This is a subject that has nothing to do with a Picoscope....not even remotely....

I have a John Deere 2130 which I use at my farm.........more a park than a farm.

I purchased the tractor in 2000 and put 40k into its restoration....it is like new.

For some time over the period of a day the coolant level slowly dissipates and the tractor starts to run hot.

I removed the thermostat, and replaced the radiator cap without difference.

Today after flushing the cooling system I added an overflow bottle to the radiator over flow hose, I put some indicator fluid into the overflow bottle to see if carbolic acid was being produce3d from a combustion leak.

To my surprise both the amount of water which gathered in the overflow was little and as the water that was expelled through the overflow hose that was entering the indicator fluid did not change the colour of the indicator fluid to yellow from blue.

The question is, if I had a combustion leak, would I expect CO2 to be mixing with the coolant...yes

Why is it that the coolant is disappearing at a level greater that what is accumulating in the overflow bottle?

I suspect that the water pump may not be circulating the coolant sufficiently, the engine sure feels hotter (when touching by hand) (remember I'm at the farm in the Tractor Shed) than the radiator.

I'd welcome any comment......

Incidentally:

The 2130 is a 4 cylinder wet sleeve 4.0Liter motor with Lucas CAV type diesel
injection

Is your oil level rising, do a rad pressure test hot and cold at 20 psi. Put it back to zero pressure, how quick does pressure build when the tractor idles or is revved up?? Put a bleeding funnel on the radiator, any bubbles come in to it, even when loaded up? Ive never had any real accurate success with co2 testing on diesels.

Andy

What if a dribbler leak is flowing or dripping onto something hot that evaporates it?

DzlTec wrote on Apr 12^th, 2015 at 3:47pm:

Is your oil level rising, do a rad pressure test hot and cold at 20 psi. Put it back to zero pressure, how quick does pressure build when the tractor idles or is revved up?? Put a bleeding funnel on the radiator, any bubbles come in to it, even when loaded up? Ive never had any real accurate success with co2 testing on diesels. Andy

Andy,

Why don't you come up to the farm for a BBQ....

I always cook the sausages first.

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DzlTec wrote on Apr 12^th, 2015 at 3:47pm:

Is your oil level rising, do a rad pressure test hot and cold at 20 psi. Put it back to zero pressure, how quick does pressure build when the tractor idles or is revved up?? Put a bleeding funnel on the radiator, any bubbles come in to it, even when loaded up? Ive never had any real accurate success with co2 testing on diesels. Andy

Andy,

I was not sure about the Tee-Kay indicator fluid on it....I see that you do not have confidence in it...
I did flush out all of the coolant first.

The temperature rises faster when the loads are high.

I will go up and follow your good guidelines and report the results.

The sausages are special by the way.

No issue with Oil level rising

fisher wrote on Apr 12^th, 2015 at 6:01pm:

What if a dribbler leak is flowing or dripping onto something hot that evaporates it?

No Fisher....no dribbler leak....but that will not stop me from cooking a BBQ for you or any other takers if you are in Australia.

   I would enjoy that.
  Have you a way to pressurize your coolant system? It is going somewhere.

Sounds like Andy has it right.