John Deere 420 Garden tractor start issue

[formflier]

OK...so..my kids ran the tractor out of gas and then I think they ran the battery down by cranking the engine a bunch trying to restart it. It sat for a few days and now only makes a clicking or humming noise instead of turning over the engine.

The battery woudn't accept a charge with the battery cables installed. I took the battery out and fully charged it. Put it back in and only got a weird humming noise when trying to start...no more clicking. Battery connections are cleand and tight. Ground connection to engine is tight. Near as I can tell connection of red cable to starter is tight. I've tapped on the starter...and various other places while trying to start it...no joy.

Yes there is plenty of gas now...but basically can't figure out why engine won't turn over.

When putting the key to turn the "power light"...or gen light...main yellow light...only comes on very dim.

Anyone with any ideas?? Fuses seem OK...not sure how to check solenoid.

Allen

 

[formflier]

So..after looking at my repair manual.

It would seem that the "Circuit Breaker" and solenoid are right together.

When I was feeling that while someone else attempted to crank there was a humming or vibration coming from those components.

I will try to find a test light tomorrow and perform some of the described tests.

If they improperly tried to jump the engine or cranked it for too long..could that have taken out the solenoid or circuit breaker??

Does the dim light give any clues??

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

[formflier]

thanks for the help..I unfortunatley/fortunately know for sure that my battery is good. I took it down to interstate battery and had them load test it...it's rock solid.

So...I'm off to poke around with my test light and try to verify that cables are good.

 

[formflier]

Bad connection it is!!!

For sure the positive connection to the battery is problematic. Test light was very random when poking around on it.. I cleaned it and banged it down on battery post really good and got it really tight...with it turned "just" right...and the tractor started.

Plan is to go get a new connection and put it on tomorrow. It looks like a moled one piece thing from the facory. Think I can just cut it off..strip back some wire..and put on a new one?? Will check with deere parts place tomorrow.

Also cleaned ground connection to the engine really good. I may be getting a better brighter test light for that connection after cleaning it... So not sure if that played a part or not...but for sure the positive battery connection is an issue to be dealt with.

Thanks for the help.

Allen