Pasquali 988

Just bought a much neglected Pasquali 988. This is air cooled 2 cylinder Lombardini diesel, which i am not familiar with. Runs good and has plenty of power with exceptional stability, which i need.

I use a chipper a great deal and wondwr about standing operation of an air cooled engine with no way to monitor temps.

Thinking of installing an exhaust gas temp monitor. So what would be a maximum temp to look for? Also, if anyone has air cooled diesel experience, how does ypur engine monitor air temps (before I drill and tap my exhaust manifold)?

Also would like feedback on oil temperatures, as i have no working oil pressure gauge either.

On a tractor it doesn't make much difference between running the tractor stationary, or moving through a field. We're only talking about a few MPH here at most. Not like driving 65MPH down a highway which can push enough air through a radiator to assist in cooling.

Yes, I understand this is air cooled but the principles are the same. Speed generates airflow, and tractors don't have much speed.

As far as the specific brand of your tractor and engine, I doubt you will be able to find much specific expertise on this forum. Not many "Pasquali" tractors in the United States, which is where the lion's share of the members are located. Most air cooled experience will be from older Deutz tractors here in the USA, and not much of that. Deutz were not big sellers.

From what I've seen on air cooled engines in general, it is a good idea to periodically remove the cooling baffles and shrouds and make sure the fins on the engine are clean, and no animals have built nests that could hinder airflow.

I would also replace the oil pressure gauge with something that works ASAP. Use a generic automotive oil pressure gauge if you can't find a direct replacement for the original gauge. Oil pressure is oil pressure and any oil pressure gauge will measure it.

Being a tractor, it does not depend on movement to keep the engine cool.

It will have a fan of some kind, be it flywheel fins or belt driven. As long as that is working it will
move plenty of air to keep it cool. The thing you have to watch is the air flow being blocked with grass
or in your case blowing fines from the chipper. Oil leaks are also a problem with air cooled engines.
Any oil leak will cause dirt to stick and pack, blocking air flow. A regular part of maintenance should
be opening up the shrouding to clean any obstructions.

As for an oil gauge, yes it needs a gauge. But in your application, chances are no one will be sitting
there watching it! Might look into a safety switch to kill the engine or horn to alert the operator.
Remember if you install a safety switch, it needs an override to get it started without having to crank
until it gets pressure.

One thing about air cooled, they do not run consistent temps as liquid cooled do. Synthetic oil handles
this best. Also an idling down without a load for a few minutes is a good idea when shutting down. It
helps prevent temp spiking at shut down.

I had a 988 in the past. Check that the cylinder fins are clean, other than that, I wouldnt worry about overheating too much. The only issue I
ever had was running a feed mill that was way too much load for the tractor, the muffler was cherry red about halfway down. Lost the head
gasket on #1 in that episode, but i dont fault the tractor for that.



There should be an oil pressure light. Shouldnt be that hard to fix to get that working if the parts are there.



The only issue I recall with it was the shaft for the PTO in the articulation joint went out a couple times. We used that little tractor for a lot of
PTO work on a wood processor, and making hay. The best thing about it was you couldnt put in 5 gallons of fuel a day.

Oil temperature in my experience ran about the same as the coolant temperature or just a bit higher. My semi has both in it so it was easy to watch both and that was what I saw. This also had an oil cooler heat exchanger for the coolant to help cool the oil so that may have had a big impact on the oil temperature.

(quoted from post at 05:36:56 11/01/22) Just bought a much neglected Pasquali 988. This is air cooled 2 cylinder Lombardini diesel, which i am not familiar with. Runs good and has plenty of power with exceptional stability, which i need.

I use a chipper a great deal and wondwr about standing operation of an air cooled engine with no way to monitor temps.

Thinking of installing an exhaust gas temp monitor. So what would be a maximum temp to look for? Also, if anyone has air cooled diesel experience, how does ypur engine monitor air temps (before I drill and tap my exhaust manifold)?

Also would like feedback on oil temperatures, as i have no working oil pressure gauge either.

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Hi an exhaust temp gauge will only tell you nothing about engine cylinder temps only what the exhaust temp is and that's dependent on fuel air ratio, if you want to know engine temp a cylinder head temp gauge an oil temp gauge is helpful but reakky over kill for that engine as posted keep the cooling fins clean and the ducting in place and clean,

All good info. I definitely checked the shroud and fan right off and its all good. Ill stop worrying about that and worry about something else. Everything on this machine is cable driven since its articulated and everything needs adjusting. Oil pressure is easy to solve. Tach has no cable to be seen and meter reads 42 hours, somim guessing it was removed by the original dealer when they put on the front loader.

Thanks guys!

I have a 998 never had a heating problem with it.

Vtmbz ,Pasquali,Good engine,I would definitely install a a new (Stewart Warner) oil pressure gauge.Then a oil temperature gauge and maybe a oil pressure shut down switch for extra safety.Good luck with it a good machine will run all day on a dribble of diesel fuel.

duetz makes air cooled 100+ HP tractors so i am sure the Pasquali is fine. that said, i would love to find me one of those older articulating ones, they just look cool and the kids would love it i dont seem to many of them every pop up