Troubleshooting Kutje A2300N2-ATC : hard to start and overheating

[FMFProperties]

2018 Branson Tractor 4520C-NEO (Serial #CYRG00023)
Kukje Engine Model A2300N2-ATC (Serial #TCBG00053)
I bought it brand new and it now has 355 total hours

Symptoms:
- My tractor overheats after just 15 minutes mowing, it gets hot to where I need to turn it off or it bogs down and dies. Won't even crank until it's cold again.
- When you remove the radiator cap with the engine running, the water bubbles a lot, splashing out
- It's not showing oil in the water
- The oil dipstick doesn't show water in the oil

All of this up to now could point to the radiator, like another forum member told me today, or the water pump, BUT this throws me off:
- It used to start faster than my F150 that I bought the same year, but now to start it I have to pump the fuel pedal many many times and continue pumping it while at the same time cranking the engine for about 15-20 seconds, until it eventually coughs and shakes, then finally starts.

The mobile mechanic that came to look at it told me that it seems like it's leaking air through the head gasket, making it so hard to start. He told me to buy gaskets for him to replace and send out the head to make sure it's not warped or cracked.

Anyone heard of this or has experienced this before and can give me ideas? I'm not a mechanic so I'm open to suggestions before I spend thousands of dollars replacing the head gasket when it could be something else.

Thanks !

 

[K5lwq]

The first thing to determine is why it overheated in the first place. I suspect the radiator fins need to be cleaned. Do you blow it out ever with compressed air?

To determine if the head gasket or head is damaged you could do a combustion chamber leak test. Go to O’Reilly Auto Parts or Autozone and ask to borrow a test kit for this. You will have to buy the solution. Follow the directions in the kit. It detects if exhaust fumes are present in the radiator. If so, yes the head needs to come off.

 

[FMFProperties]

It overheated in the first place because for years I would use the water hose and not compressed air, thinking water cleans better. I didn't realize that those small spaces would turn the fine sand into mud with water so it didn't clean as well. Once I learned that lesson on my Massey, I kept cleaning them both with compressed air, but the damage in the Branson was already done.

It also doesn't help that Branson's design is horrible, where they place the A/C condenser so close to the engine radiator that it's very hard to clean correctly.

Heading to O'Reilly to get a leak tester right now. Thanks

 

[LouNY]

Also a compression test and or leakdown test will tell you a lot.
Hard starting would make tend to believe that you have low compression, possibly the head gasket between two cylinders.

 

[FMFProperties]

They had the kits in Auto Zone and O'Reilly in the town west of me, but not the liquid for diesel, even though BOTH of their websites said they had it in stock.

If their websites had stated the truth that they didn't have it, I would have driven to the town east of me instead. It's about 15 miles further away but it has more auto parts stores so more probabilities of getting it. Oh well, I'll get it Monday since I have to drive over there anyway.

 

[Harry in Ky]

I have a slightly different take. While I won't disagree with anything stated so far, one part of your original post has yet to be discussed. After fifteen minutes of mowing it will bog down and die. That's not a head gasket related problem. Cracked heads, damaged gaskets, and such can cause strange things in the coolant and radiator. Problems with radiator, fan, belt, or water pump can translate to repeated overheating, yes. The "bog down and die" thing is another matter. Is your mobile mechanic aware of that development? If so, and he's looking to replace the head gasket as a solution I think he's only part way there.

I can't see a bad head gasket causing an engine to bog down. I don't do engine work any more, (never been into a Kukje) but when I did that symptom was always a friction related problem. Stopping and cooling it down for XXX length of time before it will turn over fast enough to start sounds like serious problems to me. I've seen lubricated bearing failures do that, but it's usually been piston to cylinder wall clearance problems. When engines overheat pistons expand more than they should and can/will begin to seize to the cylinder walls. If that gets far enough along metal will begin to transfer from the piston skirt onto the cylinder. Once that happens things go downhill fast. I think that's more likely what's "bogging" it down after fifteen minutes. Maybe I'm wrong. Let's see what you find when the head and head gasket are on the table.