air bubbles in antifreeze

[TINA DOE]

47 rt, with it running it will put air into the antifreeze. fresh oil has a lite gray discoloration on 6-8 hr. i have drained off condensation clean h2o from the base never any antifreeze nor have needed to ad antifreeze. is this engine known for this ? what will the problem likely be
thanks

 

[Curt Cooke]

You may have a bad head gasket, a warped head or a cracked jug. You may simply have a water pump that's moving anti-freeze to fast. Before I started taking anything apart I'd look into the thermostat situation. The complete absence of a thermostat can allow such velocity of the coolant that it will foam. You may want to try flushing out the coolant and replacing it with fresh water to see if the problem seems to go away. If you do find that there is no thermostat and then put one in, be sure to drill a little hole or two in it to provide some bypass. I had a similar problem with an M5 diesel.

 

[Alan K]

Curt, how big of a hole or holes do you usually need to drill in the thermostat, 1/8"? Ive got an M5 gas I need to do.

 

[Curt Cooke]

Alan, I'd go with 2 holes of 1/8 each. These Minnis are strange. Do you suppose the dealers had to tell their customers to drill holes when they sold them a thermostat? I had an M5 that just gave me fits until I figured out the right combination of things. I have a 97 Massey that I didn't drill holes in that then pushed the expanded coolant out the radiator from the bottom. A cooling system shouldn't be that complicated. Then throw in the potential to have the waterpump fill the crankcase with water. I don't think that MM had the pick of the litter when it came to engine builders.

 

[Howard H.]

A top-notch, long-time, professional mechanic who worked on Minnies for years told me one time that foaming coolant was caused by getting air into the system somewhere...

In other words, a seal on a water pump, a compression leak in a cracked head or gasket, etc...

I know for a fact the 605, 800, & HD800 water pumps could sure do weird things. It was very common for them to leak while an engine was stopped, but not leak while it was running, for example. Sometimes, they could also leak to the inside, but in that case, of course, you'd be seeing antifreeze in the oil, not just clear condensate.

I don't know if early tractor pumps were susceptible to doing squirrely things like that or not.

Does it miss or blow water out the exhaust?? Does it heat?



HH

 

[TINA DOE]

exhaust is clean and clear at all times
raked last sumer, plowed w/2-14 this spring
never had any heat problem. why is the oil
grayish, will antifreeze separate from oil and
settle to the bottem like water?
i think antifreeze is entering the oil when
it's running. where will the water pump be on
a 47 RT ?
thanks for the help

 

[Alan K]

Maybe they had stock in drill bit sales lol. Didnt the originals they came with have a bypass "door" or port on them? I had problems with my ZA with it boiling out the top, dad said drill a hole in the thermostat. He knew....

 

[Alan K]

Where are you getting the condensation at? The crankcase drain plug? As far as the condensation goes...odd thought but have you checked the crankcase breather? Maybe it is plugged or restricted? I know my ZA will have foaming coolant with the cap off when you look in it. I always figured it was because of the baffle plate in the radiator. The coolant has to travel about a foot before it gets to the thermostat.

 

[Howard H.]

In thinking about this - it almost seems like you have two problems.

If you are positive the water in the oil is clear (NO antifreeze at all), about the only thing it could be is either rain getting in or condensate. If it is condensate, maybe you aren't working it hard enough to really boil the water vapor away... Are you in a very humid area?

If there is no antifreeze in the oil, and you aren't having any other problems related to the foaming, I don't think I'd worry about the foaming a lot.

HH

 

[TINA DOE]

clear condensation from crankcase drain no (green) the tractor is in northern new york
the bubbles are big and consistent (like
boiling water) this will happen as soon it's
started (cold) i will look it over again soon
and get back here
thanks

 

[Alan K]

Not sure but would a bad baffle plate in water pump cause this problem?