Super A - Temp. Gauge / Water Pump

Hi All...

Any thoughts on the following.

I have a 48 Super A that had a non-working temp gauge. I replaced the gauge and it still doesn"t register. I"ve never really had overheating issues (that I can tell anyway) The other evening after plowing snow for quite awhile the tractor blew off some radiator fluid through the overflow. The radiator is in good shape, and had recently been flushed and filled. It"s possible it was just a bit overfilled?

At any rate without the temp gauge are there any good ways of determining water pump function and if the tractor is cooling properly?? (With the tractor running and warm I don"t notice a lot of coolant flow at the radiator fill cap but that is certainly nothing new and I don"t notice much flow on our other tractor w/ new pump and working gauge so I don"t think thats a great indicator)

Any thoughts / diagnostics much appreciated.

My best,

Brian

Do you even have a water pump? Early Super A's didn't, they used the Thermosyphon system, which is nothing more than the natural convection currents of the coolant through the radiator and back to the engine. If it has one, it is part of the lower water inlet on the engine block and runs off the generator belt. Many were added aftermarket. It is easy to do.

I have found the original temerature gauges often don't register anything unless you really work the tractor hard on a hot day.

I have an infrared temperature gun that I use to check engine temps, works great and will find hot spots easily. You could also put a cheap meat thermometer in the top of the radiator after it is up to temp and see what that shows. (don't put it back in the kitchen, or the wife will be PO'ed)

First off, it's dollard to donuts that your overfow is just thed result of an intial overfill. If it stays at the new level, you're fine. Other than that, Red Dave is on top of it.

To determine if you have a water pump or not, follow the lower radiator hose back to the block. If it connects to a simple cast double elbow (quite possibly the same casting that the probe for your thermometer threads into), there is no pump. A pump, if you have one, would bolt on in place of that casting and will be obvious by the belt driving it.

As far as the needle moving, it won't much, especially if the probe is in that lower position. Like Red Dave said, even without a pump (the thermosiphon concept), those tractors have wicked efficient radiators and fans. Radiator is oversize for what a motor that size would ordinarily need, and the fan is designed to pull a LOT of air across it. It's not unusual to shut one of them down after working and find the upper tank of the radiator too hot to rest your hand on, but for the bottom tank and hose to be no more than comfortably warm. Now figure placing the probe in that lower casing, the coolest part of the system and you can see why it would be slow to register, if at all.

Even on the SuperCs, which had water pumps and thermostats, and where the probe for the gauge was placed in the upper outlet, where the coolant flows out of the head and back to the top of the radiator (and therefore warmer than the coolant at the bottom), they were slow to warm up and register. My Super C, which was always a gas motor (as opposed to dual fuel or distillate), was bought new in the Catskills, and it came with radiator shutters. I've run that tractor in the Catskills and up here in Maine and can tell you that without being able to close the shuttersthe shutters, I'm not sure how hard and long I'd have to work that tractor in winter weather to even get the needle up into the run range, een with the probe at the hot outlet from the head.