Tractor oil recommendation

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citrustaco

Joined
Apr 21, 2005
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Fort Myers
Hey guys,

I have a massey ferguson 4253, and was wondering what you guys would recommend.

I live in southwest Florida, so it's hot. I am a citrus grower, and in the summer where I spray almost continually my tractor runs hot. The needle is always near the red. The radiator is clean, and I have enough coolant; I am just maxing out the tractor.

I currently feed it with rotella t6.

What do you guys think?

Thank you,
David
 
All things considered it sounds like a good plan. How many hours between changes? Is your sprayer oversized for your tractor hp?

Of course I would try and reduce the engine and hydraulic temps if possible. My only concern is such high temps without a restriction airflow or coolant.
 
Is that needle that is always near the red an oil temperature gauge? And if so, what is that temperature.

If you had a gauge that showed you what the temperature of the oil was, that information would go a long way in letting you research what the viscosity of the oil was at temperature. A google search will bring up graphs of oil viscosity vs temperature. You want the viscosity at temperature to be 10 or somewhat above. Probably do not want it to be above 20 at temperature. You could look up 5W-40 and the temperature of the oil if you knew it, and see what the viscosity of that oil was at temperature. That would tell you if you require a thicker oil.

A UOA would tell you if the oil is holding up.

Sounds like any additional cooling you could add (oil, radiator, or fan) would be a good idea.
 
I took out the thermostat in an attempt to reduce the temps, didn't do anything.

My OIC is 250 hours. I should probably get a UOA to get an idea of what's going on.

and the temp gauge, is coolant. I have no idea what the exact number is.

my sprayer does have the biggest fan that could fit the model.

thanks,
David
 
What specific sprayer are you using? You may simply be requiring more torque from your engine then it would like to give.

How many hours on your MF?
 
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I would say T6 is hard to beat... Field tractors rarely heat under full load unless something is wrong.

How have you been cleaning the radiator?

I'm not sure about your model, but the ones I have worked on have swing away A/C and oil coolers. These must be swung out so you can clean in between them. These should all be blown out extremely well with compressed air. This solves 95% of heating issues in my experience.
 
Yeah, I'd verify the temp because sometimes sending units or gauges fail and read incorrectly. Sometimes it's just as simple as a corroded connection at the sender. Besides that, as was said above, verify the fan operation and airflow, as well as coolant concentration (50/50) and no internal plugging of radiator. If everything is double checked, no assumptions made, then if could be the sprayer is just a 100 percent effort for your tractor, in which case it will run hot on hot days. When you operate under those conditions, that's when the lubricants used and the maintenance will keep the tractor going longer. T6 5W40 is probably a good choice.
 
I thank you all for the responses

Cleaning or getting the radiator rebuilt would probably not be a bad idea.

I will add that when I spray through the night or in the winter, my temp gauge hovers a little above the middle.

And I'm glad people agree with my choice of T6

thank you,
David
 
Are you running engine RPM’s high enough to equal 540 RPM at the PTO (assuming your sprayer is design to be run at 540 PTO RPM’s)? If not the radiator may not be getting enough air flow.
 
Lots of good advice in the above posts. I'll just reinforce the caution to ensure the air cleaner element is clean and functional.
 
I do run at 540, 100 gpa, 1.25mph

and I did throw a new air filter in last fall.

the temp problem has got to be weather related.

Thank you,
David
 
Interesting spray set up. I know alot about spraying herbicides with boom sprayers (hay fields-rangeland etc) but know zero about orchards. Are thoses pesticide of some type? or what type of chemical?
 
Your rad needs to be cleaned on the inside. The ends of the tubes get a scale buildup after a time and even though the rad looks very clean on the outside and is full of anti freeze it doesn't have enough flow through the tubes on the inside. Take it to a reputable rad shop for cleaning. Don't know how old your tractor is but I have seen this problem develop on a Cat tracked excavator when it was just 3 years old. Drain off enough anti freeze so that the ends of the tubes are exposed and I would be surprised if you found the ends not covered with a white scaly type build up. Hope that helps. Although I have been wrong before.
 
Originally Posted By: sdan27
Does your tractor have a fan clutch and is it working?

+1 for this recommendation.

If it has a clutch type fan you can check it. When you shut it down when it is hot, the clutch should be locked up,and the fan should be hard to turn.

The clutch for a clutch fan has friction material inside of it, similar to break shoes, and there is a thermal spring that causes this break shoe to grab when hot. After years of use the internal friction shoes wears down and will slip too much. The fan will not turn as fast as it should, and the engine will run too hot.

In general if it is running too hot, and you know the radiator is not blocked inside, and the water pump is working, and the cooling system is not low, and the clutch is more than four years old, it probably should be replaced.

Also, most applications have a heavy duty option for the clutch fan. The heavy duty clutch will come on sooner and slip less. The fan will turn more, and cool better than when the unit was new.
 
Hi,
sometime the fan clutch is silicon fluid filled and this can leak out. As well they can be sourced to operate at various temperatures to full lock up

Such clutches were a source of serious cooling system disfunction for DB's heavy trucks here in OZ several years ago
 
Originally Posted By: citrustaco
I took out the thermostat in an attempt to reduce the temps, didn't do anything.



Did you put the thermostat back in? I hope you did, because it has to be there to force coolant to go into the radiator.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: citrustaco
I took out the thermostat in an attempt to reduce the temps, didn't do anything.



Did you put the thermostat back in? I hope you did, because it has to be there to force coolant to go into the radiator.


How?

With it out, the coolant should flow just like it would when it was open when hot.
 
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