Checking temperature
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gainestruk
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Not sure if it helps LOL, I'd say it's done pretty good with 1247 hrs :laughing:
Can you get some temps posted running at full temp of oil cooler, filter and block say at the drain plug ?
Carscw
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I don't have a temp gun.
Never had a need for one.
It must help some.
The oil does not start to change color till around 60 hours.
But my Koehler pro's oil does not change color till around 50 hours. Without a cooler.
I run royal purple 20w 50 in everything. Because I got a pallet of it at a auction.
bertsmobile1
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I very rarely see an engine suffering from strait overheating.
Most common failues in the order of occurrenc at my shop.
1 by a very long way, old engines siezed from lack of oil ( around 6 to 7 per season )
2 new engine ( OHV ) seized from running along a slope and again. oil starvation . (4 to 5 usually)
3 Inteks with blown head gaskets, now I do not pull the engine down to look at the inside of the piston to see if it has been running too hot but no signs of overheating at the top end or piston crown. ( 4 to 6 each year )
4) Courages with the infamous Kohler crack (2 usually)
5) Courages with loose top plate bolts causing seizure 1 or 2
6) courages with loose bolts not blown from lack of oil 1 or 2
The mowing season around here is 30 weeks / year
Mid summer temperatures 90 to 100 ( F )
Average block for my customers would be about 2 acres
About 1/3 of my customers have a bio cycle dunny so lawns get a lot of nutrient rich effluent and thus glow thick & fast.
Please note I am not trying to poo poo what you lot are doing, I find it most interesting.
I used to be a foundry metallurgist so calculating internal metal temperatures based upon an external reading was stock and trade for me.
It is a lot more complicated than most would think & I had a state of the art thermionic remote pyrometer which measures the colour of the heat radiating out of the metal, not just the infra red heat and the two can be a long way apart.
All metal oxides are refractory, including aluminium and the thickness of the oxide can make a very large difference to the readings.
Other things that will introduce system errors are variations to the viewing angle and the distance the readings are taken from. the air temperature , humidity wind speed.
If you want to get readings that are consistant so you can evaluate the effect of using different oils or other variables you really need to take contact readings with glued on sensors.
You also need to take your readings on days with the same relative humidity and air temperatures.
An internal oil reading using something installed into the drain plug and/or dip stick tube will be useful as that will allow you to correlate external metal temperatures to internal oil temperatures.
A long meat thermometer mounted through a small hole in the dip stick would work .
You used to be able to get a similar device for OIF motorcycles which replaced the original dip stick.
Most common failues in the order of occurrenc at my shop.
1 by a very long way, old engines siezed from lack of oil ( around 6 to 7 per season )
2 new engine ( OHV ) seized from running along a slope and again. oil starvation . (4 to 5 usually)
3 Inteks with blown head gaskets, now I do not pull the engine down to look at the inside of the piston to see if it has been running too hot but no signs of overheating at the top end or piston crown. ( 4 to 6 each year )
4) Courages with the infamous Kohler crack (2 usually)
5) Courages with loose top plate bolts causing seizure 1 or 2
6) courages with loose bolts not blown from lack of oil 1 or 2
The mowing season around here is 30 weeks / year
Mid summer temperatures 90 to 100 ( F )
Average block for my customers would be about 2 acres
About 1/3 of my customers have a bio cycle dunny so lawns get a lot of nutrient rich effluent and thus glow thick & fast.
Please note I am not trying to poo poo what you lot are doing, I find it most interesting.
I used to be a foundry metallurgist so calculating internal metal temperatures based upon an external reading was stock and trade for me.
It is a lot more complicated than most would think & I had a state of the art thermionic remote pyrometer which measures the colour of the heat radiating out of the metal, not just the infra red heat and the two can be a long way apart.
All metal oxides are refractory, including aluminium and the thickness of the oxide can make a very large difference to the readings.
Other things that will introduce system errors are variations to the viewing angle and the distance the readings are taken from. the air temperature , humidity wind speed.
If you want to get readings that are consistant so you can evaluate the effect of using different oils or other variables you really need to take contact readings with glued on sensors.
You also need to take your readings on days with the same relative humidity and air temperatures.
An internal oil reading using something installed into the drain plug and/or dip stick tube will be useful as that will allow you to correlate external metal temperatures to internal oil temperatures.
A long meat thermometer mounted through a small hole in the dip stick would work .
You used to be able to get a similar device for OIF motorcycles which replaced the original dip stick.
I have a husqvarna with a 26hp kohler engine-2015. Do you know where to get a temp probe, analog or digital readout gauge, and where to locate the sensor to give me a liquid temp reading like an automobile? I mow over 5 acres and usually stop halfway and open the hood to cool off the engine. I mow heavy stuff so I would like to know the temp of the engine so it does not look like thermite was poured on it.
thanks alot!!
thanks alot!!gainestruk
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Look by your oil filter and see if it has a plug in the housing, if so you can take it out and go to auto parts store and see if they have a sending unit that will fit, the gage needs to go up To at least 250*
I was using a small temp gun that fit in my pocket and it was easy to turn around and shoot temps without shutting down or getting off my Z turn.
I was using a small temp gun that fit in my pocket and it was easy to turn around and shoot temps without shutting down or getting off my Z turn.
Yes, auto stores do offer oil temp gauges with probes. When I had my Intek apart I looked carefully for a safe place on the aluminum pan to drill and tap and decided it was too risky so I settled on the sump plug. Those with a drill press and some experience can center drill and tap the sump plug to 1/8 NPT without drama. Or you can find a nice brass plug with a 1/8 NPT hole already in place. I think it was Lowes plumbing in a plastic baggie, but not cheap, $6 + , I think. Going this route will slow down oil changes a bit because the electrical spade or round contact is held on to the probe with a small machine screw which is removed each change, but small price to pay.
If installing a oil pressure gauge my experience with mechanical senders has been poor. Those are much cheaper, but a probe placed in the oil filter housing caused me much grief as I could not find a setup which could reduce vibration enough so it would not dislodge the press-on plastic line routed to the dash gauge. Very messy. The electric sender on mine has worked without a problem for years, but is more expensive. You may have to drill and tap the driver side of the oil filter housing. Don't remember but perhaps 1/2 " NPT. It is not rocket science but just drill where you can expose the electric can probe to oil pressure.
I think many auto stores have a selection of gauges which should hold up. I once used JC Whitney with good results from Taiwan stuff. Not long ago I looked at the digital read outs. They are appealing and some very trick , but most appear mainland China which scares me . Upper range is great included data logging reports for PC review etc, but VERY expensive. I made an oil tube sensor for my KE thermometer and it worked . The results are taken from liquid oil not far from the oil sump plug. I got tired of oil splatter on my face and have not used it in a while. I think the readings were slightly below those of the sump plug probe. Bla bla bla:laughing:
If installing a oil pressure gauge my experience with mechanical senders has been poor. Those are much cheaper, but a probe placed in the oil filter housing caused me much grief as I could not find a setup which could reduce vibration enough so it would not dislodge the press-on plastic line routed to the dash gauge. Very messy. The electric sender on mine has worked without a problem for years, but is more expensive. You may have to drill and tap the driver side of the oil filter housing. Don't remember but perhaps 1/2 " NPT. It is not rocket science but just drill where you can expose the electric can probe to oil pressure.
I think many auto stores have a selection of gauges which should hold up. I once used JC Whitney with good results from Taiwan stuff. Not long ago I looked at the digital read outs. They are appealing and some very trick , but most appear mainland China which scares me . Upper range is great included data logging reports for PC review etc, but VERY expensive. I made an oil tube sensor for my KE thermometer and it worked . The results are taken from liquid oil not far from the oil sump plug. I got tired of oil splatter on my face and have not used it in a while. I think the readings were slightly below those of the sump plug probe. Bla bla bla:laughing:
bertsmobile1
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And while adding some more operator information might be useful, if you actually look at it regularly and notice it is outsie the normal operation range, they are really just worry boxes.
REmoving the cowls at regular intervals and cleaning off the dirt dust & debris would be a more worthwile use of your time.
All mower companies test the engines for running temperatures in extream conditions as do the engine suppliers.
I have never seen a mower with overheating problems that was full of oil with a clean engine block.
Now if you want to tinker then look at moving all of the stuff that makes it difficult to remove the covers to access the bare block so it is quick & easy to do.
On a few mowers I have moved the Baldwin type air filter to the ROP, bolted the finger guard to the cowel, cut down the debris screen to pass strait through the hole in the cowel and moved the fuel pump to bolt onto a spare mounting hole on the block.
On some I replace the cowel mounting bolts with wing nuts so the cover can be whipped off in a few minutes.
So now it is simply unscrew the mounting bolts, unplug the rectifier and the cover comes strait off. A quick blast with the air duster and wack the cover back on.
Then instructions for the customer to clean it weekly which most do since a 2 hour job needing 6 tools has now become a 10 minute fingers only job so it gets done.
REmoving the cowls at regular intervals and cleaning off the dirt dust & debris would be a more worthwile use of your time.
All mower companies test the engines for running temperatures in extream conditions as do the engine suppliers.
I have never seen a mower with overheating problems that was full of oil with a clean engine block.
Now if you want to tinker then look at moving all of the stuff that makes it difficult to remove the covers to access the bare block so it is quick & easy to do.
On a few mowers I have moved the Baldwin type air filter to the ROP, bolted the finger guard to the cowel, cut down the debris screen to pass strait through the hole in the cowel and moved the fuel pump to bolt onto a spare mounting hole on the block.
On some I replace the cowel mounting bolts with wing nuts so the cover can be whipped off in a few minutes.
So now it is simply unscrew the mounting bolts, unplug the rectifier and the cover comes strait off. A quick blast with the air duster and wack the cover back on.
Then instructions for the customer to clean it weekly which most do since a 2 hour job needing 6 tools has now become a 10 minute fingers only job so it gets done.
Honestly I love gauges and I worry too much. It is like a manual car with no tach...my early cars had that and their automatic counterparts had a tach....whatever. I clean the heatsinks and shrouds, but I still want to know the temp as I mow a lot in one session. Just trying to prolong an investment. How do you determine the optimal temp of the engine oil at full throttle while mowing?
Berts and IL ENG and I have a long running conversation over heat and the low end ac engines. Once again let me state I am ref point only when it comes to statistical fact as I have only owned one mower , the Craftsman dyt 4000 with Intek 24. You should never predict a political outcome here. Now stated, any universal truths from my babbling may be suspect.....BUT I will state adamantly what I have found with my unit. That under load in summer the oil temp runs up fairly quickly to 250F (which would be ok if stablized there), then to 280F regularly as the 3 bin grass containers fill up. At ambient here at around 85F I see indicated 290F-300F on the Beedee gauge and have posted pictures in this forum. When around 300F I stop for 5 min and let the fan run which reduces the oil temp 50F.
IL ENG has suggested my unit is unusual or needs rejetting. I am at 1800 ft, but plugs read ok , never burnt a valve. Yes I am a tinkerer and have enjoyed the gauges. Again I say an OIL PRESSUE gauge is useful and not a worry. Once accustomed to its reading it can suggest if your oil level is low-jump off immediately and check the stick.
The Intek runs 35-40 psi hot after 12 years on 1 acre mowing and hauling, 5W-30 Mobil 1. An owner running one of these big box unit SHOULD worry about it self destructing. I have said an ideal gauge would include a rubber hammer to bonk the owner on the head if necessary. A cheap red light can be easily rigged up with or besides the gauge.
The oil temp gauge speaks for itself. The sensor soaking and running in liquid pan oil is very enlightening. I have referee tested the gauge with my KE thermometer and did find it a little high. So perhaps indicated 300F is "only" 285F. Who wants that? Why do the better class mowers have oil coolers? Peace and brotherhood.:wink:
IL ENG has suggested my unit is unusual or needs rejetting. I am at 1800 ft, but plugs read ok , never burnt a valve. Yes I am a tinkerer and have enjoyed the gauges. Again I say an OIL PRESSUE gauge is useful and not a worry. Once accustomed to its reading it can suggest if your oil level is low-jump off immediately and check the stick.
The Intek runs 35-40 psi hot after 12 years on 1 acre mowing and hauling, 5W-30 Mobil 1. An owner running one of these big box unit SHOULD worry about it self destructing. I have said an ideal gauge would include a rubber hammer to bonk the owner on the head if necessary. A cheap red light can be easily rigged up with or besides the gauge.
The oil temp gauge speaks for itself. The sensor soaking and running in liquid pan oil is very enlightening. I have referee tested the gauge with my KE thermometer and did find it a little high. So perhaps indicated 300F is "only" 285F. Who wants that? Why do the better class mowers have oil coolers? Peace and brotherhood.:wink: