flooding is. Flooding is when there is too much gasoline. It can be caused by leaving the choke on or by a stuck open float valve. It cannot be caused by a bad coil. If the spark plug is wet it could be that there is a weak or non-existent spark. Changing the coil and then getting good spark would fix the wet plug condition but wouldn't do anything about flooding. The reason your coil was hot is most likely because it was made to use a ballast resistor. If this is the case the coil may be ruined because it was sparking internally. If the coil regains spark after it cools down then the problem could be from increased resistance in the coil from the high heat.
Eric

 

[bmaverick]

I still have not found where my coolant is going, but I have always had a problem with it pushing coolant out because there is no catch tank, just not at this rate.

As for coolant, it is possible the head gasket is blown inside the engine. The engine creates pressure and can push or suck coolant anywhere of least resistance.

Since this is a Satoh made to JIS standards back in the day, you could use this product to by some time. It's not a miracle in a genie bottle, but it will greatly reduce the coolant problem. Asian formula for Japan tractors too. It works by placing the kevlar fibers where the blow-by is happening. The kevlar then dries where the head gasket is torn inside the engine, filling in the void. It works far superior over black pepper flakes that was the old school method.

 

[bmaverick]

And we are back. New coil worked fine for 4 hours splitting wood. I went to haul a trailer load of wood to the house and she died. No fire from the coil. The new coil is hot. So now back to square 1.

Your S550 has the same engine as the S650.
Look at this site for help.
Satoh-S650G.com – Your Starting Point for the Satoh S-650G Bison Tractor

The Repair Manual and OPS manual are right there on the front page.
Download to a computer.

Here is the electrical schematics for both machines.
https://satoh-s650g.com/images/bison-schematics/wiring_diagram.jpg

A hot coil can be a few things.
- wrong spark plugs *
- wrong gaped spark plugs
- voltage regulator is messed up
- The center wire from the distributor to the coil is aged or bad inside.
- Alternator to the ignition switch to coil has a short
- Bad Point gap or bad points
- Bad Condenser = Replace Condenser

* Spark Plug: Check spark plugs to see if they need to be cleaned.
Check gap to make sure electrodes are 0.030in (0.8mm).
If the spark plugs are worn, replace (Recommended plug: NGK B6E or equivalent).
The Point Gap is 0.017 to 0.018.

 

[Pon Cho Ballz]

I wonder if you know what flooding is. Flooding is when there is too much gasoline. It can be caused by leaving the choke on or by a stuck open float valve. It cannot be caused by a bad coil. If the spark plug is wet it could be that there is a weak or non-existent spark. Changing the coil and then getting good spark would fix the wet plug condition but wouldn't do anything about flooding. The reason your coil was hot is most likely because it was made to use a ballast resistor. If this is the case the coil may be ruined because it was sparking internally. If the coil regains spark after it cools down then the problem could be from increased resistance in the coil from the high heat.
Eric

Yes I am loosing the term loosely. Simple facts is the exhaust smells like raw fuel. For the 4 hours it ran with the new coil it was not like that. This tractor has seen mods through the years. The old guy I bought it from reconditions tractors and sells them. The resistor definitely may not be factory, and it is acting weird. When I ohm it out it just jumps from 1.5 ohm to infinity. My meter does not like it. The resistor that is on it looks like a coil of wire with brown lacquer coating. When I did the ignition tune up not 100 hours ago I did not replace the resistor. I replaced points, plugs / wires, and coil. I am pretty sure it all came in a kit and I just connected the new coil to this resistor. I took the resistor out of line just to test and the new coil is hitting hard again, but it is not running right. That being said I think the damage is done.