2009 kawasaki mule diesel cooling fan duration

[msg]

i have a mule diesel that we use on the farm. its a 2009 with one radiator in the front. i added a temp gage because others that use it dont realize how fast you can kill this engine if it overheats. the unit has 1700 hrs and has been mostly trouble free. the problem, lately the fan cycles as normal but it only runs a couple of seconds. what controls the duration of the fan run time, the switch in the radiator or the breaker ??? the unit has not overheated yet but im afraid this summer may be a challenge. any ideas? thanks. mark

 

[davesl708]

The temp switch would control the fan. If the breaker is tripping the motor may have worn bushing and is drawing to much current and over heating. This trips the breaker to protect the motor.
With 1700 hrs. I would check the motor then the sensor.

 

[msg]

this weekend i will have some time to mess with it, thanks. i thought i would try load testing the fan by closing the switch and see if the breaker would hold it on for a couple of minutes without tripping. if that passes maybe the switch itself could be bad. i know kawasaki has an updated part number. will see what happens. thanks. mark

 

[msg]

replaced the breaker (20 AMP slow blow) with a 30a fuse. fan motor comes on and runs a little longer at the 210 mark on the water temp gage i added. we used it all weekend with no other issues. fan runs about 10 seconds now. gage drops down within another 10 seconds to about 190. seems to be working properly now. thanks. mark

 

[Industrial Toys]

Who watches a temperature gauge? Usually only when something doesn't seem right.

I have an earlier Mule with two rads and have never been able to figure that thing out. I don't think I have ever heard the fan for the rad under the seat going, only the one up front. Apparently purging the air from the cooling system on mine is critical to proper cooling and hence kind of scary considering the possible damage and cost. I mean, any small leak and you will get air in the system.

I tend to freak out when someone shuts the engine off before the cooling fan has cycled off!

 

[msg]

Who watches a temperature gauge? Usually only when something doesn't seem right.

i watch it now because i bought one with a burned up motor (2005 3010 diesel) , replaced the motor(very expensive) , still ran hot because the middle fan switch had failed. i put a water temp gauge on it , without the middle fan running temp was 220 plus. i wired the front switch to run both fans. never had another issue. sometime after that they went to one radiator , temp gets to 210 or so before the fan comes on, drops to 195 or so after it runs 10 seconds or so.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I should look more closely at mine. I bought it new, and like I said, have never heard the middle fan running. I thought it maybe only ran when the engine was running, so I never heard it.

I should have mentioned. You need to put the machine at all kinds of weird angles and inclinations to get the air out of the cooling system.

Where did you put the sender? Is there a "nicer" gauge that one can get instead of one of those 2" round things?

 

[msg]

i put the 2" gauge right under the e-brake handle in that plastic cover. i can take a picture this weekend. its a manual sender , i mounted it with a thread adapter right under the thermistat housing on the back side of the engine. dont know what size the plug is , you still keep the idiot light. thanks. mark

 

[Industrial Toys]

When you say manual, you mean capiliary tube and not electric?

I saw a nice rectangular display on E-Bay that I am sure would fit somewhere nice on the dash. It is LED and flashes when the temperature goes above 120, (I guess C). I would have preffered a buzzer though. Would that be an OK temperature for warning purposes?

My crank broke after twelve or so years because it was not spec'd right and ever since getting the machine back, my friend who uses it on the weekend claims that she thinks the cooling fan is coming on more then it used to, so I am a bit worried.