Hot Days, Hot Tractor

Anonymous Poster · Jul 29, 2002

Thanks everyone.
I agree there has to be a reason for running so hot, so when I get it sorted out I will post what the solution was - might help somebody in the same predicament sometime.

I still had a great time /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

jbs · Jul 29, 2002

Hey Kenney, just for the record 85 aint hot!!!!!!! Todays high 102. My electric meter is spinning so fast I'm going to have to put a zerk fitting on it

RET · Jul 29, 2002

Nick,
Be sure not to forget to post your findings. I'm having the same problem with my BX and have not found an answer. I'm kinda leaning toward the thermostat myself. Several folks have posted problems with high temp's here...I wonder if there might be some variability in the therostat setting that may be causing this??
Thx
R

RobertN · Jul 29, 2002

If I'm anywhere near the garage, I'll take a short break every hour or so of hard mowing, to clean the radiator screen. I pop it out, and blow it off with compressed air. While I'm at it, I blow off the radiator too.

It is really amazing how much dust and "stuff" makes it to the radiator. The screen catchs the big stuff, but the little stuff still gets in there...

Definiteley take a minute and blow the radiator out ocassionally.

Anonymous Poster · Jul 29, 2002

I called the dealer and he said bring it in or he'll get it. We talked about thermostats and radiators speciifically.

The problem that I've got right now is that there is no barn on the property yet so I've got to take any tools/etc/etc with me. Makes it tough to really do much tinkering with the tractor while I'm out there. I'm keeping it in a separate storage facility until the pole barn gets put up. The dealer's not too far, so it's more convenient to let him mess with it than try to do anything at this time.

The tractor had 33 hours when I bought it and had been completely serviced before I picked it up, but they did not mow with it so this problem would not have come up. Dealer has been good to work with so I'll see what he comes up with and will certainly post the outcome.

dgood1 · Jul 29, 2002

jbs,

Don't grease your meter. The sooner the bearings sieze up the cheaper the power becomes.

Don

Anonymous Poster · Jul 30, 2002

Took the tractor in yesterday and they looked at it right away. The coolant in the radiator was fine.
One thing that showed up immediately was that the screen in front of the radiator did have a fair amount of seeds/dirt in it and there's a possibility that the radiator fins have their share of the same stuff. But ... it looked older than a days worth of mowing, so I questioned that the radiator had been cleaned and therefore I also questioned just how well that tractor had been serviced before I bought it. I do know the oil/fluids had been changed - maybe this was an oversight, but it looked pretty obvious. It also taught me - CHECK THE SCREEN and don't assume it's clean.

Anyway, I told them to hang on to it and re-check everything, including the thermostat (or just change it). They were also going to run it on the dyno to try to duplicate the overheating problem.

Bottom line is when I left I was sort of relieved that this overheating may just be due to a clogged radiator, but also sort of aggravated that the screen had old crud in it. I didn't make a big deal of it because in all honesty I did not check that screen before I started using the tractor so it could be my fault.

I hope to know the full story when I hear back from the dealer and I'll sure type it up here. Thanks again for your help for this tractor rookie.