Kubota overheated!

[5030]

I had never heard of a euchered engine before

You have now. Euchered or shot or lunched or puked, all the same thing.

It may run for a while but the damage is already done. I know my Kubota engines, once you overheat them, it's all downhill from there.

 

[5030]

Last Friday I was discbining a field and it was pushing 100 degrees and my ac was running hard and so was the mower as the hay was thick and high and my eyes were glued to the coolant temp gage in my M9000 cab tractor as it slowly crept up toward the red zone. Didn't quite get there before I was done, but it was close. When I finished, I shut the mower down, set the motor on fast idle and opened the hood and promptly burned my fingers on the metal hood prop, it was that hot under there...

If the temp gage had hit the red, I'd have shut the mower down and idled the engine until it cooled down and yes, my temp gage works, the rad was clean, belts were tight too. Just dam hot out. I run a 12 volt auxiliary pusher fan on the ac condenser blowing inward too.

Something keeps telling me the OP was lax in maintenance and his rad was pugged. A plugged rad cannot get rid of heat.

 

[big bubba]

5030: hey glad your attention to detail caught the near catastrophe. to be honest, once i saw the temp needle rise above normal on your rig, i'd back off on the work load & not let it approach red. glad you caught it. & hope it might be minimal damage to the OP's MX

i prob have not put my tractor to the test like yours, though hogging in heavy growth @90 degrees has never bumped my temp gauge. i'd never allow it to go above normal, less close to red, realize a/c was part if the equation.
then again, i don't make my living with ag (or have a/c) ...cheers, & good luck w/hay season. looks like a scorcher

 

[5030]

Thanks, all done and gone until next cut. First is always a bugger for me because it's always high and dense. The thicker it is, the more power the disc bine requires. Now, we need some rain for the hayfields and my garden too. Time to service all the equipment and change the oil and filters in the tractors. I always change this time of year, every year.

I don't 'make my living' with ag either, it's a consuming hobby. I'm retired and living the dream (nightmare under the current administration). I'll leave it at that.

 

[5030]

I'm in the habit of changing coolant and flushing the cooling system ever 2 years too. I use conventional green coolant (Kubota recommended) but I add 'Water Wetter to it. Both my Kubota's are getting up in age so I keep up on servicing them. Cannot afford new ones.

 

[big bubba]

sounds good, looks like attention to detail pays off in all areas despite livelihood. i struggled with a TO35 for 28 yrs in my youth endlessly cleaning out sedge bloom in radiator. now retired & can afford M series, the grill design on the hood is able to segregate most anything, cleaning out is rare. everything in good time i guess...

to the OP: let forum know impact of your event, regards

 

[LD1]

LD1, you mentioned you had an ordeal a few years back and the engine was not rebuildable. Was that engine in your MX5100?? What was the cause of the engine failure??

Yes the MX. Oil starvation was failure. In conjunction with a failed oi pressure sending unit so I was not alerted until too late. Bushhogging thick stuff...and "something" managed to dislodge the dipstick which then became MIA. Run a few hours with no dipstick and you are outta oil

 

[Hay Dude]

I find it interesting that the OP stated his concern that the coolant temp gage was inoperative but never took the time to check the sending unit, nor the fuse, or anything and just carried on. The sending unit costs a whopping 20 bucks and is readily accessable to replace as well. Did the OP ever bother to check the coolant level in the coolant bottle? (his Kubota has a plastic coolant recovery bottle but you do have to put the hood up to observe it). Was the rad ever blown out? Was the water pump drive belt intact? Did he even bother to check anything at all or did he just jump on it and start mowing until the motor got so hot it started smoking?

Before I use either of my M9000's, I check ALL the fluid levels, look at the rad screens to make sure they are clean (which they usually are because they get cleaned before they are put in the barn).

In reality, there is no plausable excuse for lack of checking common everyday maintenance items, except a euchered engine and once a Kubota engine ties up (even if it restarts after it cools off), the internal damage is already done.

Tractors as well as motor vehicles of all types require daily maintenance checks and when you don't bother to perform them, bad things happen.

Enough with the scare tactics. The OP may, or may not have overheated his engine, or it may have also just burned some chaff in the engine compartment making it seem worse. None of us know because we weren’t there.

Making the guy feel bad about himself is unhelpful. He already has a lot on his mind and concerns to deal with.

To the OP: I have had a few times where I got to the point where a warning light came on and you could hear anti freeze boiling briefly. Decades later, the engines are fine.

 

[Dale in MI]

Thanks to all who responded! I found the cause. The coolant hose behind the oil filter broke off

Full agree, but mainly just responding to note that it's interesting you use the term "euchered" to say the engine is blown/shot/junk LOL. I wonder if people outside of the upper midwest even have any idea what card game you are talking about.

I worked in a welding shop when I was 17 and they were always playing. Some guys rotated every 15 minutes on and off on huge brazing jobs because of the intense heat. So they played half of the work day. But I never heard the word used like this.

 

[Dale in MI]

Enough with the scare tactics. The OP may, or may not have overheated his engine, or it may have also just burned some chaff in the engine compartment making it seem worse. None of us know because we weren’t there.

Making the guy feel bad about himself is unhelpful. He already has a lot on his mind and concerns to deal with.

To the OP: I have had a few times where I got to the point where a warning light came on and you could hear anti freeze boiling briefly. Decades later, the engines are fine.

Thanks. It looks like my post last night did not work right. So I was pouring water in the radiator and watching run right out on the ground. The coolant hose going in front of the oil filter had broken off the block. I am going to call the dealer today and see if they have that part that goes in the block. If it is a standard thread, I might try to make a temporary fix. I need to find an extractor to get that out of the block.

I searched the Messick site last night and could not find the part.

So apparently that hose piece broke off at some point and drained the radiator. Because I did not see steam or boiling water, the radiator was apparenlty drained at that point. The tractor seems fine now, but parked until I can get some coolant in it.

 

[Dale in MI]

Kubota Kings in Jackson Mi says there are none in stock anywhere in the US. He thought it should be NPT so I may be able to find something that will fit it. It is called the water return mount nipple.

 

[Dale in MI]

The fuel gauge and temperature gauge were smashed by a tree limb. Anyone have an idea how difficult it would be to replace the instrument panel?

 

[loggin]

Thanks. It looks like my post last night did not work right. So I was pouring water in the radiator and watching run right out on the ground. The coolant hose going in front of the oil filter had broken off the block. I am going to call the dealer today and see if they have that part that goes in the block. If it is a standard thread, I might try to make a temporary fix. I need to find an extractor to get that out of the block.

I searched the Messick site last night and could not find the part.

So apparently that hose piece broke off at some point and drained the radiator. Because I did not see steam or boiling water, the radiator was apparenlty drained at that point. The tractor seems fine now, but parked until I can get some coolant in it.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune!! Thanks for letting us know what happened!

 

[loggin]

Yes the MX. Oil starvation was failure. In conjunction with a failed oi pressure sending unit so I was not alerted until too late. Bushhogging thick stuff...and "something" managed to dislodge the dipstick which then became MIA. Run a few hours with no dipstick and you are outta oil

Thanks for your response LD1 and letting us know what happened!! Sorry to hear that!! Another thing to keep an eye on. As if there wasn't enough already!!

 

[4570Man]

The fuel gauge and temperature gauge were smashed by a tree limb. Anyone have an idea how difficult it would be to replace the instrument panel?

A temp gauge wouldn’t have saved you in this scenario anyway because they don’t work dry but I definitely recommend fixing the temp gauge even if you just add a generic one.

 

[5030]

The fuel gauge and temperature gauge were smashed by a tree limb. Anyone have an idea how difficult it would be to replace the instrument panel?

4 screws and a couple molex connectors.

 

[ruffdog]

Oh man.....a dry engine working hard mowing tall grass with no warning until it gave up. You should buy a lotto ticket if you didn't cause serious damage. Good luck!

 

[dodge man]

Thanks for letting us know the problem, I’m hoping it didn’t cause any damage. How many hours on your machine? Do you think something caught the hose and caused the damage?

 

[5030]

Oh man.....a dry engine working hard mowing tall grass with no warning until it gave up. You should buy a lotto ticket if you didn't cause serious damage. Good luck!

I'm reasonably sure there is internal damage. You don't overheat an engine (no coolant) until it stops without internal damage. I'm sure it's useful life has been seriously shortened.

 

[4570Man]

I'm reasonably sure there is internal damage. You don't overheat an engine (no coolant) until it stops without internal damage. I'm sure it's useful life has been seriously shortened.

No first hand experience but I’ve read post of several people doing it here and some of them did it multiple times before they figured it out. The fact it started back and ran inspirers confidence. In any case if it’s not broke don’t fix it.