Dave in Indy
Member
Hello, I have a GC 1720 bought in 2017, been kept mostly in the garage but much of the last year, outside behind outbuilding sheltered by trees. I got home from a trip a week ago Friday. I heard a diesel idling as I drove up my driveway, but my next door neighbor has an excavator and skid steer and is getting ready to break ground on new building so I assumed it was his machine warming up and didn't think more about it. I parked, unloaded, and then got a phone call from my neighbor saying *MY* tractor is running, and had been for "at least 6 hours" because he works from his home and noticed it in the morning, and assumed the same thing I did about the neighbor's equipment.
What I found walking outside was my tractor running at idle. No key in the ignition - both inside the house where I keep them. Wife said no memory of it running at 5:30 AM when she left for work. No operator in seat, transmission was in high range, so safety relay should've kept it from running at all, unless the electrical system wasn't actually on. Still, it was running. I got a key, put in ignition and turned, trying to turn it off somehow - no effect. I pulled tractor around to driveway, and shut off fuel at filter bowl to stop engine. Key in ignition still does nothing. Tach was working on dash, but no lights, no fuel or temp gauges were on, either.
I have shop manual (which is not great) and from the electical section, I think I have at least the safety relay and the ignition switch to test. Called dealer, service guy "opened a service ticket" and since I can't move tractor, said it would be next week at least before they can get out to pick it up.
I can't find anything on this googling, so wondering if anyone's experienced anything even similar to this?
b) Any way to get it started again to move it - saw video of a guy in India using open end wrench to jump terminals on the starter and get tractor going - is that risky?
c) How do I pull the dash to get at ignition switch?
Anything else I should consider? Already charged battery fully, and it hasn't restarted itself yet. TIA!
What I found walking outside was my tractor running at idle. No key in the ignition - both inside the house where I keep them. Wife said no memory of it running at 5:30 AM when she left for work. No operator in seat, transmission was in high range, so safety relay should've kept it from running at all, unless the electrical system wasn't actually on. Still, it was running. I got a key, put in ignition and turned, trying to turn it off somehow - no effect. I pulled tractor around to driveway, and shut off fuel at filter bowl to stop engine. Key in ignition still does nothing. Tach was working on dash, but no lights, no fuel or temp gauges were on, either.
I have shop manual (which is not great) and from the electical section, I think I have at least the safety relay and the ignition switch to test. Called dealer, service guy "opened a service ticket" and since I can't move tractor, said it would be next week at least before they can get out to pick it up.
I can't find anything on this googling, so wondering if anyone's experienced anything even similar to this?
b) Any way to get it started again to move it - saw video of a guy in India using open end wrench to jump terminals on the starter and get tractor going - is that risky?
c) How do I pull the dash to get at ignition switch?
Anything else I should consider? Already charged battery fully, and it hasn't restarted itself yet. TIA!
