Montana R3644 Relay?

[agmccall1]

Hello All

I have a Montana R3644 Tractor. Montana is now out of business but the Tractors were Manufactured by LS tractor.

Anyway, I recently developed a Electrical Problem. When I went to start the tractor I turned the key to activate the glow plug. it seemed a little odd some clicking and whatnot. but when the glow plug went Out I turned the key to start the tractor. It was one pulse of electricity to the starter then everything went dead.

First I took the battery out and hooked it up to a charger. It charged fine and is holding a charge. So I put it back in and tried to start it. I got some clicking and flashing on the dash but when I turned the key all went dead. I am pretty sure it is not the ignition switch. I think it is the first relay that comes off the ignition wiring. I am not sure what it is. I checked the parts manual and all it says is relay?

The reason It think it is this relay is if I unplug it, it seems to reset itself. If I turn on the hazard flashers this relay clicks then all is dead. As well if I reset it and turn the key I get a little action on the dash but if I turn the key to the start position this relay clicks and all is dead.

There is a LS distributor out of N. Carolina that bought the parts department for Montana tractors as they are LS parts anyway. Problem is no one seems to have this relay. The blade configuration, when looking directly at it. is 2 verticle Blades With one horizontal over the top of them. The part number is mostly worn away but the only one close to it in the parts manual is A30G0005

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Al McCall

 

[Dave M7040]

Al

First back to the basics.
Your electrical's go dead under a heavy load from the starter or glow plug circuit.

This suggests a poor condition connection in the battery cable circuits.

Plse post picture of the battery and cables.

Remove ground cable where it is attached to tractor engine or frame and clean those surfaces till shiny metal.

A poor connection may pass low current flows but fail when asked to pass several hundred amps.

The ground connection between the battery and the tractor frame are places people finally end up cleaning and many problems solved.

If you have a multimeter there are tests you can do but if you don't cleaning the attachment point of the ground cable is a good first step.

The picture of the battery top and cables will let me see if you have repair ends on the cables or sometimes people are missing the clamp bolt.

Do you have a wiring diagram which you could post?

The relay you are suspicious of is likely the one to engage the starter solenoid .

Dave M7040

 

[agmccall1]

Al

First back to the basics.
Your electrical's go dead under a heavy load from the starter or glow plug circuit.

This suggests a poor condition connection in the battery cable circuits.

Plse post picture of the battery and cables.

Remove ground cable where it is attached to tractor engine or frame and clean those surfaces till shiny metal.

A poor connection may pass low current flows but fail when asked to pass several hundred amps.

The ground connection between the battery and the tractor frame are places people finally end up cleaning and many problems solved.

If you have a multimeter there are tests you can do but if you don't cleaning the attachment point of the ground cable is a good first step.

The picture of the battery top and cables will let me see if you have repair ends on the cables or sometimes people are missing the clamp bolt.

Do you have a wiring diagram which you could post?

The relay you are suspicious of is likely the one to engage the starter solenoid .

Dave M7040

Hello and thanks for the input

So I disconnected the neg cable where it connects to the body of the tractor (Pic included) and cleaned and replaced bolt, nut and washers. After I did this I reconnected and all seemed well. my flashers worked and when I turned the key I got the dash to light up and the glow plug cycled, but when I turned the key to engage the starter everything just died.

Enclosed are pics of battery with cables as well as the relay that comes off the ignition cable . it has 3 blades 2 vertical and one horizontal. I do not know what that relay is for. The manual only lists it as relay.

 

[agmccall1]

Update.

I replaced the positive connector on battery and tested voltage. Battery is good

tested as follows.

positive post to negative post

positive post to where negative grounds to deck

positive cable to negative cable

positive on starter solenoid to negative post on battery

I am thinking it has to be in the relay mentioned above or one of the other relays. Or there is a short somewhere.

I do not think it is the ignition switch. I got one from tractor supply and had the same results. Intermittent power to the dash and everything goes dead when turning key to engage the starter. If I let it sit for a day or 2 the hook up battery I will get the power to the dash glow plug activates but goes dead when engaging starter

al

 

[jaydee325]

Just because the battery took a charge says nothing of condition. To determine that, the battery needs to be load tested. Any big box auto parts store will do that for free.

Electrical trouble shooting 101 is always start with a known good, fully charge battery.

 

[agmccall1]

Just because the battery took a charge says nothing of condition. To determine that, the battery needs to be load tested. Any big box auto parts store will do that for free.

Electrical trouble shooting 101 is always start with a known good, fully charge battery.

Well, yesterday I did with jumper cables from my truck, same results

al

 

[agmccall1]

After doing a bit more research the relay in question might be the emergency flasher relay. The wiring for this comes off the wires from the ignition switch.

here is image from manual, it is part 18 and 19 also corresponding parts list

thanks again for everything from all that answer

al

 

[k0ua]

Also keep in mind, just because a battery cable looks good does not mean it is good. Do a voltage check across the cable from one end to the other end with a helper attempting to start the tractor. If you develop a voltage across the cable it is bad. A battery cable is a very low resistance conductor when working as it should. When you attempt to draw large amounts of current thru the wire, the voltage drop across the wire will be very small. When the wire is no longer a wire, in other words it has a high resistance it will have one voltage on one end of the wire and a much lower, voltage on the other end of the wire.