1720 Temperature guage question

[digdug1]

Hi, I was working this past weekend with daytime temperature in the mid 90's. I noticed my temperature guage needle moving close to the red on right hand side of temp guage. I stopped several times and inspected the radiator screen and coolant level and all was good. The engine did not seem to be overheating. I have only had this tractor for a month. Is it normal for the needle be close to the red? Is there any way for me to check and make sure the tractor is operating at the proper temp?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[dqdave1]

If you have a "precleaner screen before the radiator; remove it and clean with water. While it is removed; spray water from fan side to clean radiator fins. You may also want to drain and flush radiator and add new coolant.
Is fan belt tight? When you open radiator cap ( careful) , is there good movement of coolant?

 

[JC-jetro]

Hi, I was working this past weekend with daytime temperature in the mid 90's. I noticed my temperature guage needle moving close to the red on right hand side of temp guage. I stopped several times and inspected the radiator screen and coolant level and all was good. The engine did not seem to be overheating. I have only had this tractor for a month. Is it normal for the needle be close to the red? Is there any way for me to check and make sure the tractor is operating at the proper temp?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Something that you might look in to. I have a plain jane 1700. My temp gage is set up in a manner that with engine stopped ( Normal position) shows the needle in the hot (red) area. Upon inserting the key in and turning it to ignition position then The needle goes in the cold area of the gage. After the engine is running and key kept in on position then the thermometer creeps up to show actual temp. Now, if by mistake you move the key to off position with tractor running (my tractor does not have a fuel solenoid kill circuit),the needle immediately goes to its normal resting position where is heat. That gave me the wrong impression that my engine was overheating till I figured it out. 1720 and 1710 got more bells and whistles and more advance that 1700, but you may be able to keep the diesel going with the ignition key out since diesel is self igniting.

JC,

 

[digdug1]

Dq Dave, The radiator precleaner screen is clean. I did feel the top of the radiator and it was warm so I know some coolant is flowing. Fan belt is tight (checked it). I suppose the fins on the radiator could be plugged up with dirt...I only checked the pre-cleaner screen. I will give the radiator a good cleaning with water hose and check coolant for movement. Will report what I find.

JC, When I first start the tractor the needle goes to cold and then gradually creeps up to normal as the tractor runs and warms up. It seems to be functioning properly and that is why I am concerned. This past weekend it went above normal and was close to red especially when operating the tractor at higher rpms. When keeping rpms down around 1000 -1200 it did seem to run cooler and when idling the needle would move back toward the normal position.

 

[dqdave1]

Fan blades are in good shape? Might be time to flush the cooling system.

 

[JC-jetro]

In college I had an old Buick skylark and the lower radiator house had a spring in it to keep the hose shape intact. The spring collapsed ,and acted as sort of strainer, it picked up all the stuff in the water and created a rock on the suction side to the block. any how I was over heating , checked everything and all was fine, till I tried to squeeze the lower radiator hose and it was solid a rock, I could nor believe my eyes after I took the radiator hose off. At best I had about a 1/4" of passageway left for water. I'd flush my radiator , and inspect the T-stat. your T-stat might be stuck half open.

JC,

 

[digdug1]

This evening I started the tractor and let it run for several minutes. I got it up to operating temp on guage. I pulled off the radiator cap and I could not see any coolant movement. I reved up the engine and still no movement. Top radiator hose was warm and coolant at the cap was warm (not hot). Bottom radiator was not warm. This would indicate that the thermostat is not opening fully as JC mentioned above. Does that sound right?

 

[JC-jetro]

This would indicate that the thermostat is not opening fully as JC mentioned above. Does that sound right?

Well... I reckon it does.. I reckon joking aside I think it is a strong possibility. I drain the fluid enough below the t-start level, and take the t-stat housing off and inspect the t-stat. Make sure you have the gasket or gasket material to make yourself one. oil impregnated card board does make for a half way decent gasket if you need one right away. You can start heating water up in a pot, put some thermometer and observe the temp as it creeps up. At t-stat setting 165 to 180 deg. Fahrenheit the T-stat opening should be wide open, and just for grin drop the T-stat in some Ice water solution and it should close up tight.

JC,

 

[dqdave1]

t stat or water pump or clogged system. That is why I asked about coolant movement. If t stat is not opening, I would think it would have completely overheated on a warm day.

 

[djradz]

This evening I started the tractor and let it run for several minutes. I got it up to operating temp on guage. I pulled off the radiator cap and I could not see any coolant movement. I reved up the engine and still no movement. Top radiator hose was warm and coolant at the cap was warm (not hot). Bottom radiator was not warm. This would indicate that the thermostat is not opening fully as JC mentioned above. Does that sound right?

I'm not sure how much "movement" you will see just when it gets to operating range. Could be with no load on the engine that the thermostat only cracks open and so flow is really minimal - not much more than a trickle.

The 1720 gage (at least my old one) was divided into 3 ranges. I think my 1720 even when under load usually was down around the dividing line between the lower and middle range. Never did it get to the top of the middle range or approach the red unless the screen was really dirty. As the gage seems to moving normally, I'm thinking that maybe the thermostat is not fully opening or there is some pluggage somewhere. I think I might start with replacing the thermostat, or doing a flush, but not both at the same time as you'll never know what the problem really turned out to be. I thihk the coolant is supposed to be replaced every year or two. Do you know if that was done?