BX 2350 Blown due to Dirty screen

[coldfronts]

Yes, I assume its my fault. I should have noticed and paid more attention to the temp gauge and the radiator screen. My Tractor has ALWAYS run hot and has for the past year especially in the summer. It will reach the red line during snow removal as well after a couple hours on it. I purchased it used from a buddy going through a divorce 2 winters ago. The mower still looks like brand new. I mow 4 acres of Kentucky Rye every week. It has been 14 hours since my last check-up with my local dealer. I told them of the overheating issue last year and it turned out I had a broken shroud off the radiator and I had that replaced. They never told me after to MAKE SURE to clean the screen because this will make the Radiator act like a Vortex and will plug easy. Although I have taken accountability on my loss I am wondering on cost to replace the Engine and Radiator? I got an awful high estimate to install new radiator and replace with a new engine. and I am wondering if I am being taken for a ride by the local shop. I am a handy guy wondering if anybody has taken the job on themselves or had one fixed that doesn't mind sharing the cost to do so.

Thanks,

Coldy

 

[oldnslo]

Yes, I assume its my fault. I should have noticed and paid more attention to the temp gauge and the radiator screen. My Tractor has ALWAYS run hot and has for the past year especially in the summer. It will reach the red line during snow removal as well after a couple hours on it. I purchased it used from a buddy going through a divorce 2 winters ago. The mower still looks like brand new. I mow 4 acres of Kentucky Rye every week. It has been 14 hours since my last check-up with my local dealer. I told them of the overheating issue last year and it turned out I had a broken shroud off the radiator and I had that replaced. They never told me after to MAKE SURE to clean the screen because this will make the Radiator act like a Vortex and will plug easy. Although I have taken accountability on my loss I am wondering on cost to replace the Engine and Radiator? I got an awful high estimate to install new radiator and replace with a new engine. and I am wondering if I am being taken for a ride by the local shop. I am a handy guy wondering if anybody has taken the job on themselves or had one fixed that doesn't mind sharing the cost to do so.

Thanks,

Coldy

What do you mean by blown? Engine seized, rod broke, head cracked etc.

I would think if you are reasonably handy with tools and have some sort of lift swapping motors shouldn't be to hateful. Once the motor is out of the way the radiator should be fairly accessable also.

Roy

 

[coldfronts]

I was told the head was cracked. Also I was told a shaft was blue. And I ruined the radiator in the process to boot.

Here is what happened, I was mowing 4-6" grass down to 3" grass. I mowed for 1 1/2 hours and noticed the mower was getting close to red. I then shut the PTO off and let it idle for 5 minutes at 1700rpm. Then I got back on and noticed the mower had not cooled. I then shut it off and noticed the oil on the ground.

Can anybody tell me why there is not some sort of dummy beeper or manual over ride to shut these tractors down. I can't believe price for this application would cost enough to make a difference in the marketplace. 20/20hindsight I would pay up to 5000.00 more for that to be on my Kubota.

 

[TripleR]

Man, I feel for you. My John Deere 2305 doesn't even have a heat gauge, just a red light. I am on my second BX and so far have managed not to blow one fortunately.

As you have found, proper cleaning of the screen and radiator is really important on all tractors and had you bought yours new, this would have been gone over by the dealer. I have found compressed air to work really well.

Sorry, but I have no idea of the cost.

 

[EE_Bota]

I am sorry too. Surplus Center has the D902 for sell for an excellent price, but I don't know if that would help you. I have been tempted to buy one as a spare.

As for why they don't shut the tractor down, I can't say. I have never owned a vehicle or a tractor that shuts down due to overheating.

I have considered many times trying to add it, but have never gotten around to it. I would have to do a lot of experiments to get the ideal temperature, but it MAY be possible to do something with a normally closed Thermo-Disk device attached externally (with thermal grease and insulation overlaid) to the inlet side of the head.

 

[Dead Horse]

My 3710 has a screen in front of the radiator. It collects all manner of things and we watch the temp gage, especially when mowing the orchard in August.

I NEVER let the temp get even remotely close to hot. The gage is devided into quartiles and when the needle goes above the second quartile the radiator gets a cleaning. Covers off, compressed air through a 18" long, 1/4 pipe with a 90 degree turn at the end, as a nozzle. Once the crap is gone, the radiator gets a hose down, while the tractor is running.

I got a very good lesson as to the amount of crap that can get lodged in a radiator, just today. Rained out so today was service day for my big Hesston 100 90. Oil, all filters, cleaning and what not. This big beauty always runs "cool", even on a HOT August day, mowing with a 10 foot MX10 bush hog, for hours, she just gets "warm". Of course she has a MASSIVE radiator.

So I decided to take the compressed air to the radiator and do a real good cleaning cause it looked like there was a lot of "stuff" in it. WELL!, I used the compressed air for a good 15 minutes on both sides of the radiator and "dust and shmutz" kept coming out! So I took the hose to both sides of the radiator and then hit it with the compressed air, alternating this several times.

I was ASTOUNDED at the amount of dirt, fluff and seeds that continued to get flushed out of that radiator. I kept it up for a good 15 minutes more, until all I got was clean water. The stuff on the ground under the tractor was so thick I had to hose it off the pad in front of the shop.

So what I have learned is that dust and stuff does stick to the radiator fins and pressure washing it off is something that should be part of regular maintenance.

To the OP, sorry you ruined your tractor. You should pull your engine, survey it and rebuild it if it is rebuildable. Even if you spun a bearing, unless you cracked the block, your engine can be salvaged. Why is the radiator toast? overheating the engine should not normally ruin a radiator.

 

[leonz]

I would like to see you go to L+M Radiator to by one of their radiators will cost more and they will cool better with less work- As I have mentioned previously the engines on these things are not designed specifically for the compact utility tractor they were designed for other purposes like pumps. generators, very small rice combines, rice threshers etc. you should spen some time on the kubota world wide site and you will see your engine in the items they offer for sale to power other equipment.


The other thing is the three cyclinder engines have been around for a very long long time, especially for underground use in boss buggies without chaff screens because that type of crap is not encountered underground or in job sites with equipment that has safety covers surrounding the engine like a compressor, pump, or generator skid that is enclosed.



The chaff screens are troublesome because the radiator cores have fans that cannot reverse direction to force air through them to help clean them these core radiators are original equipment radiators as part of the engine packages available for sale in Kubotas world wide web site.

I would contact L+M and at least ask about a small replacement radiator that may fit in your unit with twin 12 volt fans which thay offer for other applications.

 

[coldfronts]

Guys, Thanks for all the replys. You don't know how much this means to me. I would love to buy a different radiator than the kubta one but it seems this deal is too good to pass up.

https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?item=28-1719&catname=

Is there anything else I might need to know going into this project?

Thanks again,

coldy

 

[dodge man]

That does sound like a pretty good price.

 

[Transit]

The fundamental problem is that cool air is drawn from under the tractor around the front axle and so pulls grass, seed chaff along with it. What you need to do is to have cool air coming from high above from the top of the hood.
The tip-off was high temperatures in the winter. See what a rebuilt engine goes for and have the radiator re-cored with more tubes, and open-up the cowl.
I made the moods and everything runs cool on 100 deg days.