RustyCannon
New member
Just wanted to warn folks not to try a block heater in your TYM 353.
I recently tried adding a block heater to my TYM 353HST. The engine in that tractor is a Mitsubishi 4 cylinder diesel model S4L2. I found that a company called Phillips and Temro makes one for that engine under the brand name "ZeroStart". The heater model they specify for that engine is 3100078. Their instructions specify that the heater should be placed in the frost plug hole at the right rear of the engine. It is the only frost plug hole that I could find that was big enough for a heater. It is 35mm diameter. Other plugs I found were all about 1/2" in diameter.
I bought the specified heater from Woody'sAutoSupply on line: http://www.woodys-auto-supply.com/online-auto-parts-catalog.asp?cat=ZRO-000.
The heater installed fairly easily. I followed all the instructions, including making sure the hole was clean and burr-free. Instructions said to lube the o-ring with silicone grease and I did that. I also put some in the hole as the instructions said. The only thing that didn't seem to go right on installation was that when I tightened the screw that uses a molly-type arrangement to hold the heater in the frost plug hole, I could not keep the heater oriented to 11 O'Clock as the instructions specified. It kept turning up to 12 O'Clock. I thought it was the torque of turning the screw that was causing it to rotate. It wasn't. I'll explain more later on that.
After I finished it, I refilled the coolant. The heater was leaking slightly. So I drained the coolant again, pulled the heater, tried to find something wrong, couldn't, and I did the installation over. This time it leaked worse.
Thinking that I had done something wrong, even though there was no visible sign of a problem, I ordered another heater of the same model number. That one would not even come close to seating in the hole. The heating element on it was 1/4" longer than the first heater.
It turns out that the reason the first one would not stay orientated correctly was because it was hitting the #4 cylinder wall on the inside of the engine. The second heater was also hitting either the #3 or #4 cylinder walls depending on how it was turned.
I contacted the retailer to see if they would accept a return on the heaters and they refused and said I would have to go directly to the manufacturer.
So now I've contacted the manufacturer and offered to send the heaters to them along with my hand drawn diagrams so they can figure out:
1. What heater might fit this engine, if any.
2. Is the problem that this heater is the wrong one for this engine, or is the quality control from the manufacturer so poor that the heaters are just way out of spec?
I am currently communicating with the Director of Sales for Phillips and Temro. I will keep this forum apprised of the outcome.
I'd like to share also that my brother is a long time diesel mechanic. He worked mostly on heavy equipment with big enginers - CAT and Cummins, etc. He was the one that recommended the ZeroStart heaters. He said that he had used them for years and never had a problem. I had hoped that the block heater would work because it would more directly heat the water near the engine head than a lower radiator hose heater.
In the meantime, I have replaced the original frost plug in the engine and I bought a Kat's lower radiator hose heater (1-1/2") from NAPA. It is installed and working. The radiator hose is infinitely more accessible than the RR frost plug and that installation took all of 15 minutes not counting draining and refilling the coolant.
I recently tried adding a block heater to my TYM 353HST. The engine in that tractor is a Mitsubishi 4 cylinder diesel model S4L2. I found that a company called Phillips and Temro makes one for that engine under the brand name "ZeroStart". The heater model they specify for that engine is 3100078. Their instructions specify that the heater should be placed in the frost plug hole at the right rear of the engine. It is the only frost plug hole that I could find that was big enough for a heater. It is 35mm diameter. Other plugs I found were all about 1/2" in diameter.
I bought the specified heater from Woody'sAutoSupply on line: http://www.woodys-auto-supply.com/online-auto-parts-catalog.asp?cat=ZRO-000.
The heater installed fairly easily. I followed all the instructions, including making sure the hole was clean and burr-free. Instructions said to lube the o-ring with silicone grease and I did that. I also put some in the hole as the instructions said. The only thing that didn't seem to go right on installation was that when I tightened the screw that uses a molly-type arrangement to hold the heater in the frost plug hole, I could not keep the heater oriented to 11 O'Clock as the instructions specified. It kept turning up to 12 O'Clock. I thought it was the torque of turning the screw that was causing it to rotate. It wasn't. I'll explain more later on that.
After I finished it, I refilled the coolant. The heater was leaking slightly. So I drained the coolant again, pulled the heater, tried to find something wrong, couldn't, and I did the installation over. This time it leaked worse.
Thinking that I had done something wrong, even though there was no visible sign of a problem, I ordered another heater of the same model number. That one would not even come close to seating in the hole. The heating element on it was 1/4" longer than the first heater.
It turns out that the reason the first one would not stay orientated correctly was because it was hitting the #4 cylinder wall on the inside of the engine. The second heater was also hitting either the #3 or #4 cylinder walls depending on how it was turned.
I contacted the retailer to see if they would accept a return on the heaters and they refused and said I would have to go directly to the manufacturer.
So now I've contacted the manufacturer and offered to send the heaters to them along with my hand drawn diagrams so they can figure out:
1. What heater might fit this engine, if any.
2. Is the problem that this heater is the wrong one for this engine, or is the quality control from the manufacturer so poor that the heaters are just way out of spec?
I am currently communicating with the Director of Sales for Phillips and Temro. I will keep this forum apprised of the outcome.
I'd like to share also that my brother is a long time diesel mechanic. He worked mostly on heavy equipment with big enginers - CAT and Cummins, etc. He was the one that recommended the ZeroStart heaters. He said that he had used them for years and never had a problem. I had hoped that the block heater would work because it would more directly heat the water near the engine head than a lower radiator hose heater.
In the meantime, I have replaced the original frost plug in the engine and I bought a Kat's lower radiator hose heater (1-1/2") from NAPA. It is installed and working. The radiator hose is infinitely more accessible than the RR frost plug and that installation took all of 15 minutes not counting draining and refilling the coolant.
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