L185/L1801 oil pressure and coolant temp question

[Tooljunkie]

Even with thermosiphon, it doesent use a thermostat? Ok. I didnt know that. And im sure system wont work properly with rad cap off.

 

[meanjean]

the two wires you mention must be a lead and a return wire, heavy- heavy gauge wire...cannot run a little 18 gauge wire there I am sure as you know....
ALL the current that runs from the alternator, MUST run through the ammeter, cannot be in parallel.......must be in series!

100% correct.

 

[meanjean]

Managed to get 5 dials installed including an electric, and mechanical temperature sensor gauge. Still getting to 250 plus degrees Fahrenheit too often. Both dials get buried on the high side. Going to play with the coolant ratios, run more water and less coolant.

 

[Alexisferos]

Managed to get 5 dials installed including an electric, and mechanical temperature sensor gauge. Still getting to 250 plus degrees Fahrenheit too often. Both dials get buried on the high side. Going to play with the coolant ratios, run more water and less coolant.

250F with what implement? Gear, RPM. because its possible that you are in that hot zone because you use the wrong gear and the small kubota cant handle the heat.

hear in Greece we have start the hot days with 34C degrees yesterday and i was with the tiller at gravel like concrete and with second gear at the gears and 1 at the pto, the small bota was at ~110C all the time,
when i went to the right gear for it job was stable at 105C

110 is the maximum seen temp for my tractor, i hover around 105-110 all the time with the hog or the tiller.

 

[meanjean]

Thanks very much for the prompt reply.

Will push 250F using a 5 foot finishing mower.
1st gear on the PTO and 1st gear drive high.
Perhaps 5 footer is a bit too big?

I've adjusted my tiller to the shallowest setting and can run in 3rd low drive and 1st on the PTO. This keeps me in around 230F which fine with me.

 

[Alexisferos]

personaly i think that you have to much antifreeze and thats why you are in the upper hot zone, near the overheating and near, hearing the sound of steam,

with the proper radiator cup you will boil at the 260f.

dont try this.

 

[Diydave]

Thanks very much for the prompt reply.

Will push 250F using a 5 foot finishing mower.
1st gear on the PTO and 1st gear drive high.
Perhaps 5 footer is a bit too big?

I've adjusted my tiller to the shallowest setting and can run in 3rd low drive and 1st on the PTO. This keeps me in around 230F which fine with me.

Yep, 5' is pushin it for a L 185, IMHO

 

[Alexisferos]

Yep, 5' is pushin it for a L 185, IMHO

its not l185, its l1801 with 18hp at the pto. 5' its just at its limit i think. maybe some one knows better.

 

[Tooljunkie]

So, im running a 5 foot three bladed mower with my L1501. Got mower late last summer, but it didnt have any isses at all. Pto first gear,transmission in 2 high.
Rpms as set at pto speed on tach.
I tested the overheat whistle and it seems to work fine.
Only time will tell how well it will work.
I have no guages like meanjean-yet, but planning on doing something similar.

 

[Daren Todd]

I run a five foot finish mower on my l1501 as well. No issues so far. Pto first gear and 1st gear high range. No gauges on mine, but it hasn't over heated either. Running a 50/50 mix of antifreeze, and check the radiator before starting to make sure no mud dobbers or nests that are gonna clog it.

 

[85Hokie]

personaly i think that you have to much antifreeze and thats why you are in the upper hot zone, near the overheating and near, hearing the sound of steam,

with the proper radiator cup you will boil at the 260f.

dont try this.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^HE is exactly right^^^^^^^^^^

too much antifreeze in THIS situation is actually bad. 50-50 is too much.
Open your petcock - allow maybe a quart to drain out and replace it with straight water. You will NEVER know the right mixture - but at least you are thinning it. Might have to do it more than once.

pulled from the net :

"As far as carrying heat goes, water does a really good job. It's actually one of the most effective coolants that could possibly be used. The specific heat capacity of ethylene glycol is only about 65% of water at the temperatures seen in a cooling system. ."

The water will cool and move quicker than the a 50-50 blend, you also can have too much water in the radiator and or NOT enough. A thermosyphon system is vvvvvery finicky....too much air - will not flow, too much water and it will kick some of it out......

check your radiator really really well too. Compressed air when used correctly will clean that out to the point where the cooling is working a lot better than before. And of course check your fan blade tension too.

 

[meanjean]

Thank you all for the feedback.
Will thin the mix and report back.

 

[meanjean]

I was able to replace 2 liters of mixed coolant with 2 liters of water.
Forgot to check the strength of the new ratio.
Idle temp has decreased from 180F to 160F.
Wasn't able to run the tiller because the yard is VERY wet.
Good start though!

 

[Alexisferos]

I was able to replace 2 liters of mixed coolant with 2 liters of water.
Forgot to check the strength of the new ratio.
Idle temp has decreased from 180F to 160F.
Wasn't able to run the tiller because the yard is VERY wet.
Good start though!

i hope its not tap water or how they call it in your country,
because you will see the whole circuit get coated with scaling and rust,

use distilled water instead..

 

[ShaunRH]

I second the distilled water.

If you need to clean the system, white vinegar makes for a fairly gentle cleaner, but get it rinsed out with distilled water... really well rinsed out.

 

[Steve NC]

This is a very interesting thread to me. My B7100 has the thermosyphon system as well and is close to the same horse power of the L185/L1801. I installed a mechanical temp gauge near the top of the radiator just above the flutes. My temp readings slowly climb to 180 degree range with no to light load. I worked it pretty hard last weekend to see how the engine was doing following a complete rebuild. I hooked it to my neighbors rear mount 6ft mower and tried cutting some bermuda grass that had previously been cut 4 days earlier. I cut off about an inch of the grass. The temp gauge slowly climbed to 210 to 225 degree range. I know the mower is too big but I really wanted to give it a work out. The tractor was able to lift the deck without a problem and had plenty of power with no smoking or lack of power issues. I have 10w30 shell rotella semi synthetic oil in the engine, I put a tee fitting in the side of the block for the oil pressure so I could keep the light but also add a mechanical gauge. Cold it idles at 30psi and full throttle it has just under 60 psi. Hot pressures are 20 idle and 45 full throttle. When I reinstalled the engine, I purchased the antifreeze that was premixed at 50/50, I am going to get some distilled water and try to thin it some to see if the temp drops some

 

[D2Cat]

Steve, do you have any pictures of how/where you installed/mounted the gauges (both ends)? Thanks.

 

[Steve NC]

Steve, do you have any pictures of how/where you installed/mounted the gauges (both ends)? Thanks.

sure I will take some this weekend thats still an easy thing to do since I havent put the side panels back on yet

 

[Steve NC]

I managed to get off work a little early and took some pictures of the B7100 gauges and and sensor locations.

The gauges are made by Bosch 1.5 inches in diameter from advance auto parts $29.99. I also purchased a copper tubing kit for the oil pressure gauge and a brass tee so I could keep the original oil pressure light.

 

[Steve NC]

somehow pic two is upside down pic 4 is a close up of pic 1

sorry I didn't plan on hijacking the thread