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The thermostat/housing/bypass setup on this engine is the weirdest thing I have ever seen.
The factory thermostat is supposed to block off the bypass circuit when it is fully open. I have never seen this kind of setup before and the only thermostat that will do this is the factory one. However, from the measuring I did, the fully open thermostat wouldn’t touch the bypass hole in the housing anyway. There was also a bypass hole drilled in the thermostat itself so I don’t understand the redundancy here.
I wanted a warmer thermostat so had no other option than to go after market. I have a chart of after market parts that cross over. However the number listed for NAPA did not exist but the counter guy found one that looked like it would work. In reality it was ever so slightly too big of a diameter. I had to sand/file it down just a little to get it to fit properly.
The bypass is open all the time but now my engine will warm up to the proper operating temp without putting cardboard in front of the radiator. I have yet to work it really hard on a hot summer day so there is still that test to be done.
On a side note, I tested the old thermostat and it was opening fully at about 150° F so it definitely was the problem.
The spring you identified is definitely not part of the hose and I can not think of a reason for it to be in there. I would say take it out if possible as if it comes loose on its own it could wind up in the pump.
I also recommend putting anti-sieze on the bolt threads when you re-assemble. One of the bolts on mine was rusted to the housing and broke off. I had to take the housing off and drill it out and heli-coil it. Not hard to do but a pain in the rear that can be avoided.
My 2006 Jinma 284 came with a flat steel screen that slides into some tracks along the front side of the radiator. It has a little handle on the top so you can pull it out for cleaning. The holes are punched out and round. While protecting the radiator fins it does add some resistance to air flow but has never caused overheating unless plugged with debris.
Does your radiator have a fan shroud on the back side?
I am not sure if you can see light all the way thru the radiator fins. I will check later today when I get to the shop.
These radiators are extremely thin! be VERY careful cleaning it. I would recommend against using a pressure washer as it can not only easily fold over the fins it could possibly cut thru the core itself. I blew a hole in mine just by putting on a cap that was rated too high.
Look down inside the filler neck and see if the rows of tubes are off-set or or if they are all lined up from front to back. If they are off-set it may be difficult to see light through the fins and water sprayed on will have to weave its way through the fins and will come out looking like it is blocked. With so few hours on your tractor I doubt the fins are blocked too badly. Just use an air hose from the back side to blow any dust back out the front.
Replacing the radiator is not hard but it is a bit of a pain so I would avoid that if possible.
How does the inside of the radiator look? Do you see a lot of white corrosion build up around the core tubes? If not, it is probably fine. This is where tap water attacks the system. Use only distilled water and anti-freeze for diesel engines. For trouble shooting purposes you can just use plain water but for long term health of the system you want the coolant mix.
Thermostat in next post…
As for cleaning the fuel tank, I would recommend using a foot or two of small chain. It is much easier to get out than a bunch of nuts and bolts. If you can get the holes all sealed up you can also put a little diesel fuel in it to help during the tumble process. I think the tanks were just bare steel inside to start with and they are fairly thin so be careful trying to get all the rust out.
Moisture in the fuel tank can lead to problems much worse than a little rust. Diesel bugs make a terrible mess and do significant damage to everything inside the fuel system. There have been lots of threads on that so I won’t re-hash it here.
Side cover and breather should be an easy fix for you. I would use some sand paper on a hard block (just wrap it around a piece of wood) and sand the mating surfaces down to shiny metal. It doesn’t have to be perfect but clean and smooth is helpful for the new seal. You can order a new gasket, or buy some gasket material and make your own or just use RTV sealant. Personally I would probably make the small two hole gasket and use black RTV on the larger side cover. This is not a high pressure or submerged situation and it should work just fine.
Radiator continued below…
Dave, agreed. I would be in no hurry to take things apart until we had more of an idea as to why.
The coolant issue and the oil spitting issue may or may not be related. At this point it is sounding like two different problems.
The radiator shouldn’t be corroded at these few hours unless it was filled with tap water and had no anti-freeze or protection additives. I’ve seen tap water do nasty things to coolant systems.
If it will run without overheating I might even be inclined to remove the dipstick and put a cap over the tube to seal it. Might have to clamp it in place. That way you could carefully monitor oil consumption without it being pushed overboard.
The more hours you can get on the oil and coolant the more accurate an analysis will be.
Which leads to one more thought, although a little off topic. I wonder what kinds of fluids are in this machine. If the original stuff from China, they need to be changed. The stuff that was in my tractor in the crate was horrible stuff.
When I checked the head bolts I used a crows foot wrench for the two that were under the rocker shaft. All of the others were tight so I was not too concerned about over torquing any of them and used the crows foot just to confirm they were indeed tight but couldn’t get a perfectly accurate reading.
Info on head re-torque is on page 34 of the Jinma 200 Series Documentation PDF on my web site.
At this point I am guessing that you have piston ring blow by. That’s a tear down and overhaul situation. Don’t jump on that just yet though, it will still be important to find out what is going on with your coolant.
If coolant and hydraulic oil levels are not changing that is a good sign that the head and gasket are probably OK.
I’ve never done a diesel engine overhaul so will not be much help there. One option before you start taking things apart is to call either Rolland at Ranch Hand Supply or Tommy at Affordable Tractor in Bellville TX. Offer to pay them for an hour of shop time if they will spend some time listening to your symptoms and give you some advice. Tell them where you are so they know you are not trying to take advantage of them just to do the work yourself. Both of these guys have a good reputation, I have bought stuff from them and from Circle G in Nashville.
If you start taking things apart, be sure and take pictures as you go. It helps when putting it back together and for future reference.
Flushing the radiator and putting in fresh coolant is always a good move.
I will guess here that your tractor does not have a coolant recovery bottle. These systems work at fairly low pressure and radiator caps can be problematic. When cold the coolant level should be just above the radiator core openings. Do not fill to the bottom of the neck on the cap. When the coolant expands as it warms up, it just goes overboard anyway.
Replacing the thermostat is a good idea and fairly easy to do. I had problems when one of the bolts broke off but it was nearly rusted through and was going to be an issue anyway. My tractor had a 180° F thermostat which is not warm enough for a diesel in North Dakota. I replaced it with a 195° one and my engine is much happier for it.
With a new thermostat and the coolant at the proper level leave the cap off and start the tractor. Look in the neck and see if the coolant is moving. It should not until the engine comes up to temp. As the thermostat opens you should slowly start to see the coolant flow increase and the level in the radiator come up as it expands. As this is happening, monitor the temp gauge on the dash to make sure it is responding accordingly.
If all looks well, you can put the cap on and go work the tractor a little while monitoring the gauge and overflow tube for leakage.
If you see movement and or bubbles in the coolant before the upper hose gets warm to the touch there is probably something wrong in the engine. This is where it might be connected to the oil spitting issue.
At this point I would work the tractor an hour or two and then get the oil AND the coolant tested for cross contamination. Most Caterpillar dealers have an oil lab or at least access to one. Typically you buy the empty sample bottles and mail them in or drop them off if the lab is local to you.
Odds are you are going to have to order at least a head gasket so you might as well get the testing done while waiting for parts.
BTW, what part of the country are you in and do you have a dealer nearby?
On the aircraft engine mentioned above it had an oil capacity of 8 quarts but it would burn/belch 2 quarts in the first couple of hours. Standard practice on that model of engine was to only put in 6 quarts at change and it would run 10 to 12 hours before using another quart.
If less oil in the pan solves the dipstick tube spitting problem you still need to confirm that there is not excessive pressurization in the crankcase. If there is pressurization, then the question is why? Worn rings allow combustion gassed to blow by, but a leaking head gasket or problem with a cylinder liner can cause this too. Then there is a cracked head as a possibility. Finding and fixing these means a tear down of some kind.
At this point I would recommend having an oil lab do an analysis of your oil. They can check for contamination from hydraulic fluid, antifreeze, water, and combustion products. None of this will tell you where the problem is, but hopefully provide a clue to what to check for next.
Next up, coolant system…
Well you have been busy! All good stuff too. It is a shame it did not resolve your issues. Let’s take a look at things one at a time.
Oil consumption might be improved with heavier weight oil in some circumstances but will probably not do much to seal up worn piston rings. Some engines are finicky with oil. I once had an air-cooled aircraft engine that gobbled up Aeroshell oil but when I switched brands to Philips it nearly stopped. An old mechanic gave the the hint to try a different brand and it worked. Would not have believed it if I hadn’t tried it.
Anyway, if ring blow by is causing the oil to be pushed out of the crankcase I would expect it to turn black in the first hour. How does the oil look now? Ring blow by may not be the cause of your oil issue. The coolant issue may be related but we will get to that in a moment.
Something is pressurizing the crankcase but what? The breather should be able to handle normal amounts of blow by but on your engine it can’t keep up. I know you cleaned it out but did you verify the tube back to the engine is not plugged? It is held to the block with two bolts with a gasket in between. I would take that off and make sure it was open all the way through and that the passageway is open into the pan. Then put it back together but leave the filter material out. Check the oil level and make a note of it. Start the engine and let it warm up then run it up to over half throttle and check to see if you can detect air coming out of the breather tube. Then take the dipstick out and check there too. Shut it down and after it cools for a few minutes check the oil level again and compare to before.
If the crankcase is overfull and the crankshaft is hitting the oil it would churn it up and cause all kinds of problems. Does the oil spit out of the dipstick tube right away when you start it? If so, you could drain the oil and replace just 3 quarts and test again. 3 quarts should be sufficient to lube the tractor for a short run just make sure the oil pressure comes up within 30 seconds of startup.
to be continued….
Oops, I thought you were talking about the Farm Pro.
My Jinma came with quick connects in the high pressure side of the hydraulic pump hose. The Jinma FEL came with matching quick connects so that mounting and unmounting the FEL is quick and easy. Uncouple the tractor hose and plug in the FEL. Then when you take off the FEL you just uncouple everything and plug the tractor back into itself.
Whoever mounted your FEL opted not to spend the extra $$ for the quick couplers and just plumbed it in directly.
Without knowing how the hoses are routed in your system, I would just be guessing at how to bypass the FEL. It is possible that in mounting the FEL the Steering was bypassed or connected incorrectly. Another possibility is that the pressure limit valve dumping oil back to the tank and not supplying enough pressure to the steering for it to function.
I would start at the pump and follow the hoses to make up a hand drawn diagram of the hydraulic system. If you post the diagram (or pictures of the complete hose routing) we can probably figure out how to proceed.
to clarify, the powersteering issue and steering wheel question was about a different tractor…these two issues are on a Agracat 2940 with kyoker 160 loader. I’m actually kind of confused on how to do what you recommended? There doesn’t appear to be any way to easily unhook things/no quick connects. Where and how would I do this. Sorry…just not tracking.
