Kubota R520 cooling problem

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When was the last time you blew out or pressure washed the radiator? I take a blower to the mini and chipper daily. Pressure wash maybe three times a year.
 
I once had an engine that overheated because of a computer fuel management malfunction. I first changed the fan/clutch to no avail. Under load is when a malfunction would show up. Lean or rich can both overheat. If it's a diesel disregard what I wrote.
 
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Bart it's diesel.
 
Injector issues can cause overheating because the engine is overworking to provide the same power.
 
When was the last time you blew out or pressure washed the radiator?
nononononono, NO

I need a new radiator in my mini skid for this exact reason, last owner pressure washed the radiator and folded over all the fins, maybe a blower is OK but never water, not even a garden hose
 
I hope not!!! If you're thinking or curious about the injectors simply pull them one by one, they can coke up and have crap on the tips that can easily be cleaned off. If the tips are damaged you can swap them, had to do that on my 7.3 along with the o rings that got ate out as they were designed before bio became common. I later ended up shimming them, worked pretty well but needed the turbo mount leak fixed, and then the b post rusted away so i got my new truck. My chipper had stuff caked on the tips so i simply cleaned them and reinstalled, that helped a bunch there too. Injectors usually aren't hard to pull at all, and doing so can show you a lot.
 
if the issue only happens pointed uphill then its an air bubble, not sludge, not water pump and certainly not injectors

early in the morning while its cold, pull the radiator cap and put a shop vac on it and seal it to pull a vacuum on the cooling system, start the engine and let it run for 10-20 seconds to suck out any air bubbles, shut off engine, put cap back on and it should be good to go
keep in mind air bubbles expand as they heat up, so throughout the day they may be getting trapped in spots like the thermostat, then once cooling off they may be floating upwards to a new spot, so your issue may possible be moving around
 
If it's intermittent air bubbles, I keep thinking either not enough fluid (already ruled out) or a vacuum sucking air in through a leak, or pressurized gas forced in through a leak.
 
High dose fuel system cleaner? Power service or diesel kleen or whatever they call it.
For diesel engines the best injector/valve/lifter cleaner is plain old ATF added to the fuel tank. Way cheaper than the prepared crap and has more detergents. My old 2001 Chevy Altec bucket truck had a Cat 3126 with 7000 hours when I bought it. Injectors/lifters tapped like crazy! I added a quart of ATF to a tank of fuel every 3-4 weeks and ran it for 11 years, 18000 hours without any issues from the fuel system.

In fact my new Avant loader with almost 1100 hours isn't idling as well as it used to. Today I added a half pint of ATF to the fuel and after 30 minutes it was idling much better.
 
nononononono, NO

I need a new radiator in my mini skid for this exact reason, last owner pressure washed the radiator and folded over all the fins, maybe a blower is OK but never water, not even a garden hose
Hasn’t been an issue the fins look good as new.
 
For diesel engines the best injector/valve/lifter cleaner is plain old ATF added to the fuel tank. Way cheaper than the prepared crap and has more detergents. My old 2001 Chevy Altec bucket truck had a Cat 3126 with 7000 hours when I bought it. Injectors/lifters tapped like crazy! I added a quart of ATF to a tank of fuel every 3-4 weeks and ran it for 11 years, 18000 hours without any issues from the fuel system.

In fact my new Avant loader with almost 1100 hours isn't idling as well as it used to. Today I added a half pint of ATF to the fuel and after 30 minutes it was idling much better.
A quart of ATF to how much diesel?
 
So, after some research, because I want to know too, I came to the conclusion that an half pint is a quarter of a quart, or 1/16 of a gallon, or a little less than 1/4 liter for the US, or a little more than 1/4 liter for GBritain.
Got it, quite simple !:scrambleup: I can't believe that all the world needed to go metric:D
Anyway, so, the cure for the old truck is 0.5% ATF in diesel.
My van begins to give me some concern too. It loses its power in low rpm like did my previous van when the injectors went bad. It gets its power back over 2000rpm when the turbo kicks in. Maybe it isn't this issue, but i have some ATF somewhere. I'll have a try.
 
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