Ok, we have a John Deere 1040 tractor here (2.9l 3 cly diesel I think) and I'm a bit worried about the coolant temps.
The tractor has a murphy switch on it so if the oil pressure drops or the coolant temps get too high it kills the motor. What I am worried about is the sensor for the coolant is on the return side of the rad. It is set at 220F. We were running it stationary at full throttle for a few hours and I noticed that the murphy switch was reading 210 but the coolant coming out of the head was 230.
Is this too hot?
The day before it was 250 out of the head and 230 at the murphy switch (someone has bypassed it
)so I took the load off and let her cool down at idle. She seems to be doing ok. I changed the thermostat, topped up the coolant and washed the rad out and it seems to be running cooler now. (still 210/230)
Also what is strange is when it's that hot, I can put my hand on the front of the rad and hold it there for 5 seconds before it gets uncomfortable. I measured it around 145-160. The back of the rad is 205ish. Is that normal?
All temp readings are with my infrared thermometer except for the murphy switch readings, they are an electronic reading.