Hi Mike and Dave and everyone else,
Well, I have been trying to find the problem. Here is what I have found so far..
You guys are dead on that this model runs hotter than those of the past. But...
The fan doesn't seem to have a clutch and won't move when the engine is off.
I made sure the reservoir was full and did make sure there were no air pockets. It idled with a constant temp and when under a load everything seems fine for about 15-20 minutes... Then the temp gauge is back in the yellow, the cap popped off the reservoir, spewed and low on coolant again... So I called the dealer again. We figured out the cap was wrong, so I drove out and picked up the correct one.
Filled again, new cap on. Everything looked very promising for about 10 minutes. The temp gauge was 10 degrees celcius cooler. After about 15 minutes the gauge started creeping up close to the yellow, so I called it quits. When I got back to the house the water was close to boiling. After it cooled, I checked the reservoir and found it had lost about 1/2 the water in the resrvoir.
I also noticed there is an oil leak on the back of the motor that has lost enough oit to have created trails on both sides and back of the motor down past the floor of the cab and a small puddle on the sheet metal. The oil looks to be coming from either the valve cover or between the head and block.
All of this and the tractor now has 416 hours on it... 2007 model. I guess I see why the low hours if you can only use it 20 minutes at a time!
I really appreciate your
help.
Thanks!
Jim