TW35 Overheating Problems.

[FOMOCO Farmer]

My TW35 MFWD tractor wants to overheat while pulling a Kinze 12/24 planter. I have never had any problem with it in the past. I know its overheating because when it gets in the red, water starts coming out the overflow. The radiator was flow checked when the motor was rebuilt about 8 years ago. I always change the water filter every year. Not saying the internals may be clogged, but unlikely. I blew the radiator out two times with no success to overheating problem. Here's what I have done so far. I replaced the fan clutch and installed a new belt. It is tight. Tractor does not loose water. There is no water in the oil or oil in the water. After "babying" the tractor for a week (its gets almost to red, stop, idle it back till it cools off) I slid the hood panels forward so the heat could escape the engine bay. Tractor now runs cooler. After a hard pull, it will heat up but return after the pull is over. Thermostats were replaced when the motor was rebuilt. I think I'm looking at a air flow problem. Planting is over except for one small field. I plan on cleaning the radiator with coil cleaner. Any ideas, suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[sotxbill]

Wild ideal.. the newer 7710 II engines had that problem when they went to the double ended thermostat, and someone installed the old time single end thermostat. Would only overheat on long hard pulls, normal otherwise. The double ended thermostats are required in the new series to close off the bypass... (that allows the head to heat up evenly when cold) and make ALL of the water flow correctly to the radiator. Dont know if this could be your problem as the single ended thermostat was listed as correct for the 7710 (but omitted early models only).

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

How does the crank pulley look? How do the new belts ride in the crank grooves?

 

[FOMOCO Farmer]

How does the crank pulley look? How do the new belts ride in the crank grooves?

I saw no problem with the crank pulley. All belts seem to stay in the groves just fine.

 

[Bern]

My TW35 MFWD tractor wants to overheat while pulling a Kinze 12/24 planter. I have never had any problem with it in the past. I know its overheating because when it gets in the red, water starts coming out the overflow. The radiator was flow checked when the motor was rebuilt about 8 years ago. I always change the water filter every year. Not saying the internals may be clogged, but unlikely. I blew the radiator out two times with no success to overheating problem. Here's what I have done so far. I replaced the fan clutch and installed a new belt. It is tight. Tractor does not loose water. There is no water in the oil or oil in the water. After "babying" the tractor for a week (its gets almost to red, stop, idle it back till it cools off) I slid the hood panels forward so the heat could escape the engine bay. Tractor now runs cooler. After a hard pull, it will heat up but return after the pull is over. Thermostats were replaced when the motor was rebuilt. I think I'm looking at a air flow problem. Planting is over except for one small field. I plan on cleaning the radiator with coil cleaner. Any ideas, suggestions? Thanks in advance.

First off, whoever it was at Ford that thought a single belt would be sufficient for that fan should have been fired. That said, you say the belt is tight and that the fan clutch was replaced. If the parts are working as advertised, as the tractor comes up to temperature you should hear a distinct change in sound coming from the fan as it speeds up. By the time the fan clutch is fully locked up you should hear a distinct roar, like a small jet engine spooling up almost, less the high pitch squeal. Can you detect that? If not I'd say you have a faulty fan clutch.

If you have the roar then you shouldn't have any issues if the radiator is clean inside and out. I'd put a gauge on it myself and see what the actual temperature is - I never trust the factory gauge. The overflow could simply be a bad cap.

Someone else mentioned the wrong thermostats, which would be something to think about if the problem occurred right after you changed them, but it didn't.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I'm sure the belts stay in the pulley. But if the pulley is worn and the belt bottoms out then no matter how tight you get it the belt will slip under load. The back of the belt needs to be proud of the outside of the pulley and riding on the sides of the goove not the bottom.

 

[FOMOCO Farmer]

First off, whoever it was at Ford that thought a single belt would be sufficient for that fan should have been fired. That said, you say the belt is tight and that the fan clutch was replaced. If the parts are working as advertised, as the tractor comes up to temperature you should hear a distinct change in sound coming from the fan as it speeds up. By the time the fan clutch is fully locked up you should hear a distinct roar, like a small jet engine spooling up almost, less the high pitch squeal. Can you detect that? If not I'd say you have a faulty fan clutch.

If you have the roar then you shouldn't have any issues if the radiator is clean inside and out. I'd put a gauge on it myself and see what the actual temperature is - I never trust the factory gauge. The overflow could simply be a bad cap.

Someone else mentioned the wrong thermostats, which would be something to think about if the problem occurred right after you changed them, but it didn't.

I can hear the roar you are talking about. I replaced the clutch because I was told at operating temp, the clutch should be locked. It was not. I had thought about the cap. I'll replace that. No chance to work on it today. Plans are to make sure the radiator is clean externally.

 

[Bern]

I can hear the roar you are talking about. I replaced the clutch because I was told at operating temp, the clutch should be locked. It was not. I had thought about the cap. I'll replace that. No chance to work on it today. Plans are to make sure the radiator is clean externally.

Whoever told you the fan clutch should be locked mislead you, I hope you didn't throw the old one away.

In the industry, when we say that a viscous fan clutch is "locked up", it usually means that the fan is turning between 85-95% of pulley speed. There is no such thing as a 100% lockup. Kinda like a torque converter without a lockup clutch. So, when you turn the engine off at operating temperature, you will still be able to turn the fan by hand, although it should not spin easily.

As for actual temps with regards to the cap, you may be surprised to learn that Ford allows a maximum of 250 degrees before they consider that engine to be overheating. Make sure you have a 13PSI cap on there because it will take all of that to get the coolant temp up to 250 without boiling over.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

There has been a lot of talk in the forums and other places lately of failing water pump impellers… I never believed it in the past but I started seeing it on light trucks with stamped impellers.

Maybe a month ago on Yesterdays Tractors I think it was a 201 or a similar motor, the shaft broke right behind the impeller and it was just laying in there, yet the fan end was operational.

Being that this seems to have come on suddenly, and the fact that you can get results by removing hood panels, and you can hear the fan roaring, makes me think that it’s limping by on the thermo-siphon principle.

You might want to take the water pump under consideration.