GC 2300 wont start

[irvingj]

I'll go with the broken ground. Mine was becoming more & more difficult to start over a period of time, and then stopped cranking altogether. Advice on this forum mentioned the ground strap.... which is stranded, and the strands had been breaking, a few at a time, over a year or two. When the last couple of pieces broke, everything electrical would work EXCEPT the starter.

Replaced the ground cable (with a slightly longer one), and added a second on the other side for "insurance." Tractor then started like it just received a new battery! That starter pulls a boatload of amps, and it ALL has to pass through that ground strap- no other ground is heavy enough for it.

Couple years later now, with 350 hrs, and all is still good. I love that little tractor!

 

[Ray 3rd]

I cleaned and reconnected all the ground connections including loosening the starter and running a piece of emery cloth between the starter and mounting bracket, all the fusses are good and the seat and PTO safety switched work. I did try jumping it without success but I wanted to clean all the connections before I replace a three hundred dollar starter. My ignition switch has not worked right in a year or more and I will start there with a new one.
Up till the last day I ran it everything worked fine, I was turning it on and off to position large logs in a wood splitter and one time it just clicked a couple times, then I tried restarting it and it started, Then the next time it did it again but there was a click and a faint sizzle heard around my left foot area sitting on the tractor and nothing after that. I found nothing visible burned and no odor of anything burning...

 

[ray66v]

Before you replace the starter, you can check both the hot and the ground connections with a set of jumper cables.

Run a jumper cable from the negative terminal of the battery, to a mounting bolt for the starter, or other spot on the starter that is a good ground. Try and start the tractor. If it starts, you have a bad ground.

Take a jumper cable attached to the positive terminal on battery, and touch the other end to the battery terminal on the starter. If it engages and tries to crank, your starter is not the problem.

If power is supplied to the smaller start terminal of the solenoid, but it does not engage, try jumping it. You can jump the solenoid, with a jumper cable across the two large terminals.

If you decide the starter is bad, look for a local re-builder. They can also test it, and save you lots of money rebuilding it.

These faults can be frustrating, especially if the problem is intermittent.

 

[Ray 3rd]

I fixed my GC 2300 with a new ignition switch

 

[irvingj]

All right! Nice to know you got it figured out; thanks for the update.

You might want to look at your ground cable anyway, if you haven't already-- some of the 2300's had one that was a bit on the short side, so when the engine shakes it puts a lot of stress on the cable.

 

[ray66v]

Thanks, noted.

I believe this is the first failure here of such.

 

[massey driver]

On my GC 2300 I had other ign issues but was able to take the switch apart and clean it up.It had gotten corroded inside so I was able to get away with just cleaning the contact points and then put some dialetic grease inside,put it back together and its been good to go.I think my issue was no headlights.I'am cheap so I'll take stuff like that apart and try to fix it before buying new!! LOL Larry

 

[irvingj]

"I'am cheap so I'll take stuff like that apart and try to fix it before buying new!!" Nothing wrong with that, Larry... same here!

 

[MFGC2300]

Unfotunately, same problem today. Ran fine yesterday...today the starter just clicks. Battery has full charge. Tried jumping the starter and it did not budge (I think I did it right!). I'm assuming that I need a new starter. What do you think?

 

[massey driver]

Some times inside the solenoid the small copper wheel will get pitted and corroded and not make a good contact to allow the starter to turn.Another thing is that your brushes inside the starter could be worn down and there not making good contact with the armature. I'd check this out first before buying a new starter.Now if your not sure what to do if you've never had a starter apart then I'd take it into a electrical motor repair shop near you and have them look at it for you.Larry