Overheating MF 1140

[jkroberts]

Hello all. New tractor owner here and my MF 1140 has an overheating issue. I've used it with a box scrape grooming my gravel drive without any issues, but as soon as I attach my bush hog ATH 600 finish mower and turn the PTO on, I then have issues. I have tried raising the mower off the ground and cut the tops of the grass thinking that its putting too much of a load on the tractor, but still the same thing. I have cleaned the screen in front of the radiator and the radiator as well. I even took the bush hog loader off and tried cutting grass without it thinking that the added weight my be my problem. Its not the sending unit for the temp gauge because yesterday I could see water coming out of the overflow of the radiator. Of course, I did not continue running the tractor and let it cool off. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jerred

 

[montejw]

Hello all. New tractor owner here and my MF 1140 has an overheating issue. I've used it with a box scrape grooming my gravel drive without any issues, but as soon as I attach my bush hog ATH 600 finish mower and turn the PTO on, I then have issues. I have tried raising the mower off the ground and cut the tops of the grass thinking that its putting too much of a load on the tractor, but still the same thing. I have cleaned the screen in front of the radiator and the radiator as well. I even took the bush hog loader off and tried cutting grass without it thinking that the added weight my be my problem. Its not the sending unit for the temp gauge because yesterday I could see water coming out of the overflow of the radiator. Of course, I did not continue running the tractor and let it cool off. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jerred

Is it actually overheating, or just running hotter? My AC 5020 runs hotter with my 6' flail mower running, but doesn't overheat. If your's is overheating when running a mower and the radiator is clean (you can see through it, right?), then it could be a water pump issue, slipping fan belt, etc. Also, is the radiator clean on the inside? A plugged radiator will cause overheating under load.

Monte

 

[Syncro]

The thermostat may be in backwards or defective. An easy way to check for thermostat problems is to remove it and then run the tractor, if it still overheats then the problem lies elsewhere. Installing a thermostat backwards is an easy miatsake to do, I've done it myself. Its a good starting point in locating the problem.

A word of caution if you have never installed a thermostat, be super careful that the lip of the round thermostat is completely flush in the housing recess before tightening the water outlet bolts, if its not than the casting will break when the 2 bolts are tightened. The spring of the thermostat goes into the engine side, as I say it will fit either way, so be sure the spring faces the motor side of the water outlet. Good luck.

 

[jkroberts]

Thanks for the info. Ya'll seem to have the same thoughts that I did. I have not checked the belt to make sure the fan is turning properly and of course have thought about the thermistat and water pump. I hope its just a loose belt. I will probably go ahead and do a flush on the radiator just to make sure

 

[JerryG]

I went through the same thing with my MF1250. I changed the thermostat and the inside of the radiator looked good. The pump was fine. I was visiting with the shop foreman one day at my dealer and told him that I had this problem and that I was going the pull the radiator to have it cleaned in a few days. He asked me if I had used oven cleaner on it yet. I told him that I had never done that before but would try it if it wouldn’t hurt the radiator. He said that they used the cheap $1 oven cleaner all the time for that problem. Try it to see if that is what is wrong with yours. I know that my radiator fins looked clean. Deep in between the fins was where the gunk was. I sprayed the oven cleaner on, waited about 5 minutes then washed it off with the garden hose. I couldn’t believe how much black stuff came out. I did it a second time and the amount of gunk was almost as bad as the first time. After that the tractor cooled as well as it did when it was new. After that once a year, I would break out the oven cleaner.

 

[jkroberts]

The verdict was a clogged radiator. Took some purple power, soft bristled brush and water and it fixed everything. Thanks for the help.

Jerred

 

[john_bud]

Jerred,

Sounds good!

One thing I've seen is that washing out the dirt then while the radiator is still wet,hogging or doing other dusty jobs. Forms some nasty mud in the fins that is hard to get out. I use compressed air and that gets it pretty clean. Then once a month or so, use a hose and get the rest of the dirt off. Leave it in the sun to dry and all is well.

jb