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Mule overheats
A friend gave me a Kawasaki Mule, it runs great except for a major overheating problem.
It heats up...no circulation of coolant. When top hose is "relieved"--that is, when a clamp is loosened or the radiator cap cracked and burped--circulation begins. We detected this by feeling the pipe running below from the engine to the radiator. It stays cold...no circulation...until the air lock is broken...and then it warms. The radiator cap has been replaced, the hoses checked, the pump checked, the radiator flushed.... I have even driven it without a radiator cap...and yet it still overheats.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Dick Day
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Mule overheats
Does it have a cooling fan? If so, does it ever come on?
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Mule overheats
You may have airin the system. Also make sure your water pump is not damaged. Then again, your thermastat my be bad. If you dont want to check all this yoursel. Take it to your dealer.
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Mule overheats
Dick, this is something I found on the net. Hope it helps.
"If your fan is not coming on, chances are that someone did not get the air out of the cooling system. There is a switch in the radiator that controls the fan, if no coolant is in contact with the sensor then your fan wont come on and the engine gets hot. To solve this you have to run the Mule until it gets warm and then park it on a hill with the nose up in the air. Let it cool completly down then check your coolant level on level ground. 9 out of ten times that will solve the problem. Otherwise it is a stuck thermostat."
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Mule overheats
Yes, it does have a fan but am now seeing that it only comes on after we have burped the air out of the system.
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Mule overheats
The water pump was checked by the dealer at the same time they installed the new thermostat.
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Mule overheats
Thanks. I believe what you found describes the problem exactly. As soon as the temps climb above zero, I'll try what your post suggests
Dick
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Mule overheats
Well, I've tried everything suggested and still it overheats. I removed the thermostat so a sticking thermostat can't be the problem. Until I 'burp' the upper hose, no water is reaches the fan switch so the fan never kicks on.
Without yanking the water pump out of the engine, is there any way to test to see if it's working?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks!
Dick Day
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Mule overheats
I know nothing on your mule but have know there was a car model that required the filling and flushing to fill their system under pressure. If not there was air pocket where the water pump could not pull the water.
My brother had a tractor wich did very much like what you are describing and a lot of his radiator was clogged. There was enough open that taking the bottom hose off let water come out but water hose in top was not large enough source to test the radiator flow.
Wish you well.
kt
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Mule overheats
I'm jumping in a little late on this, but there's something I'm unclear about here.
Are you saying that an air pocket keeps developing over & over, and this is consistantly preventing the fan from coming on?
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