3510 electrical question

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

This weekend I was working along, punching holes in the clay and setting posts for my new pole barn.
I turned the tractor off and an hour later when I went to restart it to clean up the jobsite for the evening, the battery was dead as a doornail.
Yesterday after the rain stopped and the ground dried enough to not be soup any more I tried to jump start it with my Dakota. It would start to turn over, but obviously I don't have enough alternator on that 3.7L v6 to do enough good.
I've heard other folks have had alternator problems with their 2810 & 3510's, but never with this few of hours (had it 6 months, under 60 hours on the meter)
any advice or suggestions other than "buy a battery charger and see how long it'll go this time"?

thanks!

[Secret Squirrel]

Originally Posted by Erik_in_Hoyt

This weekend I was working along, punching holes in the clay and setting posts for my new pole barn.
I turned the tractor off and an hour later when I went to restart it to clean up the jobsite for the evening, the battery was dead as a doornail.
Yesterday after the rain stopped and the ground dried enough to not be soup any more I tried to jump start it with my Dakota. It would start to turn over, but obviously I don't have enough alternator on that 3.7L v6 to do enough good.
I've heard other folks have had alternator problems with their 2810 & 3510's, but never with this few of hours (had it 6 months, under 60 hours on the meter)
any advice or suggestions other than "buy a battery charger and see how long it'll go this time"?

thanks!

I have heard of alternator problems as a key concern on these TYM made tractors, although I never had such a problem on my 2005 3510. It sounds like you are still under warranty and this is a quick and painless fix. I'd charge it up and get it to the dealer as soon as possible.

Rusty

[Sergei]

Originally Posted by Erik_in_Hoyt

This weekend I was working along, punching holes in the clay and setting posts for my new pole barn.
I turned the tractor off and an hour later when I went to restart it to clean up the jobsite for the evening, the battery was dead as a doornail.
Yesterday after the rain stopped and the ground dried enough to not be soup any more I tried to jump start it with my Dakota. It would start to turn over, but obviously I don't have enough alternator on that 3.7L v6 to do enough good.
I've heard other folks have had alternator problems with their 2810 & 3510's, but never with this few of hours (had it 6 months, under 60 hours on the meter)
any advice or suggestions other than "buy a battery charger and see how long it'll go this time"?

thanks!

Sounds more likely you have a battery with a shorted cell, take it out and see if it will take a charge or have it tested. You've got more than enough alternator in the Dakota to do the job.

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

thanks, guys - and I also emailed my dealership to see which way they want me to jump. (more testing or bring it to them)

[jpm]

check your cables for corrosion and or loseness.i had the same problem and after a new battery i found the real problem

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

that was the first thing I checked - and would have been very surprised to find problems along those lines on a machine that I took delivery on 5 months ago.

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

I got some 4 gauge jumper cables (just in case the ones I had weren't up to snuff), hooked it up to the Dakota, and it fired right up.
Ran it for about 45 minutes taking care of some chores, parked it where I could get a charger to it with no problems, turned it off and tried to fire it back up -- dead.
Obviously it's not charging, which suggests an alternator issue, so I hooked it up to a charger and will check it tomorrow to see if it will start.
If it starts, I will trailer it into town and see if I can get Autozone or O'Reilley's to hook it up to their diagnostic machne to tell me which part of the starting or electrical system is acting up before I haul it the 150 miles to the dealership I bought it from.

[Secret Squirrel]

Originally Posted by Erik_in_Hoyt

I got some 4 gauge jumper cables (just in case the ones I had weren't up to snuff), hooked it up to the Dakota, and it fired right up.
Ran it for about 45 minutes taking care of some chores, parked it where I could get a charger to it with no problems, turned it off and tried to fire it back up -- dead.
Obviously it's not charging, which suggests an alternator issue, so I hooked it up to a charger and will check it tomorrow to see if it will start.
If it starts, I will trailer it into town and see if I can get Autozone or O'Reilley's to hook it up to their diagnostic machne to tell me which part of the starting or electrical system is acting up before I haul it the 150 miles to the dealership I bought it from.

Good luck Eric. Sounds like you are on the right track. Let's hope that 150 mile trek can somehow be avoided.

Rusty

[Sergei]

Originally Posted by Erik_in_Hoyt

I got some 4 gauge jumper cables (just in case the ones I had weren't up to snuff), hooked it up to the Dakota, and it fired right up.
Ran it for about 45 minutes taking care of some chores, parked it where I could get a charger to it with no problems, turned it off and tried to fire it back up -- dead.
Obviously it's not charging, which suggests an alternator issue, so I hooked it up to a charger and will check it tomorrow to see if it will start.
If it starts, I will trailer it into town and see if I can get Autozone or O'Reilley's to hook it up to their diagnostic machne to tell me which part of the starting or electrical system is acting up before I haul it the 150 miles to the dealership I bought it from.

I'm not sure by the posting if you've removed the battery and had it tested because that would be the easiest thing to do, a shorted cell may not show itself until a load is put to it. I had a battery which was three years old that failed this way. Took a charge but then failed the minute the key was turned and jumping from another vehicle made no different.

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

so far I've checked all my connections & wiring.
jumped the tractor to make sure it really would start.
after jump starting it I ran it for about 45 minutes so if the alternator was going to do anything it would, turned it off, then tried to restart immediately after - and it wouldn't.
then I hooked it up to a charger and let that run it's diagnostic - and it said the battery was OK. (did not remove the battery from the tractor)
When fully charged, the battery supplied 12.8 V (not under load)
Then I waited 3 days to see if it would hold a charge -- and it did. Started right up like there had never been a problem. This suggests to me the battery does not have a bad cell.

At this point my next step is to haul the tractor the 20+ miles into town and have the charging system checked at an auto parts store, because they provide the service free - and that should give me the information I need to talk to the folks I bought it from for my warranty repair claim, since they're 150+ miles from home and I'd be pretty unhappy if I got it there only to find out I had a bad cell on the battery or a bad connection.