Diagnosing Damage From Operation During Overheating

[Pgorman]

Let Friend use HST and he used for unknown period of time while engine severely overheating. He overfilled coolant reservoir to “fix it” and when I got there smoke/sream was pluming from engine and coolant was at a rolling boil.
I cleaned the screen, radiator, and emptied excess coolant. The engine seems functional, fan working, PTO working, but engine overheating after 15 minutes.

Besides the thermostat what issues should I be looking for?

Of course the friend can not afford to fix anything. I broke a basic rule: Don’t loan things to people who can’t afford to replace what they brake if you want to remain friends.

 

[#40Fan]

Head gasket at the least. Cost could go up a lot from there.

Remove the radiator cap and start the engine. Does it start bubbling immediately?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Cracked head, pull the head to find out.

 

[old and tired]

Also, how well did you "clean" the radiator? Did you blow it out backwards (from the engine side) with compressed air? It takes a lot of time and effort to blow it out completely depending on how clogged it got.

For the record, I got to the boiling point with mine.... let it cool and clean the snot out of it. Been working fine ever since. I learned to watch the temperature gauge like a hawk now!!!

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

ouch.... rolling boil often means temps approaching 280 degrees and like the other smart people above stated lots of different types of damage could have been made.

cracked/warped head, head gasket, damaged block, damaged seals, etc...

given it now overheats after 15 minutes of use I would test to make sure coolant fluid flow is strong by taking off the top rad hose, run garden hose into the rad and let the engine run and make sure the flow through the engine and out the top hose is up to spec. If it is close to spec. then unfortunately you have a lot ahead of you to rip into all the potential problems.

Sorry to hear of the catastrophe.

 

[jaxs]

Let Friend use HST and he used for unknown period of time while engine severely overheating. He overfilled coolant reservoir to “fix it” and when I got there smoke/sream was pluming from engine and coolant was at a rolling boil.
I cleaned the screen, radiator, and emptied excess coolant. The engine seems functional, fan working, PTO working, but engine overheating after 15 minutes.

Besides the thermostat what issues should I be looking for?

Of course the friend can not afford to fix anything. I broke a basic rule: Don’t loan things to people who can’t afford to replace what they brake if you want to remain friends.

I don't intend to rub salt in the wound but if engine hasn't suffered serious damage already, doing that while it's still hot is near certain to bust/crack head and/or block.

 

[Russell King]

I don't intend to rub salt in the wound but if engine hasn't suffered serious damage already, doing that while it's still hot is near certain to bust/crack head and/or block.

I “think” he means that coolant was added to the overflow reservoir not directly to the radiator opening, but who knows exactly but his friend.

 

[D2Cat]

To really clean the radiator it takes more then compressed air. After blowing it out with air, spray a cleaner (like purple power) on the radiator (both front and back), let is soak for 10 minutes or so and flush with garden hose.

 

[chim]

The link below describes how I did mine last Fall. Earlier this week it was the Ford's turn. One thing that was really handy was a small hole in the shroud located between the radiator and the fan blade. That allowed me to reach the entire back side of the radiator with a blower wand - no interference with the fan blades meant easy 100% coverage.

My, What dirty fins you have

The goal today was to clean the radiator and condenser fins. Funny how tasks have a way of increasing in scope. It was a successful day though. What really surprised me was just how dirty the fins were. I do use compressed air and the two tools shown in the first/second photos and felt my...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[Chanceywd]

You list it as a LA525 HST, that first part is the loader number not the tractor.
You aren't listing your tractor model.

 

[jaxs]

You list it as a LA525 HST, that first part is the loader number not the tractor.
You aren't listing your tractor model.

You are right and as Jerry once said "when you're hot you're hot". What isn't clear is why it caused some people's panties to get into a knot.