Radiator shroud help.

[New to Blue]

Hello all,

I've been working on what I thought was a 1972 3000 diesel. turns out its a 1972 4110 diesel, that has been placed on AG tires, that's mostly aside from this post though.
I was chasing down the coolant foaming in the radiator, turned out that the thermostat removed at some point in its life.
So I've got new hoses, thermostat and gasket to go in it. Did a clean and flush with all the old stuff on and was ready to go back together with the new stuff and realized it did not have a fan shroud and probably should have it. I've decided that the reason the thermostat was removed is that at some point the shroud was removed or accidently not put back on and someone didn't want to back track to get it on, then some temp regulation issues occurred so they just removed that thermostat. (this is my hope lol)

So, here I am now asking for a little help. I bought the after market shroud from YT and it came with slots cut for the factory screw locations.
What is the best way to get this shroud lined up so it clears the fan and doesn't get destroyed itself.

 

[SkipperII]

Remove the hood. Loosen your alternator/PS belts. removed the fan retaining bolts. Place the shroud over the pump hub. Determine which is up/down for the shroud. With the shroud still hanging back, reinstall the fan, center the shoud over the fan, and align with the screw holes in the radiator frame. Turn the fan by hand to make it clears 360 degrees, Tighten your belts, and reinstall the hood. Good Luck, and welcome to the site.

 

[New to Blue]

Remove the hood. Loosen your alternator/PS belts. removed the fan retaining bolts. Place the shroud over the pump hub. Determine which is up/down for the shroud. With the shroud still hanging back, reinstall the fan, center the shoud over the fan, and align with the screw holes in the radiator frame. Turn the fan by hand to make it clears 360 degrees, Tighten your belts, and reinstall the hood. Good Luck, and welcome to the site.

I'm glad you suggested this route, I was preparing to take the nose and radiator off to get the shroud on then adjust.
I have a look at doing it your way.
Thanks!

 

[MarkB_MI]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think the reason for the foaming coolant and the reason the previous owner pulled the thermostat is your tractor has a blown head gasket. With the thermostat in place, the tractor was probably blowing all the coolant out before the thermostat had a chance to open. So your first order of business is to confirm my head gasket diagnosis before you spend any time on anything else.

You can confirm if the head gasket is blown using a cooling system pressure tester. Put the test on the radiator, then fire up the motor. If the cooling system pressure immediately goes to the moon, the head gasket is bad.

Good luck.

 

[New to Blue]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think the reason for the foaming coolant and the reason the previous owner pulled the thermostat is your tractor has a blown head gasket. With the thermostat in place, the tractor was probably blowing all the coolant out before the thermostat had a chance to open. So your first order of business is to confirm my head gasket diagnosis before you spend any time on anything else.

You can confirm if the head gasket is blown using a cooling system pressure tester. Put the test on the radiator, then fire up the motor. If the cooling system pressure immediately goes to the moon, the head gasket is bad.

Good luck.

I did fear that there was some form of combustion gases getting in to the coolant system via head gasket or a crack/cavitation pit somewhere so I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure that was not the case.
I used the combustion gas test liquid, never could get it to change color no matter how long i left it on the system (put the testing liquid to the tail pipe, instant color change.) I couldn't believe it was ok so I played around topping the radiator all the way full and the foaming stopped and no bubbles noted however if the system was closed up completely full and ran up to a warm as I could get it without a thermostat it would eventually puke some coolant out of the over flow down to about the same level in the top of the radiator every time. Still didn't feel 100% cause I'm just a worry wart so I rented a pressure tester and it tested ok.
So I'm hoping what I was seeing was the water pump throwing the coolant back up into the radiator so fast it was just agitating and aerating it.
So... we shall see hoping it doesn't show its face once I'm able to get it up to actual operating temp!!! lol

 

[Greg NE]

I did fear that there was some form of combustion gases getting in to the coolant system via head gasket or a crack/cavitation pit somewhere so I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure that was not the case.
I used the combustion gas test liquid, never could get it to change color no matter how long i left it on the system (put the testing liquid to the tail pipe, instant color change.) I couldn't believe it was ok so I played around topping the radiator all the way full and the foaming stopped and no bubbles noted however if the system was closed up completely full and ran up to a warm as I could get it without a thermostat it would eventually puke some coolant out of the over flow down to about the same level in the top of the radiator every time. Still didn't feel 100% cause I'm just a worry wart so I rented a pressure tester and it tested ok.
So I'm hoping what I was seeing was the water pump throwing the coolant back up into the radiator so fast it was just agitating and aerating it.
So... we shall see hoping it doesn't show its face once I'm able to get it up to actual operating temp!!! lol

You can not fill the radiator completely full when cold. There needs to be room for the coolant to expand when it gets hot. I'm not sure on the correct level for your tractor as I've never worked on one of those but all old coolant systems that don't have a coolant recovery tank will push out excessive coolant until it finds the level it likes.

 

[New to Blue]

You can not fill the radiator completely full when cold. There needs to be room for the coolant to expand when it gets hot. I'm not sure on the correct level for your tractor as I've never worked on one of those but all old coolant systems that don't have a coolant recovery tank will push out excessive coolant until it finds the level it likes.

You are correct. this was just a step i was taking to check for combustion gases entering the cooling system.
I believe the correct level is .5 to 1 inch over the tubes.

 

[MarkB_MI]

I did fear that there was some form of combustion gases getting in to the coolant system via head gasket or a crack/cavitation pit somewhere so I spent quite a bit of time trying to make sure that was not the case.
I used the combustion gas test liquid, never could get it to change color no matter how long i left it on the system (put the testing liquid to the tail pipe, instant color change.) I couldn't believe it was ok so I played around topping the radiator all the way full and the foaming stopped and no bubbles noted however if the system was closed up completely full and ran up to a warm as I could get it without a thermostat it would eventually puke some coolant out of the over flow down to about the same level in the top of the radiator every time. Still didn't feel 100% cause I'm just a worry wart so I rented a pressure tester and it tested ok.
So I'm hoping what I was seeing was the water pump throwing the coolant back up into the radiator so fast it was just agitating and aerating it.
So... we shall see hoping it doesn't show its face once I'm able to get it up to actual operating temp!!! lol

I certainly hope I am wrong.