Overheating a BX2360

[Slade]

Unfortunately, the little lady decided to surprise me and mow with my new BX2360 while I was away. She called and asked what to do after she worked it until it overheated and lost all the radiator fluid.

What's the best way to determine if there is any serious damage when I get back home? I figured I would change the oil and see if there is any coolant in the oil, since it is almost at 50 hours anyway. What else?

Thanks!

 

[montelatici]

Unfortunately, the little lady decided to surprise me and mow with my new BX2360 while I was away. She called and asked what to do after she worked it until it overheated and lost all the radiator fluid.

What's the best way to determine if there is any serious damage when I get back home? I figured I would change the oil and see if there is any coolant in the oil, since it is almost at 50 hours anyway. What else?

Thanks!

If it overheated to the extent that it lost all the coolant, I would suppose that at a minimum, the head gasket is burnt. I think it is a warranty issue at this point.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

My BX2660 temp gauge went to red a couple of times. I looked down and it was reading in the red. I turned it off and back on and temp went to about half way. It wasn't overheated either time. Wait to you get home and check it before you repair it.

 

[jlsmith]

Sounds like a head gasket. Think i would call my dealer and let him check it out. This should be covered under warranty.

 

[montelatici]

My BX2660 temp gauge went to red a couple of times. I looked down and it was reading in the red. I turned it off and back on and temp went to about half way. It wasn't overheated either time. Wait to you get home and check it before you repair it.

My 1850 goes close to red and just a few days ago into red, but it doesn't lose coolant. The sensor is next to the muffler so the temp gauge on these tractors is not useful, but losing all the coolant means it is a problem.

 

[BruceWard]

My B21 has only overheated once. It was when the fan belt broke. I caught it early but some fluid bled from the cooling system anyway. Maybe it is your fan belt. Much easier and cheaper than a head gasket.

 

[montelatici]

My B21 has only overheated once. It was when the fan belt broke. I caught it early but some fluid bled from the cooling system anyway. Maybe it is your fan belt. Much easier and cheaper than a head gasket.

The head gasket is probably not the cause of the overheating, I am saying that once you've run the tractor without coolant for any length of time, you will have cooked the head gasket, at a minimum. Perhaps other things may have been cooked.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

My 1850 goes close to red and just a few days ago into red, but it doesn't lose coolant. The sensor is next to the muffler so the temp gauge on these tractors is not useful, but losing all the coolant means it is a problem.

I believe the coolant gauges are useful and they read about half way on all of my Kubotas. The BX2660 had a bad gauge or bad sender that apparently was messing up from time to time. If my wife told me on the phone that my tractor had lost all of its coolant, I would not be planning repairs or overhauls until I checked it myself. If my wife was a diesel mechanic, then I'd be getting prepared for repairs. Not sure my wife would even know where to check for coolant but she does know where the key is and I'd never be surprised to come home and her be doing something with one of my Kubotas.

 

[BXpanded]

Unfortunately, the little lady decided to surprise me and mow with my new BX2360 while I was away. She called and asked what to do after she worked it until it overheated and lost all the radiator fluid.

What's the best way to determine if there is any serious damage when I get back home? I figured I would change the oil and see if there is any coolant in the oil, since it is almost at 50 hours anyway. What else?

Thanks!

Did the engine stop running? If not, odds are nothing is hurt. It must have been a very hot day and heavy mowing unless the coolant was low.
Also, if the coolant was overfull, some could spew out as the overflow tank got full.

If coolant is leaking into the oil, the oil will usually be milky.

If it still runs OK, not much you can or should do. An attempt at any warranty claim would likely be rejected if it's still running properly. The daily checklist probably includes checking coolant level.

Watch the oil level for the next several weeks. If the cylinder walls are scored, you could experience high oil consumption.

 

[Slade]

Thanks for all the help. I'm going to check it out when I get home in 10 days.

As I understand, she saw that the temp was in the red so she shut it off, then the fluid and steam came out so it doesn't sound like it ran without any coolant.

I'm hoping for the best and expecting the worst, I'll report back when I figure out the damage.

 

[kevinj]

Sounds like the radiator is plugged up

 

[montelatici]

From the OrangeTractorTalk site:


"Anyone that owns a BX1850 has the same issue because the sender is located ontop of the muffler!

I'd recommend putting an actual guage on that engine to ensure it's not really overheating, which it probably isn't, but it's a good measure of safety!

Try to shield the location where you attach the guage when you're doing this test (same spot as current temp sender) with a large ceramic tile, asbestos sheet, or some other non heat conducting product so you can get an accurate true temperature reading on the engine.

If the temp is normal, and it probably is, take a look on the engine for a different location that will accept a new sender unit.

If you can't find one, remove the radiator and take it to a rad shop and have them solder in a threaded port to accept your sender unit. make sure to take them the new sender so they can match the metric threading required to accept you sender.

Have them locate that port in a location that is FAR away from the horizontal under hood muffler system that you have now.

Install new 50/50 coolant, replace the rad cap, adjust the fan belt tension, extend the length of the wiring to reach the location of your new sender, and you're done. Leave the old sender inplace on the cylinder head as a "water plug".

An hour or two of your time and $100 bucks at the rad shop and Bob's your Uncle!! "


Bx 1850 overheating - OrangeTractorTalks - Everything Kubota

 

[Chilly807]

Strange that it would overheat unless there was a problem with either the cooling system or the design of the engine/cooling system is less than it should be.

Even at max power output, the cooling system should be able to keep up unless the airflow through the rad was blocked.

I'm not saying it's impossible, just that I'm surprised. Even for the temp to get up into the red zone (on more than one tractor, apparently) tells me that there's some marginal engineering involved.

Probably the best advice to give your wife in future, is that if the temp gets up into the red, turn the mower off and let the engine idle at about 1500 rpm with no load on it until it cools down to a normal level. Then either resume mowing at a lower ground speed/reduced load or shut it down. Keeping the coolant circulating past the rad (and fan) helps keep the hot engine block from boiling the coolant off until things cool down a bit, which sounds like what happened.

Be thankful it's not turbocharged, if it was I can almost guarantee you it would be a failure of the turbo from heat stress and cooked oil. Possibly not right away, but in the future.

Even with a non-turbo engine, it's a good practice to check the engine temp before shutting down. If it's higher than normal, let the engine idle for a few minutes until it cools off to a normal level. Repeated hot shutdowns shorten engine life substantially.

As it is you MAY have a warped head/block from the coolant boiling out, if it didn't run until it cooled off your cylinders should be ok.

I've heard of rings losing tension in cases of severe overheating, more so with air-cooled engines though.

Be sure she adds some kind of coolant before she runs it any more, even fresh water will be ok to get it back to the barn. The proper coolant mix is a must before it gets loaded again, plain water doesn't do so well as the right mix of antifreeze and water, even in summer.

Like some of the guys said, you should know soon enough once you start working it again. If it starts using oil or losing coolant, you have internal damage. Keep a close eye on the oil and coolant levels and condition for the first while (next 20 hours probably). If the oil starts getting milky looking, you have coolant leaking into the oil side, if the coolant gets muddy, it's oil going into the water. Either is bad news.

She probably feels pretty bad about it, mine would be in hiding I think. I love her dearly, but the tractor is right up there in my affections too..

Good luck !

Sean

 

[BXpanded]

If it didn't start blowin' steam until after she shut it down it almost certainly did not hurt anything. Car engines blow the pressure cap after shutdown on a pretty regular basis on really hot days. That's why the overflow tank is there. The overflow tank is pretty small on the BX and if it was overfilled to start with, it would take very little coolant to make a lot of steam.

 

[itsjustme]

The first thing to check would be the radiator and radiator screen. Here is a pic of what can hide behind the battery .

[/IMG]

 

[radioman]

The first thing to check would be the radiator and radiator screen. Here is a pic of what can hide behind the battery .

[/IMG]

wow - thats alotta grass crud in there!

 

[Chilly807]

Looks like a normal day in the hayfield to me. I was initially surprised at how much goldenrod chaff there was after a day of mowing fields in the fall. Now I clean the screen almost every day after I finish mowing when it's dry.

Sean

 

[hawkeye08]

When the driver that delivered our L3130 was briefing us, he made sure to mention that I needed to keep the radiator and screen clean, that the warranty did not cover damage due to not keeping it clean. I made a mental note to keep it clean, they must be seeing some overheating problems or he would not have mentioned it.

Hope all is well and you just need to make sure the coolant level is correct and clean things up... I have always wondered how well the oil analysis services are, maybe have one done next oil change if you suspect problem to see if there is anything in the oil?

 

[leonz]

That is the biggest reason to recore a radiator with mesabi parts as nothing is trapped to prevent cooling as the tubes allow full airflow without a chaff screen and canno0t be plugged by trash on the inlet side.