Engine temp and gas cap question IH 300U

[mlshaver1896]

I used the 300 utility today to bush hog 8 inches of grass for about 2 hours today. The engine temperature never moved off the bottom peg until about an hour and a half into the job. Even then it only moved a little bit. I replaced the gauge because of this problem before and I tested the new one in a pot of water on the stove. I'mean pretty sure there is coolant touching the temp bulb in the head because when I replaced ithe coolant came out. Is it possible the engine runs that cool all the time? It was 90 degrees outside as well.

Also, when I shut it down, I noticed a whistling sound. It was pressure escaping from the vent hole on the gas cap. I slowly took the cap off and fuel burped out. The tank must have been less than half full too. Any idea on this?

One more question here. What should oil pressure be with 20W oil, 90 degrees outside, full throttle and an engine that has never been rebuilt? I'm not sure of the hours because the tack cable is broken.

Thanks so much for all your help guys. This forum is filled with more knowledge than I could ever imagine.

 

[leon]

Case-IH gives away vented fuel caps to solve the extremely dangerous problem of liquid gasoline and vapor burping out. You're lucky to be here to tell us about the problem!

Perhaps an air bubble somehow gets trapped at the temp sensor when you fill with coolant - I don't know, but bet someone else will.

 

[JRSutton]

I've noticed the old tractor gauges typically start at the proper temperature as the zero point - and have a whole lot of gauge space left over in case it ever gets really hot.

I'm assuming the idea of putting "normal" in middle like most cars and modern equipment was an idea that occurred to engineers later in time.

I'd guess that your gauge is working just fine.

As with most cooling systems, they're designed to run much cooler than they have to - and they use the thermostat to restrict the flow to just to keep the engine warm enough to run efficiently. It'd take a LOT of hard work to get beyond the cooling capabilities of that system.

Keep in mind, even a 110 degree day is still about 70 degrees cooler than the engine wants to be.

Unless you're boiling over, don't worry about it - at all.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

My 300u has 7530+ hrs;I grew up on it.The temp gauge always stayed in the lower part of the cold range until I replaced the thermostat.It since then warms up quicker,stays at the upper part of the cold range on the gauge(around the L in COLD). If I work it hard it will get to the R in RUN.
As far as oil pressure,I run 10w40 and the pressure reads around 60psi at high rpm,and 30 or better at idle.Only overhaul was over 3000-3500 hrs ago.Mark

 

[Janicholson]

The dip tube in the tank that prevents sloshing also has the issue you describe. I had a rough running condition on our 350U and shut it off mid field. I walked to our machinery garage and got a 12oz can of gumout carb cleaner. I removed the cap on 2/3 tank of gasoline, and poured the gumout in as fast as it would pour. As I reached for the fuel cap, the entire contents of the tank came out the filler hole like old faithful. I was drenched in gas, and the fuel was steaming off of the hot engine making a vapor cloud 20ft in diameter. I ran in a zig-zag pattern across the field trying to remove clothing and run at the same time. Evidently, the gumout reduced the vapor pressure about 50%. Other than a quick shower to remove petrol. no damage. Jim

 

[CNKS]

CaseIH sells the caps. International gives them to you if your furnish the form and serial. The remnants of IH (truck) had the caps assigned to them when the tractors merged with Case.

 

[CNKS]

The gauge starts at the temp of unheated water. I drove a H in the 50's as a teenager. Usually a full load, the gauge sometimes got over to the edge of red in the summer, sometimes causing the loss of water. If a lesser load the gauge ran on the lower end of run to about to 3/4 of run. I think that these days people don't have much of a load.

 

[David G]

I think it is fine, a thermostat might help it get warmed up.

 

[P and R Pete]

Wow. Just wow.
New world record for shucking clothes.
Used up one of your nine lives on THAT one, I'd wager, just thinking about what could have been.

 

[JRSutton]

Right, but my point was that on the older gauges, I don't think 180 is in the center of the gauge like it is in a car (unless all the tractors I've used don't work properly - which is a distinct possibility!) Instead it's very close to the bottom range of the gauge.

And I'm not saying you can't get one to heat up - just that you have to really work it to do it. For average tasks, it's very normal for the gauge to stay very low. Much lower than you'd expect if you're expecting "normal" to be straight in the middle as it is on modern gauges.

So it's easy for somebody to think there's a problem because it looks TOO low, when in fact it's perfectly normal.

 

[JRSutton]

Boy, I COULD be very wrong on this - I had to do a google search and look at some gauges - most do put normal in the middle. But I know all the gauges I've looked at - between old farmalls and old john deeres, the needle's always stayed way down on the low side unless you really push them hard. Maybe it's just be luck of the draw, but I've just come to expect that very low is normal.


Bottom line - if it aint boiling out - I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Andy Martin]

I'm no expert on gauges but I've got a couple of H's with old gauges (maybe not factory, but have IHC logo on them) and you can about tell the air temperature on them, Low end of the gauge is about 70 degrees, so the gauge registers pretty well before starting the engine.

 

[Janicholson]

Still gives me goose bumps. Jim

 

[gene bender]

I would use ome compressed air on the cap to make sure the vent is clean never did have a problem with that even the M on a mounted picker you can get a new cap from I-H thats double vented just send the serial#. Just look up gas cap i-h and it will come up fill out the form and the cap will follow very shortly.

 

[CNKS]

I consider the gauge accurate. We used water, no antifreeze in south Texas. When slightly overloaded, the pressure cap would release water as soon as it moved slightly into the red area. I forget how many degrees above 212 that the pressure cap prevented water from boiling, but the temp was close to being right. Pulling any implement in the summer, if not overloaded it stayed in the center of the green or in the last 3/4. I put maybe 5000 hours on that H. My dad told me to watch the gauges so I did.