TC24 Blowing 10amp #3 fuse - Short?

[keemoe]

I need some pointers on where to look for the short. Tractor was running great and just went dead. No ignition dash lights, nothing except the hazard lights worked. I checked the fuses and found the 10 amp blown and replaced it. Tractor started up and ran a few seconds and then died again. I next replaced it with a 30 amp and it blew the fuse when the key is turned to the first position and every time from then on. The schematics show the instrument panel assy, light sw, fuel shutoff, seat sw timer, parking lamp relay, combination sw, and the alternator in the circuit. Thanks.

 

[jinman]

I checked the fuses and found the 10 amp blown and replaced it. Tractor started up and ran a few seconds and then died again. I next replaced it with a 30 amp and it blew the fuse when the key is turned to the first position and every time from then on.

Replace it with a 50 amp and see what smokes. That's where your problem is. Please don't do that. You might have gone to a 15 amp fuse, but I'd bet some of your wires got hot and have melted insulation since you put in the 30 amp fuse. As it is, you may also have melted relay innards or other control devices that never were designed to handle 30 amps. I would tell you that you need to put an ohmeter set to it's lowest scale on the output side of fuse #3 to ground. If there is a short, it will show zero ohms. Now, start pulling things like the connector to your lights, the fuel solenoid, and seat switch. When you disconnect the circuit with the short, the ohmeter will show a spike in resistance. Of course, you may now be able to just look for a burned wire or smell for something burned because you went with such a high value fuse. You should never go that high. The little 16 ga and 18 ga wires in your tractor were never designed to carry 30 amps.

 

[keemoe]

I found the problem. I started with the front and worked back pulling wiring harness plugs. I got to my last one and that was it. A shorted light switch to the mount. I tested with a 20amp reset-able fuse and found it that way. Thanks for the help.

 

[jinman]

I'm so glad you located that short. When I read that you had put in a 30 amp fuse, my head almost exploded. I guess I showed that in my post. You dodged a bullet and got it fixed, so I'm really happy. However I want to really suggest that you never raise a fuse above 5 amps more than the correct value. Using a resetting circuit breaker is a perfect way to troubleshoot. The lighting circuits also normally have heavier gage wire. If you had a short in the instrument panel the glass might have been permanently smoked.

 

[Kc8ehd]

My new less than ten hours LSXR4040C was blowing 10 amp controler fuse , after two trips back to dealer and a vist from the factory service rep ...turned out to be a short in the seat safety switch ...they choose to replace complete seat rather than attempt a repair ....awesome dealer and factory rep just turned 20 hours seems to be preforming well (fingers crossed)