Rebuilt Engine Runs Hot

I purchased my '87 444 this past spring at a consignment auction and have been working on it ever since. I have learned much from all you gentlemen on this site and this has been helpful in the rebuild process, as I am not much of a mechanic.

I now have my tractor running and am breaking in the rebuilt engine. I have about 10 hrs. on it and have change oil twice and expect to take it easy on the engine for another 5 hours. I have not run the engine over 50% throttle, with only very light mowing.

I feel the engine is running too hot. Too guage how hot, I used a stack thermometer I use on my wood burning stove. After running the engine for 15 minutes with the mower running, I turned the engine off and placed the magnetic thermometer on the engine in the area of the engine name plates. I get a reading of 125 deg. F. The hood gets too hot to hold your hand on it. The metal below the controls, in front of your feet, is warm. Everything seems hotter than it should. Is this normal for a newly rebuilt Kohler motor?

The motor has a new std. piston & rings, and rod. A friend of mine helped with these critical parts of the rebuild - he is competant in this type of work.

Do you feel I have a problem here? Should I shut her down until I figure out the problem; if there is a problem. Or will this engine cool off after it has "seated in"? Or maybe this heat normal?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have. I enjoy this site a lot and look forward to learning more about the great tractors in which we all have an interest.