Engine not heating up?

kiphorn · Jan 21, 2005

I was out plowing snow the other day. It was about 15 degrees outside. The needle on my temperature gauge barely moved off the bottom line. It seems to me that the engine temp would still run close to normal even with the colder temps. Has anyone else experienced this or is it likely that my thermostat is stuck open?

By the way, my tractor is a TC24D

Kip

JimR · Jan 21, 2005

Your temp gauge should have moved off the lower end if you were plowing long enough for it to warm up. I had that same problem with my Cub 7275. I pulled the thermostat and did the pan test on the stove with it. It opened around 140 I think. The new one is a 180 and it works great. I used a meat thermometer to check the water temperature as it rose with the burner on high. The real fun part was finding a new thermostatt. No one had the one I needed. A quick run to the auto parts store got me one a little bit larger in diameter. I sanded down the outside lip with my air sander to fit the housing. No one said it had to say Cub on the wrapper.

thcri · Jan 21, 2005

My 29 will stay down pretty low too if I keep the rpm's down. But if I run the rpm's up to 2200 while plowing then it will go up. If your plowing it is pretty easy to get by with a low rpm thus the tractor barily works not creating any heat. If your running the rpms up and still doesn't create any heat I would be checking with my dealer.

murph

Solo · Jan 21, 2005

An easy fix for this is to take the screen off the front of the radiator and Duct tape (Reg Green would be proud) a piece of cardboard to it. There is still enough air flow around it to get air. This will get it up to operating temperature.
Solo

djradz · Jan 21, 2005

Not sure if the 24D has the same problem as the other NH CUTs, but if it does, you should search the posts from a year or two ago concering the thermostat problems caused by the little ball stuck in the mechanism and keeping the thermostat slightly open. As I recall, J Inman posted some real good pictures.

DocHeb · Jan 21, 2005

I don't know if these will apply to TC24s, but a thermostat is a thermostat, and I don't see why these "too cool" engines couldn't happen with yours rather than a Class III.

3. Low-temp running due to flow bypass at common coolant drain line.

Cold TC45D
Finally - a Cold Fix

4. Low-temp unning due to defective thermostat with "dingle-ball" that jams and keeps thermostat open.

My brand new TC35D... Nice picture of the problem. Several different methods of correction are presented in following threads.

kiphorn · Jan 21, 2005

Thanks for the great information so far. I plan on pulling the thermostat off to see if the ball is holding the thermostat open. I'll probably just remove the ball if that's the problem. But can someone explain the following?

<font color="blue">I contacted my dealer and the service manager says the NH Bulletin on this says to rotate the ball position to the tappet-cover-side of the opening. Apparently NH thinks the flow changes enough over there to keep the ball from lodging in the thermostat </font>

Is this a complicated version of: rotate the thermostat 180 degrees and reinstall the bolts?

Thanks,

Kip

Solo · Jan 21, 2005

My TC18 had this problem the first winter I got it. I bought a replacement thermostat just to experiment on and I don't think it had a ball in it. I also looked at the one in the tractor it was fine. I think there just cold natured, especially when its below freezing. The part # for the thermostat is SBA145206022, 2001 TC18.
Solo

RickB · Jan 21, 2005

That is what they say. I think if you cut the darn thing off, you will never be troubled by it again. The higher flow is at the outside of the radius of the T'stat housing.

hazmat · Jan 22, 2005

<font color="blue"> An easy fix for this is to take the screen off the front of the radiator and Duct tape (Reg Green would be proud) a piece of cardboard to it. There is still enough air flow around it to get air. This will get it up to operating temperature. </font>

I tape my cardboard on the outside - Clampet style /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif.

The fans on these motors run all the time, so when it is real cold out, they don't want to warm up - you need to restrict the airflow.

Plowing doesn't use much horsepower compared to mowing or snow-blowing, so you aren't burning as much diesel. Try the cardboard before you mess with the t-stat.

I don't think the little boomer's had the same issues with cooling as the bigger ones (the threads linked above).

Could be worse - you could be running cold while shoveling /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif