ctgoldwing
Platinum Member
Gets my vote
Electrical probs
- Thread starter AlbionWood
- Start date
Gets my vote
David-Davies
Silver Member
Once again, you have voltage. This dosen't mean you have current flow. To test for voltage drop, you must have curent flow. Some thing must be drawing power, to messure voltage drop. The fact that your fusible link fried, could indicate an electrical broblem some were. But I would be checking all battery conections first. If you have clamp on to the cable, battery clamps, they are notorious, for looking good, but having no current flow
Dave
Dave
OP
AlbionWood
Bronze Member
Aargh. Finally received parts (from fordtractorpart.com), installed solenoid (hmmm, this one is slightly longer than original... uh-oh), reconnected everything, turn switch and... hear the relay close, but no starter motor. 
Turn key off, try again - nothing, not even the relay this time. By now it's too dark to do any more troubleshooting (didn't receive parts until almost end of day, sucks to be at the end of the delivery routes).
Hoping it just blew a fuse, but why? Starter motor bad?
Here's another weird thing: I had the ground cable disconnected from the battery while working on all this. Before reconnecting it, I tested for voltage fro the battery to the cable - and got almost 6V, with key off and lights off. Mystified, I disconnected the + cable as well, so now there is nothing connected to the battery at all, and I still get voltage across either connection (ground cable to - post, or power lead to + post). WTF??? How is that even possible?
Turn key off, try again - nothing, not even the relay this time. By now it's too dark to do any more troubleshooting (didn't receive parts until almost end of day, sucks to be at the end of the delivery routes). Hoping it just blew a fuse, but why? Starter motor bad?
Here's another weird thing: I had the ground cable disconnected from the battery while working on all this. Before reconnecting it, I tested for voltage fro the battery to the cable - and got almost 6V, with key off and lights off. Mystified, I disconnected the + cable as well, so now there is nothing connected to the battery at all, and I still get voltage across either connection (ground cable to - post, or power lead to + post). WTF??? How is that even possible?
OP
AlbionWood
Bronze Member
OK, yeah, I forgot about that part. Tomorrow I'll re-test with the headlights on and see if that tells me anything. Thanks for the patient reminder!
OP
AlbionWood
Bronze Member
Tested for voltage drop with headlights on and discovered that the positive battery terminal clamp was not working properly. Cleaned off terminal and clamp ring, reinstalled, now get no voltage drop with headlights on. But still no start! Solenoid is working, I can hear it click, but starter motor does not turn over or click.
There is continuity between the field coil wire and the frame. That doesn't seem right; is the starter motor shorted?
There is continuity between the field coil wire and the frame. That doesn't seem right; is the starter motor shorted?
J_J
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2003
- Messages
- 18,928
- Location
- JACKSONVILLE, FL
- Tractor
- Power-Trac 1445, KUBOTA B-9200HST
Try this. Disconnect the tractor battery. Use a set of jumper cables, and another battery, or truck or car, and connect the neg to ground on the tractor. Touch the positive cable to the 12v lug on the starter, it should turn over. if not, take starter to an auto place and get it tested.
OP
AlbionWood
Bronze Member
Touch the pos cable to _which_ lug? The field coil wire on the starter motor, bypassing the solenoid? Or one of the lugs on the solenoid?
Seems like something in the starter motor itself must be shorted, since there's no resistance between the field coil wire and the equipment ground.
Seems like something in the starter motor itself must be shorted, since there's no resistance between the field coil wire and the equipment ground.
J_J
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2003
- Messages
- 18,928
- Location
- JACKSONVILLE, FL
- Tractor
- Power-Trac 1445, KUBOTA B-9200HST
Connect the positive lead the input to the starter. You might try tapping the starter with a hammer, lightly. Sometimes they get stuck in one place. I have done that more than once to a car starter.
Make sure the tractor is out of gear.
Make sure the tractor is out of gear.
OP
AlbionWood
Bronze Member
Thanks everybody, I got it going! David-Davies, you were on the right track, and eventually your advice solved the problem. J_J helped too, because his test told me the problem wasn't what I thought. Wish I could buy a round for the house! :drink:
Took starter motor off (easier than I feared) and bench-tested with a spare battery from a riding mower. Lo, the motor works! And doing that made me realize how much current it draws - the sparking and the jumping when the motor started - which got me to thinking again about the wiring. So I went back, and reconnected it, and hooked the battery back up, and tried again. Again, it would click but not turn over. Then I noticed an odd thing: When I first turn the key, the front panel lights come on as usual, but after trying to start, they are dim. And the headlights won't come on. Hmmm. Out comes the voltmeter again...
OK, long story short, I tracked it down to a bad connection between the battery post and the positive cable clamp. I had already scrubbed away at that with an abrasive pad and thought I had it clean, but it just wasn't quite good enough to sustain a 300-amp load. Polished it some more and really clamped down with the bolt, and all of a sudden everything works again - engine fired right up! :thumbsup:
So, to recap, there was a bad fusible link and solenoid, and a weak battery terminal connection. Why all this happened at once is kind of a mystery, but there it is. The tractor starts and runs, and now all I have to do is put all the bits back where they were (neutral safety switch, F/R shifter, body panels, instrument panel, etc.) and I can finally get back to farming! For one day anyway, it's supposed to rain on Thursday.
Took starter motor off (easier than I feared) and bench-tested with a spare battery from a riding mower. Lo, the motor works! And doing that made me realize how much current it draws - the sparking and the jumping when the motor started - which got me to thinking again about the wiring. So I went back, and reconnected it, and hooked the battery back up, and tried again. Again, it would click but not turn over. Then I noticed an odd thing: When I first turn the key, the front panel lights come on as usual, but after trying to start, they are dim. And the headlights won't come on. Hmmm. Out comes the voltmeter again...
OK, long story short, I tracked it down to a bad connection between the battery post and the positive cable clamp. I had already scrubbed away at that with an abrasive pad and thought I had it clean, but it just wasn't quite good enough to sustain a 300-amp load. Polished it some more and really clamped down with the bolt, and all of a sudden everything works again - engine fired right up! :thumbsup:
So, to recap, there was a bad fusible link and solenoid, and a weak battery terminal connection. Why all this happened at once is kind of a mystery, but there it is. The tractor starts and runs
, and now all I have to do is put all the bits back where they were (neutral safety switch, F/R shifter, body panels, instrument panel, etc.) and I can finally get back to farming! For one day anyway, it's supposed to rain on Thursday. David-Davies
Silver Member
glad I could help, but remember, all advise here is a lucky guess, as we can't test any thing, or see for our selves. Battery broblems are the number one cause for diesels not starting.
Dave
Dave