New PT, New Problems

[Redfisher]

<font color=blue>Well, I finally pulled the trigger and bought a new PT. I’ve had the tractor about a week and, overall, I’m very impressed. However, with a grand total of 3 hours on the tractor, I’ve had a few problems</font color=blue>

I have to ask, Marrt Was it worth the Risk? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

(No disrespect to the PT looks like a nice little machine)

oops I guess I should have read your other post first Don't want to get into that again( By the way our jinma has 50 hrs on it now and the tack has been the only problem,coverd by warranty) Anywho have fun.

 

[PTRich]

Went to NAPA and got: spark plugs, air filter and gas filter. Worked like a charm, runs great.

 

[deadstick]

I did 3hrs tonight spreading 36yrds of topsoil... Felt the battery after use and I could keep my hand on it as long as I wanted. It was hot but not hot enough for me to remove my hand. Now the muffler on the other hand WAS too hot to touch /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif.....

 

[duane]

I did the same with my unit. The battery was hot, but I could keep my hand on it. Same with the rear of the tractor. How much of the heat off of the muffler is pulled up through the hydraulic cooler?

 

[marrt]

To be a little more specific, only the corner right under the muffler on my battery was “too hot to touch.” On my new battery, the positive post happens to be in that spot, right under the muffler. Since Lead has a much higher thermal mass than the plastic case of the battery, I suspect this is why that one spot was so hot. The rest of the battery was very hot…but certainly not too hot to touch. I’m going to buy a digital meat thermometer and mount the probe in that spot to get an accurate reading.

I called PT and they are researching the problem on a test unit they have.

BTW, they have been using this new muffler for only a few months. Deadstick, do you have the “new” muffler?

 

[deadstick]

Yes I believe I do.... Mine looks exactly as your picture depicts. I purchase the PT425 about a month ago. It's rectangular in shape with the exhaust going out the right side and the left side has the intake hole (or whatever it is)...

I felt the battery right under the muffler and I could keep my hand there. Now I did accidentally touch the muffler and boy was that hot /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif...

 

[MossRoad]

I mowed the lawn tonight. Outside temperature was around 70. After 35 minutes of mowing I stuck a meat thermometer under the negative battery terminal through the rear grill and it got to about 125. Warm to the touch but definately not hot.

Cleaned the thermometer off and stuck it in the hydraulic reservoir. 135 degrees.

Stuck it on the hydraulic cooler with the fan running and it dropped way down below the scale to (my guess) around 80 degrees.

I'll repeat the experiment on a 90 degree day sometime and see what it hits.

 

[marrt]

MR, thanks for posting. I bought a meat thermometer yesterday for this purpose. I will be able to mount this particular thermometer in the engine compartment and leave it there. I was looking for a digital thermometer and found one for about $20. However, since the cord for the probe was only 3 feet, I wouldn’t have been able to mount it on the dash without reworking the probe wire, which, for all I know, may have affected the accuracy. Anyway, I found another thermometer for less than $5 that I can just leave in the engine compartment for a while. I probably won’t be able to test anything until this weekend though.

I wonder if 125 degrees is a problem. As I mentioned earlier, I read that the life of a battery is cut in half for every 15 degrees over 77 degrees. However, its not clear to me what this means. Is this an average temperature over the battery’s life? If so, then it definitely wouldn’t be a problem. My guess is that 125 degrees isn’t a problem.

I’m betting mine was higher than 125 but it certainly wasn’t up to the boiling point (does anyone know what temperature sulfuric acid boils? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif). I think the problem with batteries “boiling over” when being overcharged is that they produce too much hydrogen gas too quickly and the pressure builds to the point where a release is necessary. I don’t know how much the battery’s temperature, by itself, has to do with it.

 

[MossRoad]

327 degrees C, but that is pure, not diluted in water like a battery.

 

[GarretV]

"I wonder if 125 degrees is a problem. As I mentioned earlier, I read that the life of a battery is cut in half for every 15 degrees over 77 degrees. However, its not clear to me what this means. Is this an average temperature over the battery’s life? If so, then it definitely wouldn’t be a problem. My guess is that 125 degrees isn’t a problem. "

I kind of wonder about that too. I mean, doesn't the engine compartment of every one of the millions of cars & trucks on the road regularly see 125 degrees?

Garret