Drill a 1/8" Hole in your thermostat

[Ron Hill]

Guys : I saw this in Ken's listing of engine items and would like to bring it to everybody's attention:

See Service Bulletin #107, Kubota Tstats likely won't have a bypass hole, so drill a 1/8" hole, or two, thru the inside edge
of its flange so there is a constant coolant flow thru the exhaust manifold when the Tstat is closed.


What a great idea!!  Didn't know that bulletin was out there.

A thought Ron

[KWKloeber]

Ron
TY!! for reminding me -- I added pics showing where to drill them.

[waughoo]

I bought a T-stat kit from Gallery Marine (local universal parts and service dealer) and it came with the housing gasket and a t-stat with a hole in it.  With my engine's forward rise, i put the hole at the fwd most end before putting the gasket and housing on.  I also changed out the bolts to socket head capscrews.  The ones i took out were nearly all corroded.  I used a tap to clean the threads and then a generous amount of tefgel on the threads and shank of the bolt.  All turned out well.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : That small hole is especially needed for those C34 owner that fire up the engine, move out of the slip and only run the engine a short time before shutting the engine down. 

Immediately putting up the sails and not letting the engine getup and run at operating temperature is not good for any engine.  At least that small hole allows some coolant to get in to the cooling system system. 

Thanks Ken for posting that info!!  Stu might consider that post for critical updates!!

A few thoughts

[KWKloeber]

I used a tap to clean the threads and then a generous amount of tefgel on the threads and shank of the bolt.  All turned out well.

So long as the TStat cap was brought up, I don't recall if I had mentioned before -- I have a brethren who (from corrosion) has a Temp gauge that has read low since forever and he just lets it go on and on.  The bond on the TStap cap (or lack of a perfect one) is especially sensitive to the temp gauge.  The oil switch isn't that much an issue as is having an incorrect impedance on the temp sender circuit.  Two ways to fix this:

Clean up the mating surfaces of Tstat cap and bolt heads, taking off corrosion and/or paint on both.  Use a star washer under the bolt heads to get a good bite into the metal of the cap.  Then paint over the heads to seal the mating surfaces and prevent corrosion from sneaking in between there.

Or, use a bond on the Temp sender (like I put on each new harness) [but my buddy doesn't want the "bother" to install one!!]   A convenient location is to the alt neg terminal (cus we ALL have installed a neg alt cable.)

[waughoo]

Or, use a bond on the Temp sender (like I put on each new harness) [but my buddy doesn't want the "bother" to install one!!]   A convenient location is to the alt neg terminal (cus we ALL have installed a neg alt cable.)

Excellent idea!  Mine is working now but this is good to know about.