L35 Unusual Engine Temps

[curtisfarmer]

I have L48s which are basically the same design and I have had the same problems. Every time mowing, the screen, which you may be missing, needs to be removed and cleaned completely, and reach back behind radiator and pull out all the crap. You chould have the hardnose heavy duty plate screen with a pull out finer screen in back of that. Shopvac the whole compartmnent, including the screen. This always works for me. Most of the time when in the field, I can remedy the problem by pulling the finer screen and just banging the sucked in crud. Mowing is the only time I have these problems which is a combinbation of heavy duty mower application uphills and blocked cooling to the engine.

Good luck.

 

[RobJ]

You need to look at the thermostat and see what the temp is that stamped on it. That will be your normal operating temp. On mine it's 160. And in our Texas heat while bushhogging heavy grass it will not go higher than 160 (I have the OEM guage and I installed a mech gauge), unless the screen starts getting clogged. Just a little blockage will cause the temp to rise. On my OEM guage it actually looked like it was running hot when in fact it was not.

Even on a cold day the temp should be around the operating temp, because the thermostat should remain closed until it reaches it temp. But mine will usally run a little cooler as the thermostat might be opening and closing quickly.

When I had this problem the thermostat was bad. But the first replacement was also bad. When I replaced the second one all my problems went away.

 

[RobJ]

I'm certainly not a dieselologist, but I think in this situation I would be inclined to take all load off the tractor and run her at idle speed for a few minutes to keep the fluids circulating and to see if the temp needle starts nudging in the right direction.

The small diesel manufacturers that I've dealt with frown on shutting down a hot worked motor without a little cool down time.

I'd hate to see you put unnecessary wear on your tractor, although your problem is strange enough, that we're not even sure that idling back would cool her down.

The cool down time mainly comes from engines with turbos. Since the turbos have exhaust running through them at several hundred degrees the oil in them can burn up. In our case the oil pretty much drains directly back into the pan.

When you turn off your tractor the tractor does not get hotter(not talking about the water temp, but the area around the combustion chamber where the heat is being produced). When you turn off the heat(engine) the temp will begin to drop off quickly.

Sort of like when you hear someone say I stopped to give my tractor a rest. I can promise you the tractor isn't the one benefiting from a rest.