Green fluid leak after low coolant

[bsvitale]

Ran my JD 5045e yesterday for about an hour to move snow. This morning found two areas of green spotting under the front axle. Realized I had not checked coolant level in a while and it was very low (nothing visible in the white fill tank).

I've got the block heater on it now but worried I have caused some damage if it was low on antifreeze and froze up last night. Temps in the teens. Any thoughts? Plan to heat it up real good but should I be concerned about starting it?

 

[Clint S]

Think about this, what would cause it to freeze if it was low on antifreeze?? Answer. Nothing, unless you added water to dilute it. 2 ounces, one cup, one gallon or 10 gallons is going to have the same "antifreeze'' points it was originally mixed to (unless diluted with water). Overheating would be your issues not freezing.

 

[bsvitale]

Have not diluted with water. I added some Coolgard II 50/50 today.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Check for loose radiator hose or leaking gasket at thermostat housing. Maybe even a punctured radiator if you have been in brush. Hopefully it is just a loose connection. Directly above the leak is the place to start but realize that antifreeze may travel some distance by running down hoses etc before falling to the ground.

 

[Deere Dude]

Ran my JD 5045e yesterday for about an hour to move snow. This morning found two areas of green spotting under the front axle. Realized I had not checked coolant level in a while and it was very low (nothing visible in the white fill tank).

I've got the block heater on it now but worried I have caused some damage if it was low on antifreeze and froze up last night. Temps in the teens. Any thoughts? Plan to heat it up real good but should I be concerned about starting it?

It seems that whenever I check my white overflow tank it is always empty. I refill it to the correct level and the next time I check it, it is empty or low. I check the radiator level and it is always full to the top. Go figure? Is your radiator full but overflow is empty? If both are low, you have a leak. If just the overplow is low or empty, I would say it is the nature of the beast.

 

[yankeerider]

I doubt you did any damage. More likely that the snow revealed a slight coolant loss of which you were unaware until you checked. Keep an eye on the coolant level and don't fret about it.

My JD755 is about 26 years old. It never showed any coolant loss so I fell out of the habit of checking it. One day about 3 years ago i ran about 2 miles down the road to my sister-in-law's farm to pull some shrubs for her. Halfway there, the high coolant temp light came on, so I stopped, lowered rpm to idle, and the light went out. I checked the radiator screen, but it was clean, so I continued to the farm without incident. Pulled a bunch of shrubs without the light coming back on. When I headed to the back of the farm with one large stump, the light came back on at the dump site. Again lowered rpm to idle, and the light went out. Drove the tractor back home at a lower speed without incident. After it cooled down, I started looking for my cooling problem. First thing i did was check coolant level and it was way down. I refilled, and the problem hasn't re-occured since. Never did find a leak of significance, but I do a better job of checking coolant level now.