Getting Warm

   / Getting Warm #11  
Need to keep them rads clean.


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   / Getting Warm #12  
Something I do that works. Get a spray bottle. One of them garden sprayer one quart jobs with the finger trigger works great, with the adjustable tip. Fill it almost and then add a cup of powdered TIDE washing detergent, fill it on up. Use hot water. Spray on when everything is dry so that the dry soaks in the soapy liquid. Wet it down good. Let it set a little bit. Then hose it off. You can also use on a dry engine and not have to use a damaging pressure washer.

Also, inside the cooling system, you can use dishwasher detergent. It does not foam. You can put a cup in the coolant system and run it a week and see what all comes out. It'll flush your system.
 
   / Getting Warm #13  
98F - WoW!! Brings back a thought - "only fools and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun". I don't mow with my tractor. But I VERY carefully check the radiator and fins with a flash light. Once in spring and again in the fall. The radiator screen collects everything on my tractor.
 
   / Getting Warm #14  
I never use water as it makes the dust turn to cement in the fins. I reverse blow out the fins with air EVERY time I mow and have never had a problem.
Mine get cleaned with a Rad Genie after every field use but and I say but before I even set up to clean them, I take a 'spritz bottle with water and Dawn dish wash detergent in it and spray down the rad from the fan side and the front side, soaking the rad fins. Dawn has a desirable effect, it loosens any crud and allows the 'Geine' to flush it out much more easily.

Been doing that for years and other than a stuck thermostat years ago, I have no overheating issues, no matter how hot it gets outside.

All water cooled engines must have a way to rid themselves of the inherent heat of operation and that includes your pickup truck and / or car too. A rad loaded with smashed bugs from driving don't transfer heat very well either and neither does an AC condenser under the hood, loaded with bugs and road filth. My vehicles all get cleaned at least 2 times a year as well.

I usually do it when I clean the engines, I don't like filthy engines in my vehicles either.
 
   / Getting Warm #15  
Something I do that works. Get a spray bottle. One of them garden sprayer one quart jobs with the finger trigger works great, with the adjustable tip. Fill it almost and then add a cup of powdered TIDE washing detergent, fill it on up. Use hot water. Spray on when everything is dry so that the dry soaks in the soapy liquid. Wet it down good. Let it set a little bit. Then hose it off. You can also use on a dry engine and not have to use a damaging pressure washer.

Also, inside the cooling system, you can use dishwasher detergent. It does not foam. You can put a cup in the coolant system and run it a week and see what all comes out. It'll flush your system.
Be careful using Tide as it is alkaline in nature and can can cause corrosion with non compatible metals. Dawn dish wash liquid is much better.

I apply the same regimen to our whole house AC condenser on the outside pad. It gets 'washed down with a solution of Dawn in a spritz bottle and the garden hose annually. You'd be surprised how much crud comes out the condenser fins and a clean heat exchanger transfers heat much more efficiently and will lower your utility bill from less juice used to maintain your house temp.

If you change your antifreeze in a timely manner, no need to flush the system. I change mine bi yearly. AF has corrosion inhibitors in it but AF, like motor oil, looses those ingredients as the heat-cool cycles mount.

Cooling systems get crudded up from lack of changing coolant.
 
   / Getting Warm #16  
Radiator Genie - Water & Air Cleaning Wands for High Efficiency Cooling Systems and Radiators - Blow Out / Wash Out Kit https://a.co/d/85BW9gz

The best tools I have found for keeping radiators clean. Nice tip design to force air or water thru the fins. Also good for blowing out air filter elements.

Bush hogging 6-8’ tall fall weeds require frequent cleaning. Bucket/grapple and grill guard mesh helps too. Morning mountain dew helps with heat and dust. Still a hot job.
 
   / Getting Warm #17  
Be careful when blowing out any air filter. High pressure air can destroy the paper pleats and always blow from the inside to the outside, never outside to inside. I always wipe out the air filter housing inside with a slightly oily rag as well. The oil gets on the inside of the housing and helps retain any dust in there. The filters on my Kubota's aren't cheap either so I too, blow them out a couple times before replacing.
 
   / Getting Warm
  • Thread Starter
#18  
My air filter looked OK, but it was gray with carbon from the exhaust. The L2501 is great because it lacks emissions equipment, but it sucks because it lacks emissions equipment. Besides the lack of power inherent in a 25HP compact tractor, it will smoke slightly when under load and at start-up. Nothing bad, or even really noticeable, but the air filter gets covered in carbon black within 40-50 hours. Blowing it out doesn't work, so I replace it. This one I could still see light through.

I have a portable air tank that I might start bringing with my. I usually just blow everything off (including radiator and screen) with a handheld battery operated blower. But I think a yearly deep cleaning is needed. I've run the tractor for four years without issue, but then again, I thought the radiator was clean from what I could see. I was wrong!

The irony is that I started the mowing task in the morning ~8am. I should have been done around 10ish. Hot, but not blazing. I loaded back up around 12:30. It was a bit uncomfortable by then. Fortunately my tow rig, the F450, has amazing air conditioning. It gets so cold that I leave the windows down!

I'll try the Dawn trick. I usually have a sprayer with a light Dawn/water mix anyway.
 
 
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