BX Temp Sender

[quarencia]

Like many BX owners, I have difficulty getting tractor to warm up in cold weather. Weather is warmer now and still doesn't appear to get very warm. I've checked, tested, changed, blessed and liberally applied voodoo black magic to the thermostat. No luck. It looks good. Now to further troubleshoot the temp problem, I want to put in a good calibrated temp gauge to truly know the water temp. However, I don't know what sender to get with a new gauge. My guess is it's metric, but sometimes Asian vehicles use SAE temp senders. Either was I still don't know size.

Anybody happen to know the thread size for the water temp sender on a 2004 BX2230?

Any help appreciated.

 

[quarencia]

Has anyone ever replaced the temp gauge on a BX?

 

[Tom_H]

Like many BX owners, I have difficulty getting tractor to warm up in cold weather. Weather is warmer now and still doesn't appear to get very warm. I've checked, tested, changed, blessed and liberally applied voodoo black magic to the thermostat. No luck. It looks good. Now to further troubleshoot the temp problem, I want to put in a good calibrated temp gauge to truly know the water temp. However, I don't know what sender to get with a new gauge. My guess is it's metric, but sometimes Asian vehicles use SAE temp senders. Either was I still don't know size.

Anybody happen to know the thread size for the water temp sender on a 2004 BX2230?

Any help appreciated.

It sounds like you believe the thermostat is working correctly and the temperature is probably o.k., but you are getting a low temperature reading on the guage and you think that reading is inaccurate. Did I interpret that correctly?

Aside from the thermostatic valve and the temp. sensor, a block heater may be worth considering. I use mine even in mild weather, as it allows a smooth quick startup without all the black soot filling the garage.

 

[mjarrels]

Mine always runs on the cold side even in summer... I thinks it is normal.

mark

 

[quarencia]

Yes, t-stat is OK. I've read many posts here and about half the owners say theirs run cold and they "think" it's OK. The other half say theirs run half way up the gauge. Makes me think there is variation in gauges from factory.

At any rate, I want to block some of the radiator next winter to get it warmer and I need to be really sure of the temp. Right now, I'm not sure, so the gauge is getting replaced. I have a Datcon industrial 2" water temp which is a good match for the stock bota gauges.

Starting to think I'll have to go to dealer for sender thread size.

 

[mjarrels]

My Ford runs at a steady 160 degrees... freezing cold winter weather or burning hot summer. And gets to that 160 degrees in about 2 minutes.

mark

 

[ewoz]

Yes, t-stat is OK. I've read many posts here and about half the owners say theirs run cold and they "think" it's OK. The other half say theirs run half way up the gauge. Makes me think there is variation in gauges from factory.

At any rate, I want to block some of the radiator next winter to get it warmer and I need to be really sure of the temp. Right now, I'm not sure, so the gauge is getting replaced. I have a Datcon industrial 2" water temp which is a good match for the stock bota gauges.

Starting to think I'll have to go to dealer for sender thread size.

Yep, my gauge always stays down at the very low end all the time. I made some resistance measurements on the sender unit with cold and warm engine temperatures and I am convinced that my sender unit is OK. There is a test for the gauge in the repair manual that my gauge fails, but my dealer says it would be risky trying to get it replaced under warranty because Kubota may not agree that there is something wrong with the gauge just because it fails the test that is in their manaul. Go figure. I think their temperature gauges are junk. Please let us know how your renovation works out. Myself and others I am sure are interested.

Sorry I can't help with the thread size.

 

[Tom_H]

Mine always runs on the cold side even in summer... I thinks it is normal.

mark

I wish I had that problem. My BX2200 tends to run hot. Of course, I run it with the outside temp. as high as 115. When brushhogging, I get a huge amount of debris in the air which clogs the outer screen, the pre-filter, and the radiator itself. I have to wipe down the outer screen every 3 or 4 minutes and often have to stop every hour to either vaccuum or blow out the pre-screen and the face of the radiator. Otherwise she redlines and dealing with new head gaskets for a diesel block is no fun. (Been there, done that.)

Yes, t-stat is OK. I've read many posts here and about half the owners say theirs run cold and they "think" it's OK. The other half say theirs run half way up the gauge. Makes me think there is variation in gauges from factory.

Hmmm, makes me wonder, 'cause even when everything is clean on mine (and pump runs fine), and outside air temp. is 80, my guage still runs past the vertical and toward the red.

 

[quarencia]

A follow up to my old post. I finally replaced the temp sender and gauge on my BX2230. It took about three hours to do and about two months to make up my mind to re-tap the block.

The new Datcon water gauge/sending unit is a huge improvement. The OEM gauge would never get past the lower edge of the green zone in summer, and never moved at all in the winter. With new gauge, I can tell you that the Bota runs at 176°F at WOT with the MMM running. Sitting at idle, runs just under 170°F. Needle starts moving past 100°F about 40 seconds after start up. Reaches around 140°F in about two and a half minutes. Takes another 5 minutes or so to get up to 170°F. Can't wait for winter to see what is does then. Hmmm, single digit nights in winter...maybe I can wait.

Note, all of the above temps are pretty close to what I had measured with a thermometer in earlier tests.

I tried in vane for almost three months to determine the thread size/gauge for the existing sending unit. I can tell you it's smaller then 1/8 NPT, but just barely. Appears to be some variation of 10mm, but I've concluded the thread pitch is 26 threads per inch. It most closely matches my 27 tpi thread gauge (even better than any of the metric pitches) and it has 26 stamped on the side of it. To the best of my knowledge, 26 tpi matches no known standard. Not NPT, British pipe (parallel or tapered), Japanese pipe (which is just British), standard metric or SAE.

So in the end, I bit the bullet and re-tapped the block to 1/8-27 NPT. Took about an hour to tap the block. Would have been much shorter, but when I used the air gun on the compressor to blow off the newly tapped threads, I didn't realize the radiator cap was still off and shot coolant all over the garage. Even if I had pictures, don't think I'd be posting that scene. On the plus side, many dirty things are now shiny clean. Test run for 30 minutes cutting grass produced no leaks with the new sending unit in re-tapped hole.

Next project...ROPS lights.

 

[ewoz]

With new gauge, I can tell you that the Bota runs at 176°F at WOT with the MMM running. Sitting at idle, runs just under 170°F. Needle starts moving past 100°F about 40 seconds after start up. Reaches around 140°F in about two and a half minutes. Takes another 5 minutes or so to get up to 170°F.

That's the way the standard equipment should work! Glad to hear that it worked out for you. My gauge works the way you described the operation of your original gauge. It bugs me. Maybe someday...