I have put about 60 hrs on this machine I picked up last fall. While addressing some other issue this winter/spring, I finished up with a coolant change/ hoses/ thermostat. Old coolant looked good... no crap out from the block drain... The last 10 hrs or so I noticed a loss of coolant... and had added on each check to top off... quart or so each time. So I removed the hood and ran her doin some work... and saw that she was pushing it out the overflow line from the neck. I replaced the thermostat... and drilled a couple bleeder holes in that.... trying to make sure the system was burped.... and the issue persisted. Changed out the rad cap.... issue persists. With system full.... ran machine at 10 or 12 krpm....with cap off, and could see bubbles coming thru the return... and when stat opened up, more "air" and the level rose up.... put the cap on.... and she pushed thru the 7lb cap. Can I check the coolant "gases" for exhaust like you can with an automobile??? I'm thinking that's my next step..... Oil level has been static thru this. I do have noticeable amounts of "blowby" coming out of the valve cover vent tube.. enough to kick up dust on a dry field... To my newbie (diesel) eye it would seem to be head gasket time.... but I'm not sure if there could be other causes. Not familiar with all they details of these engines ( 4219)........ I did have a digt copy of the manual... but lost those files to some ransom hacker!! Any insight would be great... Tanks
Here is the shop manual for that model, Hope helps! It in pdf format so will need adobe acrobat reader. https://mega.nz/#!D9NQyJDL!3Lfcqem7AJlKwhuRy-6Qw89WCwmfS4YPxnDMTR8PyxA
Thanks for that shawn. ..... Waitin on a hard copy but this will give me some heads up. Lookin for any insight to possible "pathways" for the exhaust into the coolant.... if there are any besides the gasket.
no problem I have service advisor also if you need more diagnostic info more then welcome to help best I can do is help with manuals sorry not mechanic here, just a programmer!
And what kind of info is in that publication?
that full service manual
I have full dealer access so glad to help
but you have my email bed for me family over in am in Canada it thanks giving so night all
Unless that's fitted with an expansion tank from the overflow, DON'T fill the radiator. It needs some room for the coolant to expand. The correct level is an inch or two below the bottom of the filler neck. Hopefully that's your problem, but the bubbles don't sound good. If it test's positive for exhaust gas in the coming out the radiator then that could also be a cracked head, or pinhole in a liner, fun fun fun. Have the head checked when you take it off, and look for one piston/cylinder being steam cleaned.
Yes you can, go to Napa Auto parts and get a test kit for diesel's, it will tell you if you have "combustion gases" in the rad, if so, most likely a head gasket, but I think you already knew that.
Thanks for that reminder Delmer... no expan tank. And the filler neck itself is 2-3 inches... Stopped @ Napa and picked up their blocktester kit. Have used one years ago on a car engine. Checked coolant level this AM and looked good.. and fired her up ( machine has been running good ! ).... and after flow started , I could see some bubble action,.... ran the test.... result was negative for combust gases.... And as soon as I sealed up the neck with the flow test bottle she was pushin gas thru the unit.. no suction needed. Thought for sure I'd get a positive?? I rigged up a jug and connected the overflow tube.... and ran the girl for 3 hours. After the first hr it had pushed out about a pint and a half... but that was it for the rest of the day. It was making a constant stream of bubbles out that tube. Halfway thru the work.... I again ran the block test. Same result... made sure to let it run for more than a min. Negative. So now I'm a bit more stumped than I was yesterday.
That is strange, just in case you did the test wrong, here's a video on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHp5E7XnbXo Make sure no anti freeze gets in the test tube also, you may have to drain a little for this, not sure. You can also "test" to see if the kit is working by sucking in some fumes from the exhaust pipe, don't reuse the old test fluid. If it still tests negative, I guess thats a bonus,the only other thing I can see is "air" somehow getting into your water.
Thanks for that link Hook.... First test was at the beginning of the day.. and the coolant was sloshing around a bit. Might have sucked up a bit. After working for a couple hrs, and the pint or 2 being pushed out, ran the second test.... no coolant sucked ( pushed) thru the tester. Supposed to get a bit wet today, the plan is to run her again in the next day or so to see if any more coolant gets pushed out, and to run the test again. I'll let her push thru the test solution for several minutes the next time.
UPDATE As was suggested, I "tested" the block tester by running exhaust thru. The color change was quick and to yellow. I ran the test again on the cooling system and it showed a subtle change to a green shade..... hard to see it but the sun was shinning and that's what we saw. I have been running, putting a few hours on at a time, keeping and eye on fluids. Oil level has remained steady. She will "push" a short quart out the cap and then just "air". If I re-pour that coolant back in, it brings up the level to original, and then as I work it, will push that amount back out. I will soon be shutting down for the season, my hoe valve spool will be coming off to be re-sealed, and it looks like the head will come off too. Then we will see what we have.