I have a 2006 CK25 with 501 hours. Today I was using it to push trees around into my burn pile. While I was off the tractor and it was sitting at idle I noticed antifreeze dripping onto the ground. I popped the hood and saw the coolant recovery tank was gurgling and the antifreeze was coming out. I then saw the temperature indicator was showing hot. I stopped the engine to think about what might be causing this. I waited an hour and popped the radiator cap and could not see a level in the radiator. I may have lost this much during the gurgling. I restarted it and the gurgling started again. I stopped the engine and parked it. Could this be from a blown head gasket? Any other ideas?...Please have some. I don't want a blown head gasket!
There are several ways to check for a compression leak into the cooling system..
On a cold engine, I would start by filling the cooling system completely full of coolant or water, replace the radiator cap, remove the recovery bottle hose from the radiator neck and attach a clear piece of flexible tubing that will reach to the ground. The tubing can be purchased from Lowes or Home Depot for about 30 cents a foot.. so its cheap. Place the other end into a partially filled bucket of water and start the engine.. IF its compression leaking, it will QUICKLY overcome the pressure rating of the raditor cap and start pushing some air thru the tubing and eventually start blowing bubbles into the bucket of water..
You WILL see some bubbles from the small amounts of trapped air in the system and in the clear hose, but what you are looking for is consistently seeing air bubbles as the engine runs.... Thats compression entering the cooling system.
I WOULD suggest that you run the engine until it gets operating temp,. then shut it down, remove the glow plugs(if equipped) and spin the engine over... BUT, not knowing your experience level makes me want to tell you to shy away from that.... Personal bodily injury could result from not being careful..
Also, doing that may NOT show true results due to leaking head gaskets not ALWAYS leaking back into the cylinders... sometimes the leak is sealed until combustion pressure hit the affected area...
Try the hose in the bucket trick.. its a time tested troubleshooting method..