Rad fins clean? Rad hose not collapsing? Fan belt tight?

 

Could be air locked. Had it happen to a pickup in the winter... truck overheating, and the heater blowing ice cold air.
You're not getting any smoke filled bubbles in your rad when you have a look, are you? If your temperature went up in the 212 to 220 range we could be talking cracked head, hopefully not. But that'll cause it to overheat as well.

 

i will check for bubbles tonight. if its air locked what is the fix. had this in the back of my mind.

 

any other ideas? checked thermostat in a pot of boiling water today and it opened up like it should. put it back together and still the top hose going to t-stat is the warmest and the bottom hose is cool. would a bad water pump or clogged engine coolant passage cause this issue?

 

Quote: "after about 15 minutes of bush hogging the gauge says 200 plus. the upper radiator hose is hot, but the lower is cool."

First thing I would get is a non-contact infrared thermometer. You can find them for $15-$20 on ebay or elsewhere on the internet. Just aim it at wherever in the cooling system, and it will give you the temperature. This is to check your tractor's temperature gauge.

Normally, Ford tractor radiators will push coolant out the overflow line if they are over-full, and cause you to think it is boiling over, when it's not really all that hot. The radiator will eventually reach equilibrium with fluid level about 1/2" - 1" above the radiator core. Leave it that way.

For the pump to be not working, the impellers would have to be eroded/corroded away. Or maybe the shaft is broken but not leaking?? Or belt slipping?? The pump would have to be ancient for that much corrosion. And maybe it is?? I had the pump bearings go out one time and the seal remained effective. Made a growling sound from impeller rubbing.. Does the fan have play in it??

Is the fan belt badly worn where it sits all the way down in the groove and doesn't grip the pulleys (vee-sides) right?? Belt can slip even if it's tight.

Has the inner lining of either radiator hose come loose and obstructing flow??

Check with your New Holland Dealership to see that your radiator cap is correct pressure rating. I don't know what it should be.

Is your fan shroud in place? Also, you may want to put a six bladed fan on it.

When it gets hot, do you see small bubbles in the coolant? This would be combustion gas, indicating a head gasket leak or cracked head?? There is a test kit to check for combustion gas in the coolant.

The radiator may have plugged fins or plugged cores. I would take mine to a radiator shop to get it rodded out and cleaned up.

You can also do commercial flush on the block and radiator. Get the flush product from an auto parts store. If you do this, make sure you thoroughly flush the block and radiator with water after doing the job.

I wonder if the injectors may be the culprit?? Maybe their spray pattern is off due to blocked injector passages causing an anomolous temperature pattern?? This is pure B~S, just something to consider...or maybe the pump timing is off....Ask an injection pump shop....

Also, if this tractor is leaking diesel into the oil, that will cause an engine to overheat due to increased friction/lack of lubrication. I recall you had this problem a while back. Did you fix it??

OK, I've given you the scatterbrain approach...everything that I could think of in one sitting.... Anybody reading this please correct me if I've screwed up..

 

fixed the diesel in the oil problem. as for as the belt goes, i can turn the fan blade and the pulley turns without the belt moving.. think it is slipping when the engine is running? it is a new radiator. i suspect it is the original water pump. i bought the tractor from my wife's grandfather. he didn't use it much the last ten or so years he had it. we have had it sic or seven years.

 

Take a look at the belt to see if it's worn till it runs in the bottom of the "vee". If so, replace the belt. It gets its gripping power from contact with the pulley "vee" sides (not the bottom). Get it tight enough to turn the pump without question, but remember that you have generator and pump bearings, so don't overtighten the belt. Use your best judgement.

 

its as tight as the alternator bracket will let. will try to match one up at autozone. we don't have a tractor only place around close.

 

Reduce the coolant level in the radiator to 1" above the cores in the radiator. Run the engine till it's warm and the thermostat opens. You should see flow in the top of the radiator from the pump.

 

The 4000 was usually a 3 cylinder engine. There are codes stamped on the old fords usually to identify what year and model you have.
Hopefully you are only doing light bush hogging.
There are four blade fans, can you order bareco, vapormatic etc Ford parts?
You can remove the lights from the front grill to improve air flow.
Has an adapter plate been put on the engine to replace the cartridge filter with a screw on filter ?
What is the concentration of the anti-boil/ anti-freeze radiator liquid?
Some of the old fords had the injectors drilled out to put more diesel in them.
Have you put a diesel additive in to 'clean' the fuel system?
With the fan belt removed, wiggle the water pump pulley to see how much 'play' is in the water pump bearing which can indicate the water pump age.
What is the condition of the air cleaner system? Some of the netting gets blocked up and makes it hard for the engine to breath.
The 1972 5000 was the model for bush hogging with a few modifications.

 

just used it for about 30 minutes. parked it and i could hear the coolant, sounded like it was boiling. the bottom hose close to the water pump had hot water. the side closest to the radiator was cold. it has got to be the water pump not circulating enough coolant. i will check the air filter tomorrow night. the bearings in the pump seem to be good. it turns smooth and is quiet. as for as we know it is a 64 model 4000. the lights are on the side of the hood, it does have the grill were the ford letters are supposed to go.

 

Have a read up on what Ford had in the tropical cooling kit.
For example an 8 blade cooling fan. http://bareco.com.au/files-ford2001-frd22
If the fins on the water pump are eroded it will not be pumping enough coolant.

 

guess the pump will come off tomorrow.

 

thanks for your time.

 

if anyone is wandering about the over heating tractor, i found the problem. starting draining the coolant and when i removed the lower hose there was a paper towel stuffed in it. don't know where it came from. but it was there.

 

It's just says weird, no way you cold even think that unless maybe it had just been rebuilt.

 

only thing we could think of is when the radiator was replace the gut stuffed it up in there to keep it from leaking. we only used it to unload round bales in the winter. never had time to overheat. when i started using to bush hog this summer is when i started getting really hot.