2550 Melting hood!

BoobyTrap · Aug 16, 2007

just $.02 worth. After driving air cooled VW's for a number of years, I'm just curious how many of you with heating problems, have checked your rpm's to see if you're operating at peak efficiency. Do you excessively idle? If you look at these little engines of today, squeezing out 23-27 horses, to engines of 20 years to 30 years ago, only getting 10-15 horses, you're going to generate more heat. I have a '07 2554, no problems as yet, but you're all scaring me.

The only thing I've noticed, is the screen over the flywheel collects a lot of chaff. I clean it every time I use it, and run it wide butt open. I have one heck of a dealer, was there when he prepped it, and the rpm check was one of his major sticking points. That little booger's gotta rev to keep that air moving. Just a thought. JP Church Point, La.

JSharp · Aug 17, 2007

These engines are making more hp per cc than the old VW's and doing it at lower rpm. They're still not in all that high a state of tune though, just more modern.

I'm not sure about anyone else but I run mine WFO if it's moving. I keep the engine fan and oil cooler clean.

I've decided to take the customer service person at Kohler at his word when he told me the OPE manufacturers don't pay enough attention to cooling, but they should...

redlinefever · Aug 28, 2007

You are not crazy. I definitely noticed the heat situation the first time I cleaned my air filter and the screen. It was so hot, I had to let it sit for about 15 minutes before I could touch the air filter! And yes, I let the engine run for a couple of minutes at a lower idle speed before shutting it down.

The heat from my old mower was not this high. Wish I had used the thermometer to check it. Good idea I'll have to give it a try. I surely feels as if it doesn't draw sufficient air to keep the engine cool vs the output of heat from the enclosed muffler. And it drinks gas - averaged 2 gals per acre! I should have held out and paid someone to mow and bought a diesel next year. This is crazy.

My hood was beginning to melt at the exhaust pipe and I noticed a lot of heat. IMO I believe the stainless box should be covered with a thin layer of insulation material and the exhaust pipe should be bent downward and exit at the lower front of the frame. Poor engineering on CC's part.

My hood also broke at the mounting pivot plate and my dealer refuses to warranty it. Along with the other issues I have listed in another thread.

DurhamNC · Aug 29, 2007

Guys,

After replacing my hood I did a short test run. After 10 minutes the hood was hat as *ell again. I decided to remove the top vent cover and headlight assemby to let the cool air in. The GT2554 is running much cooler and the hood does not get too hot. I've also noticed less backfiring at shoutdown.

I'm not waiting for cub to fix the problem while my engine runs hot and the hood melts every 11 hours. I may cover the ugly hole with some sort of sceening and paint it black. I should not have to do this for 4K.

Dave

BoobyTrap · Aug 29, 2007

Nope, as long as there's a warranty, it will be left stock, and they can fix it. But at 25 hours, I haven't had the melting problem. It did however fall off at 1 hour. Lovely. But, and that's a big huge butt

my dealer is outstanding, and overall I'm very happy with the performance. Lucked out on 3 yr. int. free financing, along with the warranty, I think I'll be just fine. Time will tell. Yup even after reading all the horror stories, I'd go get another one just like the one I have, again, time will tell.

redlinefever · Sep 2, 2007

now you have me pondering an aftemarket fan set up to keep cooler air flowing across the engine. Esp. after reading the other threads about oil temps.

Excessive heat breaks down the viscosity of oil very fast. Even when using a pure synthetic oil, it isn't designed for extended runs at excessively high temps. If the water cooled engine overheats, the oil gets baked at temps of 260+. And it's a real challenge to clean when rebuilding the engine. I'm gonna have to check out the oil temps on the race car after a night of stock car racing. Curious .....

DurhamNC · Sep 4, 2007

Redlinefever,

I'm thinking along the same lines as you. I'm trying to figure how and where to add a 12 volt fan or fans. I think the air is getting trapped in the muffler headlight assembly area. It's amazing how much cooler the hood is with the headlight assembly removed.

Dave

JSharp · Sep 6, 2007

On my 2554 right now I have the center vent cover pulled and have a 10", 1300 CFM fan hanging under the top of the hood. It makes some difference in the underhood temps, 10°-20° maybe. I'm sure it would be better if I could make a proper shroud that sealed the fan inlet so it only pulled air through the hood vents. But I've been busy with the tractor I bought and haven't gotten that done yet.

My fan came from one of the eBay sellers for around $30. Actually it came from my son's derby car parts stash but I figure he owes me

It seems to be decent quality but one problem with all these fans is the current draw. Mine draws right at 10 amps. A larger one that moves more air will draw far too much.

I still think wrapping the muffler with header wrap is a viable solution to getting these underhood temps down, even if it might sacrifice muffler life somewhat. I have some of it around here but haven't gotten the time to try it.

For people who think the header wrap is a terrible idea, here's something to ponder. I just bought a '62 IH 404 tractor. On that tractor the exhaust pipe runs down behind the generator with all of 1/2" of clearance between the two. From the factory it has an asbestos wrap, long since replaced with fiberglass, that keeps the exhaust pipe from cooking the generator...

DurhamNC · Sep 6, 2007

Do you think it would be possible to add some type of mechanical fan setup that runs off the belt to the deck?

JSharp · Sep 6, 2007

I'm not sure how you could drive a fan from the PTO drive. It seems like a lot of fabrication.

I seriously wonder how much we should worry about this. Provided the hood is protected by the latest full length heatshield it shouldn't have further problems. We hope any way.

In one of these threads Fordlords posted the temps of his old Cub with the Honda engine and they aren't out of line with ours other than our oil temperatures. And we really don't know what the "normal" Kohler oil temps should be. I couldn't get that information from Kohler since it was "dependent on the application."

Like everyone though, I still want to try to get all the temps down if I can do it easily...