Starting problems

[banjerpicker]

The last three times I have tried to start my tractor the first time for the day, it is dead, no lights on dash or headlights
I can tap the battery on both terminals and it will start every time for rest of the day
A few months ago I checked the battery and it was a little weak but each time it seems to have plenty of starting power after I tap on it
Any ideas?
Thanks Larry

[crazyal]

Have you removed and cleaned your battery terminals? I would start there first. After that I would measure the voltage of the battery (the posts not the terminals that clamp on the posts) before you have to tap on it. If you have no voltage until you tap on it then it could be a defect in the battery. If so I would replace it as sooner or later tapping on it will not fix it. If you do have voltage at the battery but no where else I would guess you have a bad ignition switch or relay. That's where I would look.

[art]

I think you have a bad post!

[kensnelling]

I think you have a bad post!

Ditto on what Art says. If the past has moved away from it's plate connection tapping on it may be reseating it to where it makes a good connection for a while.

Ken

[Don87]

Have you caught a wiff of an acid, or sulfer smell, while it is running? If so, the plates, or posts as others have suggested have broken loose. The battery could explode under those conditions.

[Soundguy]

i'd deffinately clean all terminals and connections and grease them...

[banjerpicker]

The last three times I have tried to start my tractor the first time for the day, it is dead, no lights on dash or headlights
I can tap the battery on both terminals and it will start every time for rest of the day
A few months ago I checked the battery and it was a little weak but each time it seems to have plenty of starting power after I tap on it
Any ideas?
Thanks Larry

I have been running strong the last few days. Thanks for all the advise. It was a connection problem. After checking battery, cleaning the ground at chassis, cleaning the starter hot post(because there was no voltage there) I finally chased it down to closely inspecting the terminal connector on the hot side of the battery. The previous owner had obviously replace the clamp but had failed to tighen down sugly the two bolts that held the wire onto the terminal....that is why I was getting it to work when I tapped on the terminals. Something so simple can be a big problem. So far the best money I have spent on the farm has been the battery checker and the voltage meter. I will say I really thought this was a internal battery problem
Thanks, Larry

[Soundguy]

clean. bright and tight!