BX2660 running hot

[AshleyBS55]

My BX2660 seems to run hot. I can only mow for about 1/2 hour then have to stop and let it cool down. I recently changed the antifreeze and added 50/50 mix. Of course, it does better in cooler weather, but even in mid-80's, the temperature gauge quickly goes to red. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[85Hokie]

My BX2660 seems to run hot. I can only mow for about 1/2 hour then have to stop and let it cool down. I recently changed the antifreeze and added 50/50 mix. Of course, it does better in cooler weather, but even in mid-80's, the temperature gauge quickly goes to red. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

Check your radiator screen and the radiator itself. Blow compressed air in there and get all the chafe out.

Quickly rises to red? Open cap of radiator - start engine and watch to see if any bubbles appear in top of fluid in radiator.

Report back

 

[SLIMSHADIE]

Did you pull the screen in next to radiator? Clean it and while out hose off/blow off radiator fins?
Have you rechecked antifreeze since it has ran?

 

[RCW]

Hokie and Slim both bring up the first places I would start.

Does it smell hot, popping/creaking sounds as it cools? Smell antifreeze?

I would add - pull wire off temp sending unit, clean connection, an make sure sending unit is tight.

Get an infrared thermometer and check top/bottom radiator hose temperatures with that.

Also, put a hand on the top and bottom radiator hoses to see if hot, and also feel fluid filled.

All are just to verify it really is hot, or just the sending temperature sending unit running afoul.

Mine acted "funky" a year or so ago, and simple cleaning of the spade connection on the temp sending unit seems to have fixed it. Don't think it was ever hot to begin with.

Best wishes!

 

[AshleyBS55]

I stop about every 445 minutes to an hour and blow everything off, including the screen, with a leaf blower. Radiator overfill is at the level it's meant. Maybe it is the sending unit. No bubbles when I start with the cap off.

 

[85Hokie]

I stop about every 445 minutes to an hour and blow everything off, including the screen, with a leaf blower. Radiator overfill is at the level it's meant. Maybe it is the sending unit. No bubbles when I start with the cap off.

If you do NOT have an infrared thermometer......get one!!!! They are dirt cheap now and even if they are off 1-2% they tell a story that NO gauge or human hand can tell!

 

[lugbolt]

If you do NOT have an infrared thermometer......get one!!!! They are dirt cheap now and even if they are off 1-2% they tell a story that NO gauge or human hand can tell!

And they tell you the surface temperature, and that infared "beam" has to travel through humid sometimes dusty air. They have not been accurate for me. They do well for testing if a thermostat opens or is stuck, checking for a dead cylinder by "shooting" each exhaust manifold runner, etc. I do not depend on them for anything but that. Oh, and checking track temperature when I'm at the races.

OP-clean the screen. Then clean the RADIATOR, I use a garden hose-NOT compressed air or power washer, as both can easily bend the fins of the radiator. The radiator is in the tractor, in the MIDDLE, where it picks up a lot of dust/dirt. Nothing can be done about the design, so we have to be dilligent to clean the screen AND the radiator pretty often. TONS of threads all over the 'net about "the crappy design" of the BX's and overheating. If you clean it after every mowing, it's likely to never overheat.