Intermittent start - L3400

[teg]

If you hear clicking... then the starter is *trying* to work but not getting enough juice. If it was a safety switch, like the pedal, you would have *no* juice to make the clicking sound. I'm leaning towards a bad ground or a loose ground. Got corrosion? (on battery)

 

[bigballer]

If you hear clicking... then the starter is *trying* to work but not getting enough juice. If it was a safety switch, like the pedal, you would have *no* juice to make the clicking sound. I'm leaning towards a bad ground or a loose ground. Got corrosion? (on battery)

yes i did notice the + lead does have some corrosion around the battery post. it clicks once when i turn the key from the off position clockwise to the next stop (accessory?) but not when turing to engage starter, if that makes any sense..

 

[LD1]

If you hear clicking... then the starter is *trying* to work but not getting enough juice. If it was a safety switch, like the pedal, you would have *no* juice to make the clicking sound. I'm leaning towards a bad ground or a loose ground. Got corrosion? (on battery)

But if the battery were dead, or not have a good connection, there would also be no juice to make the clicking sound.


But for what it's worth, I think we need a little more clarity on the "clicking" that you heard. Did it click when you turned the key on, or was it when turning it it start???

I have a 3400 as well but it is a gear drive. If I put the shuttle shifter in a gear, and turn the key on, you hear an audible click. Energizing relays and stuff. About the same sound that it makes when you turn the key backwards for the glow plugs. But when trying to start, Nothing at all, not even a click. So if the "click" you are hearing is when you first turn the key to "run", but get nothing at all in start, IMO it is definatally a saftey of sometype. Neutral switch, PTO, Seat, etc.

 

[teg]

...it clicks once...

...I think we need a little more clarity on the "clicking" that you heard....and turn the key on, you hear an audible click...

I was barking up the wrong tree :ashamed: sorry about that. I've never noticed a click...

So yes, safety switch... just which one

 

[DiezNutz]

I was barking up the wrong tree :ashamed: sorry about that. I've never noticed a click...

So yes, safety switch... just which one

After I read your previous post, I thought that's what you were thinking.

In your defense, there just wasn't enough information in:

...and i got on to start it, when i turned the key i would hear a click but no engagement of the starter

To know if he meant the "clk-clk-clk-clk-clk" of a starter solenoid, or the Dr. Frankenstein "crack" from the contactor when you turn the key on, like I was thinking. Could be interpreted both ways.

So it's bigballer's fault.

 

[KubieTwo]

The 20 starts a day made me suspect the description of "...starter won't kick in." It made it difficult to decide which direction to go but I put those two together and ruled out battery, or ground, or stalling, or starter doing anything. With no more information, and what had already been asked, I decided not to dance on that song.

I agree with KennyV that that tractor has already had or is well on the way to a lifetime of starts to its credit. Few people think about how a design might differ if the engineer expects 10,000 cycles to be a lifetime versus the same component where 100,000 cycles is an expected lifetime. If the operator is not in sync with the design assumptions, surprise and disappoint are often the result.

My wife discovered these concepts on a power seat when she ran it forward and back every time she got in and out of her car. If she ran 10 errands a day, she ran the seat full back to exit then full forward to drive. Same thing leaving and arriving home. The rails, gears and motors were not cheap, nor did they last very long. Nor did she understand either the repair cost or the design life cycle conversation.

 

[RadarTech]

ok...
here is where it gets tough..
next time it happens...Stand up... shake your left foot... no just kidding..

with your left foot.. watch that clutch safety switch. push the clutch in and out several times...
try to start..

check that HST pedal... then try again..
then stand up or move your weight on and off the seat and try again...

if that does not do it..
Exercise the PTO lever...


I can't count the number of times I was tired and the clutch pedal was depressed but now all the way......


Let us know what happens..


J

 

[DiezNutz]

My wife discovered these concepts on a power seat when she ran it forward and back every time she got in and out of her car. If she ran 10 errands a day, she ran the seat full back to exit then full forward to drive. Same thing leaving and arriving home. The rails, gears and motors were not cheap, nor did they last very long. Nor did she understand either the repair cost or the design life cycle conversation.

Women don't understand that sort of logic. That's why my wife isn't allowed to operate any controls.

I kid! I kid! Lucky for me she doesn't pay any attention to my "stupid internet crap". :laughing:

 

[leonz]

If you hear clicking... then the starter is *trying* to work but not getting enough juice. If it was a safety switch, like the pedal, you would have *no* juice to make the clicking sound. I'm leaning towards a bad ground or a loose ground. Got corrosion? (on battery)

And you can have a click with barely enough amperage/dead battery and not be able to start it been there done that on many tractors and trucks.

Your amp guage can work just fine and continue to make low voltage DC power if you a cracked plate or bad cell too.


leonz

 

[bigballer]

it's one single click, when changing the key from the off position to the right (next stop - lights on, etc). when i turned it futher to engage the starter there is no sound. i could have been at fault for not pressing the clutch in all the way but i really think i had my foot on the hst rocker pedal which was tripping the safety switch. i didn't even know the pedal had one! one of the many reasons i find this site valuable! i'm going to run through some of the tests that radar pointed out.

now on to the start/stop. do you guys really leave your tractor running for extended periods of time if you are not driving it?? (say more than 10 minutes). if i were mowing a 10acre field i would not turn off for a bio break but that day i was cutting trees, moving them with the tractor, limbing, feeding fire, bucking into rounds, loading into bucket moving to camp site, etc.. i may have been exaggerating the number of times but was at least 10 times. i am catching alot of flack for this and no way believe i am the only one that does this!