# overheating problem



## Sami (Sep 4, 2017)

my dad has a ford 3000 ford diesel tractor that is overheating according to the temp. guage,
have put new radiator,thermostat,waterpump,hoses,temp. unit,head gasket. do not have bubbles in radiator,top hose gets hot the bottom hose is cold,average engine temp. with a digital hand-held thermometer is 155 degrees. cannot figure out if and or why its still showing hot.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2017)

As one member to another......welcome. Warning! I am not a mechanic! Perhaps one of the long time members will log in to this thread. Temperature sending units usually either work or not. Never seen one just wrong. A couple of relatively easy things to check, and you may have done these already...(1) fan belt tight? Not more than 1/2" give when pushed with a finger. (2) a new radiator cap. The cooling system is supposed to be under pressure and caps do age out occasionally. (3) put the thermostat in a pan of water and heat the pan past the temperature the thermostat is supposed to open at. See if it opens. I don't know what your thermostat is set for, but 188f is common. Is it possible to install this backwards? A less desirable possibility is the head gasket went in wrong, blocking water ports. Another less desirable possibility is you installed something defective. Just out of curiosity, what led you to replacing the head gasket? That seems pretty drastic for an overheating problem unless you had some mixing or loss of fluids. Sounds like you are taking the temperature of the engine by placing the probe on the outside of the block. (warm up the engine with the cap off) What's the water temperature of the water at the top of the radiator?


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## Sami (Sep 4, 2017)

Graysonr said:


> As one member to another......welcome. Warning! I am not a mechanic! Perhaps one of the long time members will log in to this thread. Temperature sending units usually either work or not. Never seen one just wrong. A couple of relatively easy things to check, and you may have done these already...(1) fan belt tight? Not more than 1/2" give when pushed with a finger. (2) a new radiator cap. The cooling system is supposed to be under pressure and caps do age out occasionally. (3) put the thermostat in a pan of water and heat the pan past the temperature the thermostat is supposed to open at. See if it opens. I don't know what your thermostat is set for, but 188f is common. Is it possible to install this backwards? A less desirable possibility is the head gasket went in wrong, blocking water ports. Another less desirable possibility is you installed something defective. Just out of curiosity, what led you to replacing the head gasket? That seems pretty drastic for an overheating problem unless you had some mixing or loss of fluids. Sounds like you are taking the temperature of the engine by placing the probe on the outside of the block. (warm up the engine with the cap off) What's the water temperature of the water at the top of the radiator?





Sami said:


> my dad has a ford 3000 ford diesel tractor that is overheating according to the temp. guage,
> have put new radiator,thermostat,waterpump,hoses,temp. unit,head gasket. do not have bubbles in radiator,top hose gets hot the bottom hose is cold,average engine temp. with a digital hand-held thermometer is 155 degrees. cannot figure out if and or why its still showing hot.


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## Sami (Sep 4, 2017)

have put a new radiator cap as well,was told by employee at a tractor dealer the head gasket could be bad but not to the naked eye,I guess by replacing it im grasping at straws,by the way the water temp. was around 145


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

The thermocouple (temperature sender) fails over time. $6 on yesterday's tractors.


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2017)

If the engine had run for long enough to really "warm up" 145 water seems to me to be way too cool. I think all the Ford thermostats are either 188f or 172f and I think there's one set for 168f. You should have a petcock on the right side of the block, in some fashion with the engine warmed up but maybe shut down, you should be able to crack that and in some fashion test a sample of the radiator fluid there for temperature. If it's significantly above the 145 you mention in your last reply, then you will know for sure there's some blockage to water flow. At that point I would suggest you test the thermostat as I described above as that's about the easiest and least expensive piece of the puzzle. Sometimes new parts are faulty from the box. Here's a link to an explanation of cooling systems that I can understand: http://www.carparts.com/classroom/coolingsystem.htm


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## Sami (Sep 4, 2017)

everything pertaining to the cooling system but the head has been put on new from a dealer,checked the petcock water is cold


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2017)

Petcock water was cold when engine was warmed up such as it was when you measured 145 at the top of the radiator with the cap off?


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## RC Wells (Dec 26, 2008)

Pull your thermostat and put it in a pan of water and heat it on the stove. Use a candy thermometer and check the opening temperature.

Then when you reinstall it, make absolutely certain it is installed the correct side up.

When the tractor is running, check the lower radiator hose to be sure it is not collapsing.


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2017)

Amen!


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## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

Howdy Sami, welcome to the tractor forum.

From your temperature data presented, your tractor is not getting hot. Your temperature gauge is apparently reading high. Could be a defective temperature sending unit, or a defective temperature gauge, or a defective voltage stabilizer. Does your fuel gauge seem to read high as well? 

On your instrument cluster, there is a voltage stabilizer unit that produces 5-6 volts DC for the fuel gauge and temperature gauge. Measure the DC voltage applied to the fuel & temp gauges. If you find that it is 12V, then this explains the high readings on the gauges.


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