WD9 - Thermostat or no?

[AlanAtwood]

On to the next issue with the Fatman. He doesn't have a thermostat, and takes a long time to warm up. I can see the water churning in the radiator tank when running right after startup. No bubbles.

Ran him about 10 minutes while greasing my 7 foot bush hig mower and putted out in low gear to my pasture/yard. 5 acres total. After another 10-15 minutes the temp has reached the RUN zone so I eased up into 2nd gear. The governor has not kicked in this whole time, since I'm cutting 3-4" ry grass ad paintbrushes. Running about 3/4 throttle, since I'm hyperparanoid about a new-to-me machine with a rrp for cracking heads from working cold and shutting off hot. Another 15 minutes or so and we've reached the middle of the green zone. So far so good. But the temp keeps creeping up another 15 min and we're on the N in run, so I disengage the pto and head back to the shed. I idle him down to about 1/4 throttle and it drops back to lower edge od run zone over a 15 minute period so I can shut him down.

Right now I'm running straight water, and the level doesn't appear to be dropping. I've seen engines that actually ran cooler with a thermostat than without. Are these tractors one of those? I haven't loosenedbthe cap with the tractor hot due to not want to risk boiling and losing coolant I need to get the head cooled down.

Thanks,

Alan

 

[Janicholson]

Use a laser aimed hand held temp sensor to check the cooling in the radiator. Movement may not equal flow through, diesels run cool, so with a light load, it may have a plugged up radiator, or external trash in the fins. Jim

 

[kub6040]

Alan I agree with Jim use a laser temp gun
and as far as heat I would lose the cap
and run it a little harder if temp guage
is close to correct . The head can Crack
yes but they were built to work hard

 

[rustred]

I also say u have a rad problem. Under load the needle
should sit on the u in run. Meaning doing field work in 3rd
gear. Just idling around as your doing no way the needle
should be that high.

 

[Red Mercury]

My experience with WD-9's is that normally the temperature gauge won't even move unless it is being worked. I can't even get them into the RUN zone unless it is under a somewhat heavy load like cultivating or
plowing. If it is running warmer than normal for any reason you run the risk of cracking the cylinder head. I would definitely make sure it has the correct thermostat and ensure that the radiator is not clogged.



I have one WD-9 that has cracked 2 cylinder heads on me. It runs very well and switches over to diesel easier than the the others but also runs 20 degrees warmer at idle than it's sisters. I believe it is an injection pump
timing issue that is causing it to run hotter than normal.

 

[Millwright]

No shutters? A WD9 with out a thermostat, should have shutters. Adjust opening relative to load and air temp.

 

[DanielW]

Third advocate hear for the temp gun/radiator check. Lots of these old units that were filled with river/tap water back in the day
and had no coolant conditioners have rads half plugged with lime buildup. I had exactly the same situation with a Massey 555
(Massey's equivalent of a WD9) running a thresher. Temp kept building even though it should have been a pretty light load for it.
Took a lot of CLR and vinegar rinsing to get the rad flushed out, but now it never even gets to the run zone.

 

[dhermesc]

Agreed - or well water with all kinds of minerals.

Drain and refill with white vinegar and run hard for a couple hours. The vinegar (hot and agitated) cleans up a lot of past sins. Then flush with several gallons of distilled water - then refill with distilled water and antifreeze.

 

[3LFarms]

My WD9 has the injection pump timing set at the 0* position. The engine is completely rebuilt, has a 190 thermostat, and a brand new radiator core. New temp gauge as well that seems to read pretty accurate according to my laser temp gun.
When warmed up and slow idling, the gauge reads on the n in run. When at 1500 RPM under a light load the gauge comes down to between the r an u.
Does that mean the pump should be retarded or advanced? The manual just says adjust the timing so it doesn t smoke. No help on which way to go with the timing.

 

[AlanAtwood]

That was my next question: What to clean it with?
White vinegar and/or CLR? we have HORRIBLE hard water here, so I' ve been running distilled water in it for the last few weeks. How much vinegar for how much water?

Update: Carried my cooking laser thermometer with me. Started it up this morning and ran it for 10 min or so getting down the dirt road to a neighboring lot that has not been mowed this year, Started off in 1st, but after 1st round switched to 2nd. After temperature got up to RUN, I put it in 3rd. Heard the governor kick in in 2nd, and was running pretty steadily on it in 3rd, but no black smoke.

DANG that thing sounds good. Even better than an M.

When the needle first touched RUN, the thermostat housing (TH) was 120F.

After it got to the middle it was around 145F. When it got to the N was showing 167F. Then I hit a Rut and bounced the front end a few inches. Water splashed out the overflow pipe. Stopped and checked top of tank and showing 185F.

Checked head just inboard of 1st injector and it showed 197.

I need a new radiator cap, a thermostat, probably a temp gauge, and to clean out the radiator. I'm sorely tempted to take the rad to the shop and have it evaluated, and maybe re-cored. No one down here in TX to work on the head, so a crack means I own 4 tons of scrap.

Thanks again,

Alan

 

[rustred]

You want a good job, so absolutely take it to a rad shop.
They soak them in a caustic hot tank. Then washed out
and flow checked. And also painted black as a rad should
be. I am not sure what they do about the tanks though , if
they take them off or what due to the gaskets.

 

[Red Mercury]

Regarding cracked cylinder heads and injection pump timing I recommend following the link below then read the posts by MB.Cat. I had the pleasure of meeting him before he passed a few years back. He had a lot of experience with IH gas start diesels.
Red Power Magazine TD 9 Head Cracking Problem

 

[Jim Ma]

I was having the same issue with my 9. I pulled the radiator out and rodded it myself. Prior to this I tried every flush method
out there with no success. Its not a hard job just time consuming and heavy.

 

[AlanAtwood]

I think I have it whupped!

New core in radiator, new hoses, new thermostat, fresh 50/50 dose of coolant.

Top of head measured by 2nd injector 183F
Thermostat housing 162F
Rear of upper tank 147F
Inlet pipe at the bottom 102F.

20 min of idling got the temp gauge up to the right foot of the "R".

Pushed it up to 1/3 throttle or so, and 15 minutes didn't really move the temp gauge, but produced the above measurements with my laser pointer thermometer.

YeeHa! purrs like a kitten.