Tractor overheats when mowing. No dealer actions fix it. Any ideas?

[pmsmechanic]

The thermostat can be taken out and put in boiling water, if it opens up it's good or can put in a lower temp thermostat, if that's not the problem then its radiator or motor block plugged up. I think the only time a water pump goes bad is if starts leaking.

I have seen a water pump that didn't leak but all the fins were broken off on the impeller. Ya it didn't circulate water well.

 

[brs78660]

Oh my, you guys are great! I love this forum! Sorry for no reply lately but the family and I went to our land in CO for a few weeks. I still do not have good internet up there, but its on the list. I took my skid steer there to do a lot of needed work.

I have went through all the suggestions and I have a nice long list of things to check, but I also have an update on the whole tractor issue.

LS contacted me about all the issues I have had and is working on a solution for me (might swap out the tractor). I am wanting to find the issue, but I also do not want to tear it all down then find out they want to come pick it up to be replaced.

I posted this in another thread here:

Well, right before I left on vacation LS reached out to me and talked to me about my tractor. This was nice. +1 to LS for calling me. Then my dealer started responding to me again shortly after. This was nice "mostly". I was asked by LS what would make me give LS another try and hopefully give me a better experience with the brand. Since asking for a refund would make me happier to be done with it but would still leave a bitter aftertaste, I told them if they did what I had been asking for since 2017 (swap out my tractor for a new one that works) I would do my best at giving it a go again and try to focus on the new tractor and not the issues with the old (sorry for the run on sentence). Since it seemed to be going well, in good faith I also made my videos that maybe shed some negative light on the LS brand to "private" in YouTube, as a token of goodwill. Did I have to do this? No way. This should have been fixed years ago and not been an issue we are even taking about. But again, in good faith I did it to see where this will go.

That has been 2 weeks now, and I am waiting on a formal response. If they don't swap it out for a working tractor, I will just reset the videos to "public" again and be on my way trying to fix this tractor to probably sell. If they do swap it out for a new one, which should have been done when they could not fix it, then I will leave them private and see how the new one goes. If it does well then great for LS and I can make all the happy videos like some here do about how I love my tractor (or try my best because some of those videos are just boring). You will know when I know.

Again, thank you all for the wonderful knowledge in this thread. I am hoping this will help me and others in the future. I will keep you updated.

 

[kirkkw]

It been almost 5 weeks since your last post. What is the outcome?

 

[rademamj1]

Well we all gave good advice to the OP for his LS tractor, and some of that advice surely helped me this week. For the first time all year, my tractor started overheating while mowing a field with my 60" rotary cutter. This week the afternoon temperatures have reached 103F in central Texas so I started mowing early morning at 6am when it's much cooler and try to finish by 10am. Field grass only about 20" high. About an hour into the mowing I had major over heating. So I shutdown until it cooled, and then drove back to the tractor shed and throughly washed down the radiator and screens. They were dusty but not excessively.

Went back to mowing and after 30 minutes of mowing it started overheating again, so put it in neutral and in 5 mins engine cooled down to normal. Went back to mowing with the AC off and cab doors open, and it still overheated. I then switched to the low and slow gear, and found no overheating occurred, even when I switched the AC back on, and completed the field mowing without any more engine overheating.

I think these compact HST tractors put very high hydraulic demands on the engines, most especially when the PTO is running a rotary cutter, and when the tractor is in the high or medium HST range during summer weather. Cleaning my screens or radiators had limited to no affect on my engine overheating issue, and appeared mostly caused by hydraulic demands.

I also note the OP's tractor overheating issues occured during mowing. And most importantly he blew his hydraulics out, and his LS tractor has continued to overheat during mowing. In the meantime, everything on his tractor has been replaced during warranty and still he continues to overheat during mowing. Its absolutely possible he was mowing in medium or high HST range, which encourages higher hydraulic use and overheating.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

To the OP: If all else is ok, I'd be looking for a broken blade or two on the water pump, that will do exactly what your tractor is doing...

SR

 

[tallfreak]

I didn't read all the comments so someone may have mentioned this already, but look at the direction of the radiator fan blades. With the engine running it should be pulling air through the radiator not pushing.

It sounds stupid, but i have been an auto mechanic for 11 years and have seen this happen and seen it stump some good techs.

It causes the same problem in a car. Fans aren't efficient at pushing through a radiator.

 

[Oldpath05]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Thats a good point.......

 

[fried1765]

I didn't read all the comments so someone may have mentioned this already, but look at the direction of the radiator fan blades. With the engine running it should be pulling air through the radiator not pushing.

It sounds stupid, but i have been an auto mechanic for 11 years and have seen this happen and seen it stump some good techs.

It causes the same problem in a car. Fans aren't efficient at pushing through a radiator.

I had a highly experienced independent shop import auto mechanic put a new 12V fan in my Mercedes E-320
The aftermarket DC fan was wired with reverse polarity (China I suppose).
The fan ran backwards.
It was NOT the mechanic's fault.
The plug was wired incorrectly.

 

[tallfreak]

I had a highly experienced independent shop import auto mechanic put a new 12V fan in my Mercedes E-320
The aftermarket DC fan was wired with reverse polarity (China I suppose).
The fan ran backwards.
It was NOT the mechanic's fault.
The plug was wired incorrectly.

I'm a BMW tech and there is one brand of fan that is almost always wired in reverse. Im not sure why, but i always assumed it had another application where it needed to be reversed.

 

[MechanicalGuy]

Too mush flow is an old wives tale. That痴 not how hear transfer works.

Nothing wives tale about it. Take a tstat out and watch it overheat. The water needs to stay in the cooler long enough to have heat removed.