How can a tractor overheat on the coldest day of the decade?

[Doc G]

How can a tractor overheat on the coldest day of the decade? Read on!

As everyone knows by now, Texas got slammed by the coldest weather since the 1980s last week. (In my area, we hit -1 F. For some of you that is practically spring but for us it's deadly!)

Power went out all over the state; my house lost power for 4 days. A great time to use my power inverter for keeping phones charged and running the fireplace blower, I thought. So I started up the tractor (Kubota L3200) and backed out of the garage. Left it running at around 1000rpm to keep the battery charged, stretched extension cord from inverter to living room, all was well.

Checked back in 20 minutes, RED LINE OVERTEMP! I've owned this machine for 4 years and it has been absolutely reliable, never getting above 1/3 on the temp gauge even in the middle of September (also known here as 2nd summer) mowing thick grass in the afternoon.

I quickly shut down and let her cool off. Then it occurred to me.

The radiator froze. The evidence was clear: the water pump had worked so hard it literally sucked the coolant return hose almost completely flat. I had moved the tractor into 10 degree morning air before it warmed up enough for the thermostat to open and circulate coolant. The coolant in the radiator froze for lack of antifreeze and restricted circulation.

There would seem to be several morals to this story.

1.) If you buy a used machine, no matter how reputable the seller (who claimed he had just performed a full service) check, verify, and preferably change the fluids YOURSELF! Immediately!
2.) If possible, let the tractor warm up in a shed or somewhere above freezing. Not possible for all, but I could have easily left the garage door cracked and run the engine for 5 minutes before backing out into the snow and cold air.
3.) Don't be a dummy and skip the radiator flush maintenance schedule. I should have done it by now and in point of fact, I actually had gallons of distilled water, flushing cleaner and new antifreeze sitting on my shop floor. It was literally my next task. :duh:

The story ends well (I think). After a 15 minute cool-down, the tractor started up normally and I parked it back in the garage. Drained the radiator, added antifreeze, used it later that day for moving hay bales (which were solidly frozen to the ground), no problem at all.

To my questions:

First -- I plan on properly flushing, cleaning and refilling the whole coolant system later this week. I also plan on replacing the engine oil. Anything other precautions to take after an overheat event?

Second -- Though it seems nothing was permanently damaged, what should I look for? I saw no evidence of oil in the old coolant; I will look for coolant in the oil when I do that. Any other simple tests or observations I can make to be sure nothing was damaged?

This an amazing forum; been reading posts here for years. I'll share my mods and upgrades soon. Thanks.

 

[LittleBill21]

you might be surprised, but most of my stuff runs hotter in the winter, then the summer, including the atv's, low speed and potential snow blockage in the radiators lead to 6-7 machines overheating on a 5f day and nothing was wrong other then high throttle, low speed and no air flow through radiators....

 

[SylvainG]

Yep, the only time my ATV blew its radiator cap and drained its fluid on the ground (didn't notice the HOT icon on its dash) was during winter when snow had accumulated and blocked the fan. I wondered that evening when plowing the snow why my headlights dimmed for a few seconds then came back to normal. I realized after the fact that is was the fan fuse that tripped when it tried to spin the fan but couldn't. After a few minutes, it reset itself and tried again. The vapor that came out from the engine compartment was something else!

 

[oosik]

Doc G - welcome to TBN and the forum. Just a passing thought - I'll bet you aren't the only person who was in that position. Down in your neck of the woods. You folks have seen some brutal temps.

Flush and refill antifreeze. Look for the five year antifreeze. Drain engine oil, replace engine oil filter, refill engine oil. That should just about do it.

If you start and warm up the tractor in a shed - be sure it's an OPEN shed. Otherwise, start it and immediately drive it out of the shed. Just enough so the exhaust vents to the open air. Let it warm up outside.

I have an open carport. I get off the tractor, get out of the carport - let it warm up, all by itself. Even in this open carport the exhaust can get pretty rough.


Oh - if your tractor is cabbed and has a windshield washer for the rear window. Check to see the condition of the windshield washer fluid container.

 

[rademamj1]

If you don't see oil in the radiator, your probably going to be just fine. The oil pressure lines always run higher pressure than coolant. Glad you caught early enough to prevent damage.

I also was caught in this Texas deep freeze, with a low of -3F at my ranch, and so was most concerned about diesel fuel gelling. Happily my pretreatment for diesel gelling saved the day.

 

[John0829]

Three things will make it overheat, snow blocking the radiator as has been already stated or not enough antifreeze or to much antifreeze. When I purchase anything used the first thing I do is change all the fluids even if the previous owner claims to have just change them. I want to have a starting point knowing what it has in it and when but then I am very particular when it comes to the care and maintenance of any machine or vehicle I depend on.

 

[Reb954]

Turning the anti freeze to slush isn't that uncommon, even if the anti freeze is mixed to the proper concentration. It was even more common in the days before fan clutches became the norm. Back then we used to block the lower 2/3 to 3/4 of the radiator to keep the fan from chilling the radiator to the point the anti freeze would turn to slush. When it did happen it was a matter of shut the engine off, let sit for 15 to 30 minutes so the engine heat could work its way into the radiator, top off radiator and go on our way.

In the 70's the company I worked for bought a new Link Belt 82 ton conventional truck crane, the Cadillac of cranes. The dealer delivered it one day, the next day my oiler and I were going to take it out on a job. I crawled into the upper unit and found multiple piles of anti freeze on the floor under the engine hose joints. The anti freeze had slushed up (expanded) so it was pushing out of the hose joints leaving piles of it on the floor. I just called the dealer, let them know what happened. They came out, changed the anti freeze and we never had a problem after that. It was interesting that the engine in the lower unit never had the problem.

 

[RjCorazza]

I have always flushed the OEM coolant and replaced with a 5 year interval coolant. My preference is Zerex G05, but there are plenty of quality long life coolants available.
Keep it simple and use a 50/50 concentration

 

[Doc G]

If you start and warm up the tractor in a shed - be sure it's an OPEN shed. Otherwise, start it and immediately drive it out of the shed. Just enough so the exhaust vents to the open air. Let it warm up outside.

Right! There is a parallel thread about this. I erred on the side of caution (moving the tractor outside to warm up), normally not something we have to think much about here.

I also was caught in this Texas deep freeze, with a low of -3F at my ranch, and so was most concerned about diesel fuel gelling. Happily my pretreatment for diesel gelling saved the day.

Looks like we live close! Hope you were able to avoid pipes bursting (we dodged that bullet at my place up FM933 but lost power for 4 days). I did have the foresight to put additive in the fuel but I'm aware of people's diesel trucks gelling up.

When I purchase anything used the first thing I do is change all the fluids even if the previous owner claims to have just change them.

^^^^ Wisdom speaking! Harken all ye new-to-you tractor owners.

Back then we used to block the lower 2/3 to 3/4 of the radiator to keep the fan from chilling the radiator to the point the anti freeze would turn to slush. When it did happen it was a matter of shut the engine off, let sit for 15 to 30 minutes so the engine heat could work its way into the radiator, top off radiator and go on our way.

Yep, no fan clutch on an L-series. Excellent advice, although hopefully having the correct ratio of antifreeze would have prevented my experience altogether. The ice/slush evidently did expand as you say because there was an additional amount of fluid in my discharge tank after that.

I have always flushed the OEM coolant and replaced with a 5 year interval coolant. My preference is Zerex G05, but there are plenty of quality long life coolants available.

A gallon of Zerex is sitting on my floor waiting for me to get home from work today!

 

[Texasmark]

You forgot to remove the cardboard from in front of the radiator...you know that you put there so that the engine would come up to temp during the winter.....now how do you think I know that....wink!