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.