It was time last week for me to get this vandalized radiator out of this dozer. The owner stated that the engine had been overheating for the last year or more and wondered if the radiator may be the issue. I asked if they had checked the core, he replied " I think it may have some plugged tubes inside the radiator." I asked him why he thought that............he replied " Well, we steam clean the **** out of that core several times a year so I know its NOT the air flow through the core." OK...........wait for it!......waittttt........ That small cooler at the bottom is the hydraulic oil cooler.....100% plugged . This build up is at least several years old, not just 1 year . I sent the owner this last pic just for fun. Just cause you pressure washed your radiator core from the FRONT doesn't mean a lot.
i don't like using any form of water to wash radiators because if you don't get it 100% clean, all it does is turn the rest to mud which bakes and makes it harder to clean next time,. i only use compressed air unless the rad is out of the machine where i can wash it repeatedly from both sides until its 100% clean
X2 on the Adobe oven. Haha
Been there, recently
I must have led a very sheltered existence then, because I don't recall ever seeing a machine radiator that was contaminated only with dry dirt that would blow off, especially on a dozer. The back side is generally always covered with a film of oily residue to which dirt then sticks like **** to a blanket.
All of our fans are set up to push. At WOT, I use an air wand from the front to dislodge the dust. The dirt comes out the front and there's no mud to deal with. Oil leaks are unacceptable and dangerous in our line of business so our radiators are probably an exception to the rule.
So might I ask what happens if there has been a small oil or fuel leak in the engine area, or even some excess grease from the fan bearings has stuck on the back side of the radiator..? An air wand is not going to get that out IMHO.
We repair leaks when dust starts to stick to the flange/fitting. If there is a real leak, it gets cleaned up. Belly pans cleaned daily. Far cheaper and easier than burning up. We don't over grease the fan. Less grease = less to work on.
In the field where you work i can understand that and obviously it is very necessary in order to minimize fire risk.
I watched a guy wash a log skidder radiator after soaking it with a white product , he did say what it was , since forgotten . It was well cleaned , hanging from a sling . Low pressure and high volume is the answer using water . I use both water and air to remove small leaves and a light flake of bark that gets sucked into my dozer . Rather hope the dozer sitting at my front gate has reversible blades
i am usually the only operator on my equipment and do all the maintenance so i rarely have any oil leaks that are not repaired immediately, so oil residue is dealt with right away using brake cleaner or solvent and and 175psi air pressure. eventually though i will remove the radiator to give it a thorough cleaning if necessary
For some reason,I allways enjoy washing the radiators out as it makes me feel better It’s impossible to get it all of course,but removing the front guards is allways a good idea,not to mention patience.
When we tripping topsoil in cornfields and fields overgrown with weeds we used to blow out dozer radiators several times a day with compressed air. I was a happy guy when the first D8N's came out with the two piece grills that were hinged. The 8K's and H's took a looong time to clean.
Ours are modified. 1" plate rolled to match the hard nose with hinges to match.
That's what I liked to use on the machines at the quarry. Biggest problem was when we got in used equipment that had not been kept clean. Once that limestone dust and a touch of oil get hardened not much you can do with radiator in chassis! Drawing a blank on what Cat called those radiators with the separate panels with the very fine fins. They were about the worst to clean unless you got them new and flushed them out on a regular basis. Not sure how you can avoid getting the radiator wet when it rains, so saying using water is bad always confused me. And yes a stone quarry can be dusty on a rainy day at times!
Folded Core..?
Yea that's the one! As I recall they did have a change over for them in some applications that had more or less normal openings but still used the rubber seals at the top and bottom tanks but still had separate cores.
Yes, folded core. The contractor I worked for had about 30 new D8N's with them in it and had the dealer change them all to a standard core. Some were leaking at the bottom of the core with less than 500 hours on them. The exteriors of them would plug up with debris faster than you could blink an eye.
I was spreading lime for a big cotton company's contracted growers in mid June, when the temps were up around 100f and it was powder dry and dusty. I was running back and forth, trying to stay ahead of planting. I was blowing out the radiators on the spreader trucks 2-3 times a day. There was a father-son team in their first year of high-production agriculture that was falling behind badly because their huge leased Case-Ih ran hot constantly. The dealer techs had been out several times without finding the problem. I asked if the radiator had been blown out recently, and was told in no uncertain terms that that wouldn't cause this. They were parked waiting for it to cool when one of my trucks started getting warm. I pulled it right up by them, and used a 1/2" open fitting off my 30cfm compressor to cover them and their tractor with dirt out of my radiator! The father started cussing, but the son just calmly asked if he could use the hose when I was done.
Mitch; That was nice of you to do that, but why was the guys father cussing ?
Seven fins per inch in the cores versus nine IIRC.
Because I covered him with fine dust, he was the one who told me there was no way a radiator would hold enough dirt to cause a problem! And was smug about it, too!
when i used to run my 46a land clearing in the winter i made up an exhaust blower that would clamp on the end of my truck tailpipe (gas engine) and a long flexible metal hose with a wand/handle on the end. it had a flattish nozzle on the end. idle up the truck engine and it would develop sufficient pressure to blow a lot of dry leaf and bark debris out of the rad. i only used it after having the fan blowing and only if turning the fan blades did not get it clean enough. i used to turn the fan blades at least once a day and only occasionally used the exhaust blower. by watching the temp gauge and water pressure i could tell when the rad was getting plugged, then i would turn the fan blades to push, work it for 1/2 hr, freeze to death, then turn them back to pull and be toasty warm again . the best temp in my opinion, for land clearing, is -20c or colder because all the small trees and brush shears off better and less dirt in the piles
Love and hate reversible fans. Ether freeze your azz off or get warm and so filthy that dirt falls off of your clothes when you stand up. Boogers the size of golf balls to.
Depending on what pushing can be as black as coal miner boogers too!!
the dirtiest was re-piling previously burned brush piles still warm. even with fan pushing, the tracks churned up ashes and dust
Experienced that years ago on a Deere 750.
Wow,that’s a great idea I suppose if that’s all you’ve got. I’m impressed as any D8 lasts forever aslong as that rad is clean and it has a good tranny pump.
Normally air first ,then pressure washer at 90 plus celcius prefferably with engine at high idle to help
I wasn't going to bring this up, but CAT made a landfill core for this radiator. We bought one hoping it would make it easier to keep the radiator clean. It does do this as it has wider spacing between the fins, but the core is made of steel, so between the reduction in fins and the steel construction, it doesn't cool as well for our application. It probably does great in a landfull application. Requires other mods to the fan and fan shroud as well. The guy running this 8K has to keep his eye on the temp gauge to make sure she doesn't overheat. There's no free ride.