Fault code 3 - 4 -1 on 2003 TN70S

[mahlers]

Hi guys,
It's been a long time since I've posted anything, and that's because the tractor has been pretty darned reliable. I was digging last week, and the tractor started to act funny... First, the clutch seemed to engage all at once and not in a smooth progressive fashion that I'm used to. I lived with it for a while thinking that the clutch switch was starting to go out and I'd probably have to replace it.

Today, after leaving the tractor at the worksite overnight, when I started it, I get an error code that appears to be "3 (fast blinks) - 4 (slower blinks) - 1 (pause for a few seconds)".

The forward gears don't work at all anymore, but I still have reverse. Fortunately, I was able to reverse and U-turn myself out of the job site and park it someplace where a flatbed can maybe get it...

Anyone have any idea what those codes might be? I was trying to look them up in the manual, and that didn't do much good... Not sure who wrote that manual, but they weren't thinking too clearly that day.

This is the first problem that I've had since about 9 years ago when the tranny totally went south on me because of the controller (common problem on this year of tractors). Hopefully someone knows where to point me to sort out this trouble code, or has some advice on what it might be related to.

Thanks!
martin

 

[mahlers]

Slight update to this - when I look at the error indicator blinking, there are four rapid blinks, followed by four slow ones and then one final one. I'm guessing that this means a shuttle-shift error code "41". I did some quick searching on that, and the symptoms seem to line up with what that code seems to indicate - a failure in the forward solenoid. When I listen really carefully, I think I can hear the solenoid 'click' when I shuttle forward, but it doesn't move. It will move in reverse, so at least I'm not totally stuck.

Anyone know if this is something common to 2003 TN's with 16x16 power shuttle? I'm hoping to point the tech in the right direction on this. There have been a couple of things go wrong with this tractor, and the tech was a bit clueless (not many TN's in my area I guess) - so I want to arm myself with as much info as possible.

Thanks again!

 

[ironpen]

I have an 02 TN75S and it occasionally blinks out some error codes. They usually go away if I cut the tractor off and restart it. A while back, I had a similar problem with the tractor not moving when I engaged the shuttle and believe it or not the tech replaced the switch under the seat, the problem went away. This was the seat weight sensor that stops movement and disengages everything because it senses that no one is in the seat as a safety control. I bypassed the seat switch while they ordered a new one and everything worked normally. I also had a seal leak out the hydraulic fluid and this also stopped the movement. Be sure and check your hydraulic levels because in these electronic shuttle transmissions work off the hydraulics rather than a direct gear drive. None of this may apply to you, but I thought I would at least give you my experiences. Also, one other thing to try....while trying to figure out the seat switch problem, if I put the shuttle lever in gear with the tractor gear linkages out of gear and then depressed the clutch and moved the 1 2 3 4 lever into gear with the clutch depressed and then let the clutch out everything moved and worked normally. It the 1 2 3 4 lever was engaged in the gear I wished to use and THEN I moved the shuttle lever to forward....nothing happened. I don't know the technical reason for that, but for about a month it worked every time. Give it a try and see what happens. Read that carefully and follow the exact order as above. Put the shuttle lever in forward, THEN depress the clutch and put it in the gear you want and then release the clutch. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[mahlers]

Thanks - I'll give that a shot tomorrow. The weird thing with mine is that it will go into reverse just fine - it's when I try to shuttle forward that I get the transmission disabled symbol and the "41" error code. It's a bit strange... The hydraulic fluid looks fine, and all the hydraulics appear to be working normally. When I shut the tractor down and restart, no codes show, but when I attempt to move forward, I get the trans warning light and the error codes. I'll see if taking it out of gear, shuttling forward, depressing the clutch and then putting it into gear makes a difference.

I've gotten under the tractor to look at all the wires and connections, and everything looks OK. I couldn't figure out which connector plugs go to the forward and reverse shuttle solenoids, so I didn't mess with those (I figured I could reverse them to try and narrow the problem down to the shuttle lever or the solenoids themselves).

It's a great tractor otherwise. The electronic power shuttle is great when it works - but when it stops, the tractor turns into a 10,000 pound paperweight.

 

[ironpen]

I worried that your problems may be completely different than mine were. At least worth a try like you say. Keep us posted.

 

[mahlers]

Just thought I'd do an update on this. Harry in KY has been nice enough to help me troubleshoot this "4-1" error code (thanks Harry!!), and I think I've narrowed it down to a bad controller. I'm going to mess with it some more and see if there's anything I missed, but I'm pretty sure I've looked at everything and the controller appears to be suspect.

Here's a run-down of what I did so far:

- Pulled left rear tire and accessed the solenoids. I reversed the solenoid plugs to see if that would reverse the problem. What I expected was to have the tractor go into reverse when I moved the PowerShuttle level forward. Instead, moving the shuttle lever forward didn't do anything (and I still got the 4-1 error code). When I moved the lever in reverse and let the clutch out slowly, the transmission made a grinding sound like I was trying to force it into gear without using the clutch. Really weird... I'm still scratching my head over that one.

- I took the dash apart and accessed the control module. There are wires that go from the control module to a connector in the engine compartment, and then down to the solenoids through a wiring harness. The two wires that go to the solenoid that the "4-1" code was indicating was bad showed no signs of open circuit or short circuit. There was continuity between the controller and the solenoid, so I'm guessing there are no breaks in the circuit. I couldn't tell for sure if there may have been an intermittant short to ground because I wasn't seeing any continuity between ground and the wires - but that may be something that only happens when I hit a big bump or something ... Hopefully it's not that - that would probably fry the controller again...

So, I'm going to mess with it some more, and then maybe bite the bullet and order a new controller... They're expensive as heck - I saw it for about $775, which is a lot of coin.

I'll update again when I figure this out.

 

[mahlers]

Another update... I decided to give my local dealer a call to have them come out and replace the controller - and found out that they just went out of business. So, the nearest dealer to me is a couple hours away and they want to charge $110 an hour to come out, including travel time. Now I'm really scratching my head... I'm probably just going to have to suck it up and pay the piper - but what started out like a 'simple' problem appears to be turning into a massive pain in the rear...

 

[mahlers]

Good news! After spending a couple months digging into everything that I possibly could dig into, I decided to just buy a controller and a diagnostic tool and finally had everything delivered yesterday. I got the controller installed, and then calibrated the clutches and solenoids, and the tractor runs great. It's a little scary that the controller has died on me multiple times with symptoms that seemed like other component failures, but at least now I know how to fix it myself (and learned where all the usuall suspect parts are). It's great to have a working tractor again - I don't know how people survive without one. Thanks to everyone (Ted and Harry especially) who helped me figure this out!!!