greenmojo
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2012
- Messages
- 297
- Location
- Badger Mountain, WA
- Tractor
- John Deere 4300, John Deere 450C
Hello all!
This is the only place I could think of to bring an issue with my recently acquired 1980 John Deere 450C. I've only posted a few times, but read constantly. I appreciate any feedback and guidance, thanks in advance.
I'll detail the full picture here, possibly to help with diagnosing and not wasting anyones time.
I bought the 450C about 1 month ago or more and had it first delivered to Pape Machinery up here in the pacific northwest, they replaced a few hoses, a throttle cable, radiator cap, etc -- otherwise giving it a clean bill of health before delivering to my property. The dozer started and ran great, and I ran it for more than 20 hours or more without a single issue.
Symptoms:
Upon moving the dozer one evening, I went to start it up and the start button had absolutely no effect. The key turned, there was a little gauge movement, but the starter button when pressed made no sound, nothing. There was a little change on the battery gauge, but other than this nothing. In order to start the machine, I shorted the solenoid and it fired right up. Strangely, it actually worked about 4 or 5 times with the starter button after this, before once again the starter button appeared to no longer work.
This went like this for about a week, when in fact the starter failed completely. When I pulled the starter and took it down to Pape, they discovered that fuel had leaked into the starter and caused it to fail, which still puzzled them and me why the starter button was intermittently having issues. I was hoping a new starter / solenoid would fix the issue, and eagerly got the new starter / solenoid installed.
As soon as it was installed, I turned the key, hit the button and it fired up better than it ever had. I also found the fuel leak and tightened up that line. This starting / stopping continued for about 8 times yesterday afternoon following the repair, however I shut it down for a few minutes and when I jumped back on it, the start button issue had returned. A push of the button has absolutely no effect at all. Just a small fluctuation in the battery gauge, but other than that -- no sound, no solenoid click, no crank, nothing.
As for the common neutral safety wiggle that some 450 dozers have, this one doesn't have that -- we've never had to wiggle or adjust, we just put it in neutral and it would start right up. And just to be sure, I've tried to hold the start button and wiggle the heck out of gear lever, and nothing appears to happen.
I would appreciate any insight, guidance or experiences to help. I absolutely love moving dirt with this machine and would love to have it back in push button start operation again.
I'll attach a photo, of the machine.
Thank you,
This is the only place I could think of to bring an issue with my recently acquired 1980 John Deere 450C. I've only posted a few times, but read constantly. I appreciate any feedback and guidance, thanks in advance.
I'll detail the full picture here, possibly to help with diagnosing and not wasting anyones time.
I bought the 450C about 1 month ago or more and had it first delivered to Pape Machinery up here in the pacific northwest, they replaced a few hoses, a throttle cable, radiator cap, etc -- otherwise giving it a clean bill of health before delivering to my property. The dozer started and ran great, and I ran it for more than 20 hours or more without a single issue.
Symptoms:
Upon moving the dozer one evening, I went to start it up and the start button had absolutely no effect. The key turned, there was a little gauge movement, but the starter button when pressed made no sound, nothing. There was a little change on the battery gauge, but other than this nothing. In order to start the machine, I shorted the solenoid and it fired right up. Strangely, it actually worked about 4 or 5 times with the starter button after this, before once again the starter button appeared to no longer work.
This went like this for about a week, when in fact the starter failed completely. When I pulled the starter and took it down to Pape, they discovered that fuel had leaked into the starter and caused it to fail, which still puzzled them and me why the starter button was intermittently having issues. I was hoping a new starter / solenoid would fix the issue, and eagerly got the new starter / solenoid installed.
As soon as it was installed, I turned the key, hit the button and it fired up better than it ever had. I also found the fuel leak and tightened up that line. This starting / stopping continued for about 8 times yesterday afternoon following the repair, however I shut it down for a few minutes and when I jumped back on it, the start button issue had returned. A push of the button has absolutely no effect at all. Just a small fluctuation in the battery gauge, but other than that -- no sound, no solenoid click, no crank, nothing.
As for the common neutral safety wiggle that some 450 dozers have, this one doesn't have that -- we've never had to wiggle or adjust, we just put it in neutral and it would start right up. And just to be sure, I've tried to hold the start button and wiggle the heck out of gear lever, and nothing appears to happen.
I would appreciate any insight, guidance or experiences to help. I absolutely love moving dirt with this machine and would love to have it back in push button start operation again.
I'll attach a photo, of the machine.
Thank you,