Overheating B414

[GwLung]

Ok need some input. We have aB414 diesel that we use to cut/bale hay on our small farm. I rebuilt the engine last winter and put in a new (aftermarket) aluminum radiator. The old shroud wouldnt fit so we ran it without it last summer and the tractor did great ran mostly between cold and just into the green(run) on the new aftermarket temperature gauge. This past winter we split the tractor put in a new clutch rear main seal and split it at the transmission to replace 2nd/3rd gear. Didnt do anything to the engine other than I moved the alternator back so it could run off the pulley on the back of the new water pump from the previous winter engine rebuild. Previous owner had an idler pulley bolted on and ran the water pump and alternator off of the same belt and it was always needing tensioned. So now the belt set up is like original. But. Now the tractor wants to run hot when we cut or bale. I need a dependable place to get a good thermostat and/or temp gauge. Im hoping thats the issue. I just cant figure out why its doing this. I would think since the belts are now staying snug and setup like original it would run cooler or at least like last year. Just wanted to get some feed back. Could the water pump being turning faster now and the thermostat sticking open and letting the fluid pass through the radiator too quickly?? Or just a matter of a bad aftermarket temp gauge. Thanks for any input.

 

[riverbend]

I found that when my tractor runs hot, the dust, seeds, crud, etc. needs to be cleaned out of the radiator fins.

Or you can use an infrared / non contact temperature gun to measure the temperature of the radiator, water pump, thermostat housing or the fitting where the temp sensor screws into the engine. That will give you an idea where and how hot the engine is running. Auto parts stores have them for $35-50.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

The shroud maximizes cooling efficiency. Cut and modify it if you have to. Water pump speed has nothing to do with it. I put a new belt on mine, now the fan is ridiculously loud as the belt is all the way at the bottom of the groove. Only time mine starts getting warm is as Greg says, core plugged up with fluffies from whatever you are driving through.

 

[GwLung]

Thank you for the reply. Ill definitely get a shroud of some sort out on but what baffles me is that it didnt run hot last year and the only thing Ive changed was the belt configuration back to how it originally should have been.

 

[GwLung]

Thank you for the reply. Ive actually got one of those infrareds. Ill give that a try. Going to be baling with it this afternoon and should be able to get some temperature readings.

 

[used red MN]

I have no idea how the fan and alternator drive on that tractor is configured. My question is did the configuration with the extra pulley allow the belt to contact the fan pulley for more of its circumference so it may have been driving the fan better before? Just a thought. Also what is the condition of the grooves in the pulleys? The bottom of the groove should not be shiny. The groove should be narrow enough to hold the belt so the grip area is one the sides of the V. Also back when I was growing up on the farm my grandpa was very frugal I will leave it at that. Og course back then a lot of engine equipment and vehicles had generators with bushings instead of bearings. One thing he passed on to his sons was not to tighten a belt to tight or you will wear out the bushings faster. Was not long after I became an auto mechanic that I figured out high output alternators, air conditioning compressors, power steering pumps and big fans required fiddle string right belts or the customer would be back groping. One other thing I would chime in on is you say you are looking for a quality thermostat. I you put the thermostat in water with a candy thermometer on your stove you will quickly find out how reliably it works. Just so you know the temp stamped in the star bulb is where it should just begin to open.

 

[Janicholson]

The more water that passes through the radiator the cooler it will be running. No thermostat results in not getting to run temps at all. a stuck thermostat results in overheating. The issue cannot be too much flow. Jim

 

[mccormicksw4]

(quoted from post at 05:51:30 06/21/22) I found that when my tractor runs hot, the dust, seeds, crud, etc. needs to be cleaned out of the radiator fins.

Or you can use an infrared / non contact temperature gun to measure the temperature of the radiator, water pump, thermostat housing or the fitting where the temp sensor screws into the engine. That will give you an idea where and how hot the engine is running. Auto parts stores have them for $35-50.

x2- riverbend gave good advice
first thing you should always do is blow out the radiator if running hot. My 434 will run hot with a little dust in the radiator

 

[caterpillar guy]

Way over thinking this. Just blow out the rad and it will be fine.

 

[GwLung]

Thanks for the replies. Just to clear up a few things. The radiator has been blown out from chaff before this started. I only brought up about the thermostat being stuck open because I had been told the water circulating too fast could cause an issue (even though I had not heard that before). I did check it while baling yesterday when it got hot with an infrared thermometer and the gauge seems to be accurate. I was getting readings of 212-217 but the radiator was 178 or so. Its only the second year this radiator has been on here. Its an aftermarket aluminum radiator. Im going to flush it out and refill it. The antifreeze looks rust colored and when I filled it before last season it was a pale yellow. So maybe its flushed junk out of the block and plugged up the radiator somewhat. The fan/water pump now makes contact with half of the pulley and the belt sits like it should in the pulleys. Where last season the way it was set up running the alternator on the same belt it only made contact with about 1/4 of the fan/water pump pulley. Thats the only change I made over the winter this year. Last year it did not get hot. I changed the belt set up because the alternator would come loose over time and the belt would start to flop. The way I have it set up now is original. Thanks again for the replies. I will let you know what I find when I flush the radiator and how it does when we bale again.