Uh-oh. This could be serious.

[JMynes]

Funky grounds are almost entertaining, in a frustrating kind of way.
It worked great yesterday, but now it won't go. But look, the flashers are flashing alternately, and this light comes on dim for no reason.
While they might not look related, this is classic bad ground. The electricity wants to flow, so it's finding an alternate route through that other light to it's ground. Usually an instrument panel light, because it is energized in the 'run' position, and you're sitting there looking at it.
Glad you got it fixed, Walt! Now that my snow is moved, I think I'll go have a look at that ground strap, and my MMM brackets while I'm crawling around.

 

[irvingj]

Thanks, Mynes! And now, MORE good news!

After thinking about it, I was remembering that a year or so ago, the tractor seemed to be harder to start--at least, for sure not starting as well as it did when it was new.

That ground cable- was stranded copper, and obviously had to have all but one or two strands broken before it finally let go last Wednesday.... Might that also have something to do with the starting??

I found that, even when outside temps were warm, I still had to give it some glow to start. There was a thread about this; seems I wasn't the only one experiencing this. When it was cold, sometimes it didn't seem like the glow plugs were helping at all....

Well, here's my thinking: With half --or maybe most-- of the strands already broken, and any significant amp draw apparently uses that ground strap/cable for its ground path.... The tractor was probably having a bit of difficulty with both cranking and glow-ing, ever since those strands started to let go.

So I went out this AM, 15F; the tractor hadn't been run since Thursday, and I tried to start it with NO block heat.

And it did!! It took three tries, all with 20-30 seconds of glow, but it did start & run well once it began to pop. I'm also almost certain cranking speed was higher than it had been, which I'm sure also helped.

So- any others experiencing the need for glow when the tractor seemingly shouldn't need it... check that ground strap!:thumbsup:

 

[Jeff Lary]

Wow i think it is really cool how you guys helped him out.I hope if/when i get into trouble you are there to save me!

 

[Pixguy]

Wow i think it is really cool how you guys helped him out.I hope if/when i get into trouble you are there to save me!

Larry, You and me both!!

There are still so many good people out there! :thumbsup:

 

[Jeff Lary]

it is nice to have so many diffrent people to look at your problem

 

[irvingj]

"Wow i think it is really cool how you guys helped him out."

Me three!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[JMynes]

Walt, I have that same ground wire on my tractor. Black with a yellow stripe? It seems intact, but based on your experience I'm going to do a braided strap upgrade soon.
My MMM arm brackets are intact. I don't see how they would get stressed, they look like more of an alignment guide than a strength thing. You must have got the factory's new guy welding yours up.
I bet your glow and cranking problems were related to insufficient ground. High amps need big wire to travel on, and if it was 'half broken' the wire had less capacity. Your tractor was still starting, but I'd bet it warmed that ground wire up pretty good.

 

[irvingj]

"I bet your glow and cranking problems were related to insufficient ground. High amps need big wire to travel on, and if it was 'half broken' the wire had less capacity. Your tractor was still starting, but I'd bet it warmed that ground wire up pretty good."

YUP! Never felt it, but I'm betting it was pretty warm. And yes, the ground cable was short (too short, methinks!), black with a yellow stripe.

Not only did it start without block heat the other day when it was so cold, but this AM it was 27F here; ordinarily I'd expect to have some --not too much, but some-- difficulty getting it started without block heat, so I'd just plug it in and either shovel snow for a while or have another cuppa coffee.

Today, however, it started immediately after 20 seconds of glow.

Hasn't done that in a while!

 

[Jeff Lary]

Are you folks talking about Kubotas? I start mine almost4 times a week from minus 18 and up with just Glow plug and at 25 plus degrees i dont even use them. Do I have a oddity or what? I have no block heater the only thing extra i do is run some Power service in each tank of fuel.

 

[ray66v]

Are you folks talking about Kubotas?

This thread is in the Massey Ferguson forum, so I hope not. :thumbdown: