Is my MF 231 running too hot??

[Travis_R]

Ok I may have found the problem, or A problem...

I tilled while ago for about 10 minutes. Needle didn't get in the white, but was definitely high green.

Anyway, i stopped tilling and immediately opened the radiator cap. I heard absolutely "NO relief of pressure", bubbling, or steam.

I have no idea how long the radiator cap has been broke like this (or started with an un-noticed hairline crack) but I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the situation?

IF THIS IS THE PROBLEM, IM ASSUMING that the water pump was working extra hard, just enough to keep the engine from overheating when running at "normal" temp. (The reason why it was getting too hot so quick under a load)

Please correct me if my thinking is wrong...

 

[Winmac]

You need a new cap, but it won't change the temps or how fast it heats up and got nothing to do with how hard the water pump has to work.

 

[murphy1244]

A broken seal would result in a lower boiling point.

 

[Winmac]

Increasing the boiling point would only help if the tractor was boiling the coolant out, it's not so there will be no change to the system.

 

[murphy1244]

Increasing the boiling point would only help if the tractor was boiling the coolant out, it's not so there will be no change to the system.

I agree but the cap is why the boiling point is raised by putting the system under pressure. The Tractor is NOT getting hot enough to even boil over.

 

[Winmac]

I agree the tractor was never overheating.

 

[Travis_R]

I ended up finding this in the owner's manual...

 

[murphy1244]

Make sure Belt is tight and replace Cap and your good to go. Make sure the Rad Cap is the same PSI rating!

 

[sawtooth]

I agree the slight pressure of the cap only raises the boiling point of water. After re-reading all the post I see it was never actually established that the tractor overheated only that the gauge read high. My apologies! For some reason I thought you were loosing coolant via boiling out etc. Anyway, I wouldn't just concluded "I guess its ok!" If it were me I would probably change the gauge so I could see whats going on or at least make a mental note of where the normal highest run temp is on the gauge. All my tractors reach this normal max setting on the gauge during hot summer days and or heavy bush hogging even with a fairly well clogged radiator. I will also note I have never been able to make any of them actually overheat during heavy hogging except the MF 461 which had the damaged Tstat. I do however clean the grill off after each of collecting seeds etc. Next time your hogging and the grill gets clogged causing the gauge to go well into the white. Pull over and use a towel etc to remove the radiator cap. Again if theres no boiling and spewing out of coolant then your ok as anything under the boiling point is of no issue. Then make a mental note and or mark on the gauge so you know whats acceptable. If the gauge is maxed out and your still not boiling coolant when you remove the radiator cap to check it then I would get a new gauge for sure.

By the way I noticed the manual says when gauge is in the red. Is it possible thats an aftermarket gauge since its white? Again of no real importance but maybe stuff has been changed out in the past causing some of the in accurate gauge reading issues. Good point on the fan belt tension too.

 

[Winmac]

I'd suspect the red has faded to white over the years from the sun.