Kioti Battery immediately Drains

[NeedSomeHelp]

We have a Kioti LK 3054 Compact Tractor, Model TD1400,
Type: 3 cyl, Water Cooled, 4 cycle, Diesel
Engine Horsepower (Mfg. Est) 30.5 gross@2800 RPM
Displacement Starting System: 12 volt electric start w/glow plugs & decompression device

The Problem: When you turn the ignition key, the battery immediately drains; of course, no power, no start.

My husband has gone through 3 batteries, two new, when he realized a new battery wouldn't help, at this point. We have been calling for service for over a year now. Everyone seems to be busy? We have owned this tractor for three years without a problem. It was always kept in the barn.

Any suggestions? I could send a picture of any part of the tractor you'd like to see. Thank you for any help. I appreciate it!!

 

[IXLR8]

Just turning the key shouldn't kill the battery, suspect something more is going on. Need more details on what you have done and what happens when you turn the key. Does any light come on? Can you turn any lights on? Brake lights? Sounds a bit like a bad ground connection. Where are you located? Somebody local might be able to help.

 

[JoelD]

This link should about do it.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...2698-help-electrical-problem.html#post1411678

This seems to be a common problem. The connections need to be just about perfect.

Clean your battery cables, clean them, and then clean them again.

Remove the ground cable and be certain it's making a very good connection to the frame.

I am fairly certain you've got the same problem I did and others.

Search the forum.

Unfortunately you may have dismissed good batteries, I did, my original was perfectly fine.

Good luck,
Joel

 

[KS KIOTI]

Could be that your key switch went bad.

 

[mrutkaus]

A good way to clean battery terminals is to remove them and run a piece of rough sandpaper around inside them, wrapped around your finger. This often solves a problem such as yours.

As others said, how do you know the battery is bad?

One battery cable goes to a ground on the frame/engine; be sure to remove and clean that connection also. Putting a little grease or vaseline on the connections after you clean them helps to prevent future problems.

Also could be the ignition switch, might squirt some WD40 down thru the keyhole.

Mike

 

[NeedSomeHelp]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

We have called, so far, four repairmen. They all said that they are were busy and would get here when they could. We had appointments and no one has shown. This has been going on for over a year. We live in rural Idaho. There is no one else.

My husband said that when he turned the key, the batteries went instantly dead. The glow light before turning the key was barely on. He has used two brand new batteries.

My question now: Can the battery that discharged like that be charged up again?

My husband said no but he is not mechanically inclined. Not that I am but I can follow directions. He said that those brand new batteries are now useless. Is that correct? I won't try to charge them up until I hear back.

He also said that his terminals were clean but I snoke out there this morning and cleaned them with the sandpaper. They didn't look too clean to me. I checked as many fuses as I could find and their all ok.

So, is it possible to charge those batteries? Thanks.

 

[Highbeam]

Yes you can recharge the batteries. I suspect that they are still fully charged. Check both ends of the connections, not only at the battery but follow the wire to its other end and clean it too. Pay particular attention to the negative"-" cable and where it lands on the frame.

 

[Avondale]

In my experience, general duty batteries are well served by being completely drained and then "immediately" rechraged on a frequent basis. In fact, aboard conventional submarines which use bigger versions of car batteries (agreed, a wee bit more robust as well but the same technology), the main batts are intentionally drained and recharged 4 times per year, with few exceptions.

Leaving a battery in the discharged state is bad, terminally so, if left too long. The arguement will be defining long and too long. never the less, I'd suggest that you try recharging in any event.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Before getting into things too deep we first must know a couple things.

Do you have any form of a volt meter, a digital voltmeter being preferred? Do you feel comfortable using it in and around the tractor?

If the answer is yes to these problems, troubleshooting via voltage readings is not too hard.

 

[Gittyup]

If you or your husband don't feel confident/comfortable troubleshooting this, I think you should ask a local car mechanic to take a look, or someone you know who has some experience with such things. While a car mechanic may not know much about the tractor, he can tell you a lot about the battery.

And a volt/ohm meter, or at least a continuity light, is a must for trouble shooting these kinds of problems. It's very unlikely that the batteries are dead though.