overheating easy

[countrygreg]

Hi,
I have a LB1914 kioti tractor with 280 hrs on it and it keeps overheating very easily. Any suggestions of why it would do this?
Thanks, Greg

 

[mpham]

Check the radiator and prescreen for grass or mouse house. That will cause overheating quick. Could be the thermostat also but havent heard of that much here.

 

[ultrarunner]

Not say this is the case... neighbor had overheating trouble and it was because the brake wasn't fully released.

Assuming the gage reads properly...

Obstruction in the cooling system externally... fins/screen or internally... rust or corrosion.

Loose or broken belt

Low on coolant

Had one that always overheated and it was a bad head gasket... only one time have I found this to be the cause.

 

[countrygreg]

Thanks for responding.

The temperature gauge goes up and down when its overheating. When you shut off the tractor the radiator overflows.

 

[mpham]

With the engine cold take off the radiator cap, make sure the radiator is up to the correct level and start the engine. Any bubbles? Let it warm up with the cap off and keep observing the radiator, if you see bubbles in the fluid it is a good indication there is a head gasket or other problem. If it doesn't bubble but heats up and boils over you probably have a blocked radiator inside or outside or a stuck/lazy thermostat. More than likely with it boiling over on shutdown it is not gauge related.

 

[grsthegreat]

I second the check radiator post. And i mean check inside the fins. Ive seen these things so packed with dirt and dust that there is no airspace within the fins. It will overheat fast that way.

If you work a lot in dirt or do a lot of mowing, this is most likely the culprit.

 

[PoorMansCat]

is it losing coolant? is the radiator full? and is the overflow bottle filled to the correct mark?

 

[Coyote machine]

Assuming it has correct amount of fluid and there is not blockage of the radiator from dirt, etc. the fluctuating gauge is likely bubbles from exhaust gases leaking into the coolant as a result of a blown head gasket and its sending the gauge up and down due to increased temps, then more normal temps etc. One way to verify its NOT the thermostat is to remove it from the equation and see what happens- if it keeps boiling over, or you see a flow of bubbles instead of a stream of coolant like a river, its most likely the head gasket. One last thing - check the radiator cap- sometimes they go bad and cause weird results. Take it off and run the engine to temp and see what happens....post back descriptive results.

 

[PoorMansCat]

Assuming it has correct amount of fluid and there is not blockage of the radiator from dirt, etc. the fluctuating gauge is likely bubbles from exhaust gases leaking into the coolant as a result of a blown head gasket and its sending the gauge up and down due to increased temps, then more normal temps etc. One way to verify its NOT the thermostat is to remove it from the equation and see what happens- if it keeps boiling over, or you see a flow of bubbles instead of a stream of coolant like a river, its most likely the head gasket. One last thing - check the radiator cap- sometimes they go bad and cause weird results. Take it off and run the engine to temp and see what happens....post back descriptive results.

yep... seems you and I were thinking along the same lines. When i posted asking about coolant levels, in the back of my mind, was wondering if this was going to be another case of early head gasket failure.

 

[Coyote machine]

yep... seems you and I were thinking along the same lines. When i posted asking about coolant levels, in the back of my mind, was wondering if this was going to be another case of early head gasket failure.

Seems so, BUT I caution the OP to run the suggested tests to verify cause/effect. Diagnosis form the sky- internet, is not the same as being there!:thumbsup:

 

[PoorMansCat]

this is true..
I spend lots of time on the phone diagnosing engine performance issues every day. Sometimes its hard to explain how to check something when you don't know the skill sets of the tech on the other end of the line.

 

[CowwFace]

I'm sure you have checked, but just wanted to add a possibility: When I was moving some scrub oak brush one of the branches got in and broke my fan blades off .. tractor would idle just fine, but under any load it would overheat .. just make sure your radiator fan is intact.

Tractor on

 

[malk315]

Over the last couple of months my CK20 would get right up to H on the temp gauge too easily when mowing w/ my 60" MMM.
Never overheated (no coolant coming out or anything), but was very annoying having to stop the mower to cool down every 10 minutes.

So today since my 60 month battery is going on 7 years old I took out the battery, matched up a new one from Advance Auto Parts, and got what I needed to change / flush the coolant in case I wanted to try removing the thermostat. Shined a light into the radiator w/o the battery there and it was pretty darn packed with ground up thatch. Took the junk vacuum cleaner with plastic crevice attachment and went over all of the core I could carefully. The HST oil cooler mounted in front of radiator was clean (core is more coarse, and thinner so the debris tends to go right through it).
Installed new battery, fired up and right away noticed it was running w/ no load below the 1/2 mark on the temp gauge. With the mower going full bore cutting for a solid 15 minutes the gauge went barely past 1/2 way.

So if you are doing regular mowing in dry dusty grass, I recommend vacuuming your radiator once in a while! made a big difference for me.

 

[ToadHill]

I use a pressure washer on mine at least once a year. Just keep it at least 2 feet away.

 

[KiotiDave]

This is a common problem, but you should always use low pressure air or water to clean out the fins. They are very thin and can bend and close up when using high pressures. If you do a lot of mowing especially with a HST...there are a lot of things in front of your radiator so you have to take apart and clean a little more often. This engine is a normally cool running engine 180 deg +/- and the guage will cycle often showing that the thermostat is doing it's job. Good Luck
Dave G.
KiotiDave

 

[Tmar104]

Where is temp sensor located on lb1914

 

[Robin Veerman]

Welcome, You might want to start a new post instead of resurrecting an almost 10 year old one

 

[K5lwq]

Where is temp sensor located on lb1914

It is located on top of the cylinder head at the front right side. Just behind the lift point.

 

[Tmar104]

Thanks so much

 

[rodneyn]

Hi,
I have a LB1914 kioti tractor with 280 hrs on it and it keeps overheating very easily. Any suggestions of why it would do this?
Thanks, Greg

Your tractor has some age few things to look for on this model 1. Water pump are bearings solid not worn. It can fail without leaking fluid. Inspect it you may need to remove fan belt.2. Fan belt it self could be loose however alternator light would be intermittent inspect this. 3. Thermostat sticking close typically the radiator hoses will swell not always almost need to remove thermostat run tractor without it to see if overheating persists. 4. With radiator cool look inside see if fins are corroded up from pH change in fluid. I had to have my radiator boiled out to remove corrosion - build up. The rest of the forum suggestions are correct too their suggestions are focused on inspection on the outside of radiator. These small diesel motors generate heat quite quickly under load. Cooling on the newer models has improved dramatically due to larger radiator better water pumps. One last thought on checking if antifreeze is good you can use voltmeter set on DC voltage if you place lead in the fluid and one on ground you should not see any reading. If you see reading it means your antifreeze pH level is low and it needs to replaced before it starts to corrode the inside of the radiator. Best of luck