Smell of Antifreeze

liberty2701 · Mar 14, 2015

Apsterbobed said:
I don't smell antifreeze but I have noticed that occasionally there will be a quarter to silver dollar sized antifreeze drip on the concrete under the front axle. A couple of time I found a droplet or 2 hanging from the axle but the tank is still plenty full. I asked my dealer and was told the lower radiator clamp has a tendency to loosen on new tractors. I noticed it with just over 100 hours but I have not had the time to try and tighten it. I haven't smelled antifreeze but I thought I was smelling hydraulic fluid after the tractor was warm and I had been using the loader. Now I'm wondering if it is actually the antifreeze that I'm smelling?

I checked every hose clamp and hose numerous times with no visible leaks. Like I said it will hold 10psi for 24 hrs when it is cold.

powerscol · Mar 14, 2015

Swing by Napa or your favorite parts store, and get a bottle of the leak detector solution that can be seen by a black light. Add, run a while, and then look with the black light (bulbs are available for many shop lights)

Its amazing the small leaks that can be found using this trick. BTW if you have a block heater check where it was installed in the block, otherwise look behind and around the water pump. Last thing to check is your oil level and if you have antifreeze in your oil. Smell could be from the breather or exhaust system - let hope not though.

Hope this helps.

k0ua · Mar 14, 2015

liberty2701 said:
I have no cab. Murph in my other post noted Eric the Oracle had a problem with a hose leaking between the plies. I cannot find that post.

Same here.. Look at the cords in the end of the top radiator hose. Are they green or white?.. Not so much a leak as a seep.

Dealer supplied one and I replaced it, and the second one did it too, and the dealer replaced the other on a house service call while they were here to replace the cruise control module that had the cold weather issue. This one seems to be OK now. I think some the hoses are just "porous" and it leaks fluid into the cords and it seeps out of the end of the hoses.

MinnesotaEric · Mar 14, 2015

Piping in here. My upper radiator hose was leaking through the bands from overzealous tightening by the factory or dealer prep on a cheap, factory hose. I replaced both the clamps and the hose with a quality Gates hose.

The stock upper radiator hose is on the left and failed. The replacement Gates hose is on the right. Notice the quality difference?

Along with replacing the upper radiator hose, I winged the stock hose clamps that damaged the hose as they tighten in favor for double loop hose clamps that don't damage the hose when tightened.

Moreover, I found the dealer installed an antifreeze leak by improperly installing the optional heater core.

While I own the right tools (30mm or 1-1/8 are about the same size), on the NX engine, access is tight and the only way you can get the heater core tight enough to not leak is the two wrench method I demonstrate in the following photo.

I still have a slight smell of anti-freeze and am using a 1/4 cup of antifreeze every eight hours. Since my pressure tester would pop out of the radiator after 5-15 minutes, to find a leak so small I broke down and purchased the latest "master" radiator cap collection to get the right adaptor, but it hasn't been warm enough and I haven't had enough down time with the tractor at a tinkerage to pressure test and come back in two hours looking for leaks.

liberty2701 · Mar 15, 2015

That is disappointing regarding the quality of the rad hose. These are the things that concerned me when buying a Kioti. The hidden things that are cut to keep cost down. I know for certain that my previous tractor was a MF made by Iseki was of higher quality (engine was smooth like glass)and and definitely had better dealer support. I know my MF dealer service manager would not of said what the Kioti manager said about the smell. I just hope my Kioti holds up in the long run. Now you guys can beat me up.

DK35vince · Mar 15, 2015

liberty2701 said:
That is disappointing regarding the quality of the rad hose. These are the things that concerned me when buying a Kioti. The hidden things that are cut to keep cost down. I know for certain that my previous tractor was a MF made by Iseki was of higher quality (engine was smooth like glass)and and definitely had better dealer support. I know my MF dealer service manager would not of said what the Kioti manager said about the smell. I just hope my Kioti holds up in the long run. Now you guys can beat me up.

I had the coolant reservoir hose come apart on my 2001 DK 35 last fall.
My coolant hoses were 13 years old, so I just changed them all since the one small hose failed.
The radiator hoses still looked good. The replacement hoses looked decent quality to me.
The quality/reliability of my DK 35 (1920+hours) has been excellent for me the past 13/14 years.
My DK never seems to give me any problems. Works great every time I use it.

liberty2701 · Mar 15, 2015

I really like the tractor. I just have not had the best experience with the dealer handling the few problems I have had including the response to this one.

snowshoehunter · Mar 18, 2015

I have had the smell of antifreeze for awhile now. No problems before winter. Seems when we had temps in the single digits or below 0 I started to find leaks. I have had to tighten a few of the hose clamps. The leaks have seemed to stop but I can still smell antifreeze when I'm running the tractor. I don't seem to be losing any more from the resovoir.