I’m changing the radiator, water pump, thermostat and engine coolant. I cannot find where to drain the block on my m9540 Kubota cab tractor. Appreciate any guidance.
Coolant drain
- Thread starter Icoach
- Start date
Usually a bolt at the lower side of the engine block. I never change the thermostat unless it is giving you a problem. My reasoning is the one in the tractor is a known quantity, and the new one just might be bad right out of the box. Thermostats are a black or white type of item, it either works or it doesn't, and when it doesn't you will know. It will either stick open and the engine will run cold, or it will stick closed, and the engine will overheat. I would remove the thermostat and use a coolant flush in the block before doing any replacement of parts. Used anti-freeze can have a clean look to it, but the engine block can still have a lot of rust in it. This is because the anti-rust properties of the anti-freeze are worn out. I have drained engine blocks, and the anti-freeze looks like new, but when I put fresh water and a cleaner into the engine, it comes out looking like rust. When I do cleaning, I run the engine with water and cleaner, until it is hot, and then I drain it out of the lower hose. I wait till it is cold, and then reinstall the lower hose, and do it again until the water with cleaner comes out the way it went in. Then I know that the block is clean. Never put cold water into a hot engine, because you will crack the block or the head, or possibly both.
ALL diesel engines I've looked to do this on had the drain bolt located above and to the left of the oil filter on the right side. Often a 17 mm. Many have the same bolt in the top of the thermostat housing to aid in emptying and refilling. I've never ever experienced the rust problem mentioned.
Gave up on flushing/chemical cleaning eons ago. Just empty and refill. The Isuzu was a pleasant surprise when I went to do its 10 year change. All the coolant came out via the radiator petcock. Did not open the block drain.
Only serious cooling system problem was a complete split of the plastic bottom of the radiator on our 1983 Benz 240D. Luckily, the wife wasn't going very fast and could pull it over out of the way quickly. Could not find an all metal radiator.
Gave up on flushing/chemical cleaning eons ago. Just empty and refill. The Isuzu was a pleasant surprise when I went to do its 10 year change. All the coolant came out via the radiator petcock. Did not open the block drain.
Only serious cooling system problem was a complete split of the plastic bottom of the radiator on our 1983 Benz 240D. Luckily, the wife wasn't going very fast and could pull it over out of the way quickly. Could not find an all metal radiator.
Thanks for the advice. Found the drain plug to the left of the oil filter. With the loader, hoses and can I could not see it until I had a specific target area.
Many folks simply remove the lower radiator hose and let both engine and radiator drain simulaneously. (I just did this over the weekend to a diesel-powered compactor-roller I own.)
Over a 70+-year lifetime it’s been my experience that anytime I used a “cooling system flush/cleaner”….shortly thereafter the water pump failed, usually at the shaft-seal. I quit doing system cleaners and only flush them with water.
Sorry for the thread-drift… but as an example of thermostat lack-of-quality-control on new parts made in the new millenium… This compactor-roller is a 1987 Ferguson 5-8B powered by a 4239 John Deere engine. It ran hot last week (indicated 220-F when normal is about 190).
I confirmed the overheat with an IR-thermometer at the sending unit. So I opened the radiator cap and see it full of clean coolant (of unknown age)…. and no apparent flow of coolant. I pulled the thermostat (180-degree) and placed it in a pot of water and brought it up to boil. It didn’t even begin to open until 195 and didn’t fully open until 210. A-HA! (as-measured with my wifes candy thermometer and confirmed with the IR-thermometer)
So I went to town, walked into CarQuest and asked for a thermostat …a 160-degree one (thinking I’d alter the operating temp of the engine for good measure.) The retail clerk asked me “what vehicle?” I told him “No vehicle…industrial JD 4239D engine”.
He reponded, “I can’t help you if you can’t give me a vehicle.”
Seriously….the SAME response at NAPA, AutoZone, and O-Reilly’s. NO ONE can give you proper change anymore if there’s not a PICTURE of a hamburger on their touch-screen-display.
Finally, at NAPA an old guy with a “RIDE HARD” tattoo on his forearm took a look at the old thermostat and walked to the backroom and came back with a 160-degree thermostat ….”Made in USA from domestic and imported parts”….. a brand name I’ve never heard of before. (Not a “Stant”.)
I took it home and placed the new 160-degree thermostat in a pot of water and brought it up to boil. Exactly like the OEM 180-degree part….. it began to open at 195 and was fully open at 210.
SO MUCH for “New Thermostats!” It didn’t even meet its spec of 160-degrees.
With the upper radiator hose removed….and with the engine and radiator filled with plain water and no thermostat installed…. I started the engine and NO COOLANT MOVEMENT observed, not even with High RPM! A-HA! … Bad Water PUMP!
It took two days to get all the equipment removed from the machine to even get to the water pump on that buried engine in the compactor-roller….but I finally did it. I fully expected to see an old cast-iron impeller completely dissolved or loose inside the engine…. but NO! it was a phenolic/synthetic flat-bladed impeller in seeming perfect condition! ….and turning the pulley also turned the impeller!
HMMPHH!!! But then I held onto the impeller and it turned on the shaft with only a little effort….it was not firmly attached to the shaft at all. WHEW! FOUND IT!
The next two days have been spent trying to look for a water pump. “What vehicle?”, is always the same reply by whoever answers the phone….but eventually the WWW found a LOT of water pumps that fit a LOT of different JD engines including the 4239…. but they look very different than mine, and often have different number of mounting bolt-holes. The ones that DO look correct….don’t have the same number of “ports” for auxilliary water connections (such as for the oil-cooler and the recirculating coolant-filter with ”SCA’s” system. (This is a wet-sleeved engine that requires some sort of “magic” “Supplemental Coolant Additives (SCA) to prevent sleeve-liner-cavitation…. a problem with some sleeved diesels… THANK GOD AND THE JAPS for not having that problem with Kubotas.)
Well….. IF you’ve stuck with this long-winded thread all the way to THIS point…. I finally found a website ….(hope this doesn’t violate any rules… but if you read-on you’ll see why it’s germane)…
https://www.conequip.com/
I was visiting the website and one of those little “pop-up” windows asked if I wanted to “Chat with an Expert?”…… which I knew would be with someone in India named “Melvin”…Yeah..SUre… but was SURPRISED that it was someone in BUFFALO, NY named “Shawn” with an Irish last-name.
Shawn helped me by asking if any “casting numbers” are on the pump-housing….and when I gave him 3 different numbers cast on the pump…. HE FOUND A MATCH! It’s on it’s way! Be here Wednesday! Sure hope it fits. (He says it’s a new OEM part. I’ve seen pumps that CLAIM to fit…cost anywhere from $88 (found to have the wrong number of bolts)….to $950
The part being shipped by Shawn is $250. Hope it fits…. I hope, I hope, I hope….
Thanks for reading. Happy to receive any comments. Sorry for the drift…but NEW PARTS can be JUNK.
Over a 70+-year lifetime it’s been my experience that anytime I used a “cooling system flush/cleaner”….shortly thereafter the water pump failed, usually at the shaft-seal. I quit doing system cleaners and only flush them with water.
Sorry for the thread-drift… but as an example of thermostat lack-of-quality-control on new parts made in the new millenium… This compactor-roller is a 1987 Ferguson 5-8B powered by a 4239 John Deere engine. It ran hot last week (indicated 220-F when normal is about 190).
I confirmed the overheat with an IR-thermometer at the sending unit. So I opened the radiator cap and see it full of clean coolant (of unknown age)…. and no apparent flow of coolant. I pulled the thermostat (180-degree) and placed it in a pot of water and brought it up to boil. It didn’t even begin to open until 195 and didn’t fully open until 210. A-HA! (as-measured with my wifes candy thermometer and confirmed with the IR-thermometer)
So I went to town, walked into CarQuest and asked for a thermostat …a 160-degree one (thinking I’d alter the operating temp of the engine for good measure.) The retail clerk asked me “what vehicle?” I told him “No vehicle…industrial JD 4239D engine”.
He reponded, “I can’t help you if you can’t give me a vehicle.”
Seriously….the SAME response at NAPA, AutoZone, and O-Reilly’s. NO ONE can give you proper change anymore if there’s not a PICTURE of a hamburger on their touch-screen-display.
Finally, at NAPA an old guy with a “RIDE HARD” tattoo on his forearm took a look at the old thermostat and walked to the backroom and came back with a 160-degree thermostat ….”Made in USA from domestic and imported parts”….. a brand name I’ve never heard of before. (Not a “Stant”.)
I took it home and placed the new 160-degree thermostat in a pot of water and brought it up to boil. Exactly like the OEM 180-degree part….. it began to open at 195 and was fully open at 210.
SO MUCH for “New Thermostats!” It didn’t even meet its spec of 160-degrees.
With the upper radiator hose removed….and with the engine and radiator filled with plain water and no thermostat installed…. I started the engine and NO COOLANT MOVEMENT observed, not even with High RPM! A-HA! … Bad Water PUMP!
It took two days to get all the equipment removed from the machine to even get to the water pump on that buried engine in the compactor-roller….but I finally did it. I fully expected to see an old cast-iron impeller completely dissolved or loose inside the engine…. but NO! it was a phenolic/synthetic flat-bladed impeller in seeming perfect condition! ….and turning the pulley also turned the impeller!
HMMPHH!!! But then I held onto the impeller and it turned on the shaft with only a little effort….it was not firmly attached to the shaft at all. WHEW! FOUND IT!
The next two days have been spent trying to look for a water pump. “What vehicle?”, is always the same reply by whoever answers the phone….but eventually the WWW found a LOT of water pumps that fit a LOT of different JD engines including the 4239…. but they look very different than mine, and often have different number of mounting bolt-holes. The ones that DO look correct….don’t have the same number of “ports” for auxilliary water connections (such as for the oil-cooler and the recirculating coolant-filter with ”SCA’s” system. (This is a wet-sleeved engine that requires some sort of “magic” “Supplemental Coolant Additives (SCA) to prevent sleeve-liner-cavitation…. a problem with some sleeved diesels… THANK GOD AND THE JAPS for not having that problem with Kubotas.)
Well….. IF you’ve stuck with this long-winded thread all the way to THIS point…. I finally found a website ….(hope this doesn’t violate any rules… but if you read-on you’ll see why it’s germane)…
https://www.conequip.com/
I was visiting the website and one of those little “pop-up” windows asked if I wanted to “Chat with an Expert?”…… which I knew would be with someone in India named “Melvin”…Yeah..SUre… but was SURPRISED that it was someone in BUFFALO, NY named “Shawn” with an Irish last-name.
Shawn helped me by asking if any “casting numbers” are on the pump-housing….and when I gave him 3 different numbers cast on the pump…. HE FOUND A MATCH! It’s on it’s way! Be here Wednesday! Sure hope it fits. (He says it’s a new OEM part. I’ve seen pumps that CLAIM to fit…cost anywhere from $88 (found to have the wrong number of bolts)….to $950
The part being shipped by Shawn is $250. Hope it fits…. I hope, I hope, I hope….Thanks for reading. Happy to receive any comments. Sorry for the drift…but NEW PARTS can be JUNK.
Last edited:
fried1765
Well-known member
Equipment
Kubota L48 TLB, Ford 1920 FEL, Ford 8N, SCAG Liberty Z, Gravely Pro.
I COMPLETELY understand the "what vehicle" thing!Many folks simply remove the lower radiator hose and let both engine and radiator drain simulaneously. (I just did this over the weekend to a diesel-powered compactor-roller I own.)
Over a 70+-year lifetime it’s been my experience that anytime I used a “cooling system flush/cleaner”….shortly thereafter the water pump failed, usually at the shaft-seal. I quit doing system cleaners and only flush them with water.
Sorry for the thread-drift… but as an example of thermostat lack-of-quality-control on new parts made in the new millenium… This compactor-roller is a 1987 Ferguson 5-8B powered by a 4239 John Deere engine. It ran hot last week (indicated 220-F when normal is about 190).
I confirmed the overheat with an IR-thermometer at the sending unit. So I opened the radiator cap and see it full of clean coolant (of unknown age)…. and no apparent flow of coolant. I pulled the thermostat (180-degree) and placed it in a pot of water and brought it up to boil. It didn’t even begin to open until 195 and didn’t fully open until 210. A-HA! (as-measured with my wifes candy thermometer and confirmed with the IR-thermometer)
So I went to town, walked into CarQuest and asked for a thermostat …a 160-degree one (thinking I’d alter the operating temp of the engine for good measure.) The retail clerk asked me “what vehicle?” I told him “No vehicle…industrial JD 4239D engine”.
He reponded, “I can’t help you if you can’t give me a vehicle.”
Seriously….the SAME response at NAPA, AutoZone, and O-Reilly’s. NO ONE can give you proper change anymore if there’s not a PICTURE of a hamburger on their touch-screen-display.
Finally, at NAPA an old guy with a “RIDE HARD” tattoo on his forearm took a look at the old thermostat and walked to the backroom and came back with a 160-degree thermostat ….”Made in USA from domestic and imported parts”….. a brand name I’ve never heard of before. (Not a “Stant”.)
I took it home and placed the new 160-degree thermostat in a pot of water and brought it up to boil. Exactly like the OEM 180-degree part….. it began to open at 195 and was fully open at 210.
SO MUCH for “New Thermostats!” It didn’t even meet its spec of 160-degrees.
With the upper radiator hose removed….and with the engine and radiator filled with plain water and no thermostat installed…. I started the engine and NO COOLANT MOVEMENT observed, not even with High RPM! A-HA! … Bad Water PUMP!
It took two days to get all the equipment removed from the machine to even get to the water pump on that buried engine in the compactor-roller….but I finally did it. I fully expected to see an old cast-iron impeller completely dissolved or loose inside the engine…. but NO! it was a phenolic/synthetic flat-bladed impeller in seeming perfect condition! ….and turning the pulley also turned the impeller!
HMMPHH!!! But then I held onto the impeller and it turned on the shaft with only a little effort….it was not firmly attached to the shaft at all. WHEW! FOUND IT!
The next two days have been spent trying to look for a water pump. “What vehicle?”, is always the same reply by whoever answers the phone….but eventually the WWW found a LOT of water pumps that fit a LOT of different JD engines including the 4239…. but they look very different than mine, and often have different number of mounting bolt-holes. The ones that DO look correct….don’t have the same number of “ports” for auxilliary water connections (such as for the oil-cooler and the recirculating coolant-filter with ”SCA’s” system. (This is a wet-sleeved engine that requires some sort of “magic” “Supplemental Coolant Additives (SCA) to prevent sleeve-liner-cavitation…. a problem with some sleeved diesels… THANK GOD AND THE JAPS for not having that problem with Kubotas.)
Well….. IF you’ve stuck with this long-winded thread all the way to THIS point…. I finally found a website ….(hope this doesn’t violate any rules… but if you read-on you’ll see why it’s germane)…
https://www.conequip.com/
I was visiting the website and one of those little “pop-up” windows asked if I wanted to “Chat with an Expert?”…… which I knew would be with someone in India named “Melvin”…Yeah..SUre… but was SURPRISED that it was someone in BUFFALO, NY named “Shawn” with an Irish last-name.
Shawn helped me by asking if any “casting numbers” are on the pump-housing….and when I gave him 3 different numbers cast on the pump…. HE FOUND A MATCH! It’s on it’s way! Be here Wednesday! Sure hope it fits. (He says it’s a new OEM part. I’ve seen pumps that CLAIM to fit…cost anywhere from $88 (found to have the wrong number of bolts)….to $950
Thanks for reading. Happy to receive any comments. Sorry for the drift…but NEW PARTS can be JUNK.
Am upgrading the airfilter system on my 21 HP Kawasaki ZT mower.
Needed a 2" hose, which is obviously primarily used as a radiator hose on some vehicle.
The standard question: "what vehicle is it for".
I can't answer, because I am going to use it as an air inlet hose for a ZT mower (SCAG).
Repeatedly asked if I could look at in stock hoses,.......NAPA, NO, " customers cannot come in back"!
Finally gave up asking around, and went to the Gates hose website.
Searched through many dozens of 2" hose styles, and finally found a picture/description of the one I needed.
Gates #22991 -$12.50 on Amazon, but $60+ elsewhere.
I have the hose now, but have yet to fabricate a mount for the filter canister (Donaldson).
Yep! Exactly the same thing… however my NAPA , AutoZone and my CArquest allowed me to look around the stock room for useable radiator upper and lower hoses. I found an upper (simple 1.75” 90-degree bend) I could shorten at both ends and will work…but the lower I’ll have to use a “universal” Gates 2”.
Auto Parts retailers have become addicted to touch screens and clerks who don’t know equipment if it doesn’t have a name like “Nova” or “Mustang” or Escalade…
BTW, it appears ConEquip did find and ship the correct pump. Great Job, Shawn at ConEquip!
www.conequip.com
ConEquip Parts and Equipment. Providers of new, aftermarket and used parts for your construction equipment. Since 2008
ConEquip is your leading supplier of construction equipment parts. We offer new aftermarket, used, and rebuilt replacement parts for your construction equipment and heavy machinery. Since 2008
www.conequip.com