Fallon
Super Member
I was going to post this a week ago after I did the usual service on my L4060, but got lazy & forgot. Finally getting to it today after nearly overheating the tractor (about 85% on the gauge, enough for the warning light to come on, but not in serious danger of overheating). It was 95 or so today & I was towards the end of a mowing job. I was forced to drop it down from Medium low to low high & for a bit even low low to give the cooling system a chance to catch up. Babying it along let it cool down while still working & finishing up the job. Had similar issues last year when it was pushing 100 or so. Being in Colorado we are down on air to run the engine due to the altitude & I'm guessing that extends to less cooling as well.
Interesting warning sign I've found over the years... AC stops blowing cold air & is just pushing warm air around when it gets around 75-85% on the temp gauge. Usually the sign to circle back around to the truck & do field expedient fixes if I don't end up limping it around to finish off the last 15 minutes or what not. Not clear if its a safety mechanism, the AC just complaining about being plugged up, or radiated heat from the coolant radiator overwhelming the AC.
Field expedient fixes:
Shop fixes:
The biggest issue I have is with all the radiators & coolers stacked 2-3 deep is getting them all cleaned out, or even seeing how packed the rear ones are. There are only screens on the AC coils & the engine coolant radiator, but not for any of the hydraulic oil coolers. I spray out the radiator from behind through the fan a bit, but it's super awkward & the fan or shroud is mostly blocking things. The shroud doesn't seem to be terribly convenient to remove. What do others do? Bite the bullet & spend a while disassembling the shroud to hose things off from the back?
Interesting warning sign I've found over the years... AC stops blowing cold air & is just pushing warm air around when it gets around 75-85% on the temp gauge. Usually the sign to circle back around to the truck & do field expedient fixes if I don't end up limping it around to finish off the last 15 minutes or what not. Not clear if its a safety mechanism, the AC just complaining about being plugged up, or radiated heat from the coolant radiator overwhelming the AC.
Field expedient fixes:
- Shutdown machine, pull & clean 2 screens covering radiator & AC (failing to shutdown generally pulls junk off the screens into the radiator)
- Blow out all 4 radiators, AC components & 2 oil coolers with a mini-leafblower or compressed air if available
Shop fixes:
- Blow out the full stack with my good compressed air source
- Hose out the full stack with a garden hose to wash out packed dirt, dust & junk that won't blow out
- Straighten out any bent fins
The biggest issue I have is with all the radiators & coolers stacked 2-3 deep is getting them all cleaned out, or even seeing how packed the rear ones are. There are only screens on the AC coils & the engine coolant radiator, but not for any of the hydraulic oil coolers. I spray out the radiator from behind through the fan a bit, but it's super awkward & the fan or shroud is mostly blocking things. The shroud doesn't seem to be terribly convenient to remove. What do others do? Bite the bullet & spend a while disassembling the shroud to hose things off from the back?