Mahindra 4530 is killing batteries
- Thread starter daydk1
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dickfoster
Elite Member
I know for cars the ECUs always pull a small parasitic drain to hold up the memory for fuel and timing trims and fault codes but only a few milliamps. Then if you have clocks and such those will pull a little bit of current when the key is off too.
OP
daydk1
Bronze Member
OK guys. Here's an update on the battery situation. I went up yesterday and put the multi-meter on the battery and it was down to 2.3. When I turned the key on, the dash lights would not even come on. I put the battery charger on it and let it charge for a couple of hours. Put the multi-meter back on it and the batter read 12.56. Tractor started right up. I bush hogged for a couple of hours. Brought it back to the barn and started trouble shooting. I put the multi-meter on the battery while the tractor was running and it measured 13.99, so the alternator appears to be working properly. Shut the tractor off and pulled the negative terminal from the battery. Changed the multi-meter to read amps and with the tractor off, it measured 0.10. Pulled every fuse, one at a time, and no change. Is 0.10 normal pull on a battery? I assumed this was normal and that there was no issue and just installed a trickle charger on it and left it plugged in. Interested to see what you guys think.
Also, one other issue. I bush hogged some pretty rough terrain yesterday with some trees that were about an inch to an inch and a half thick. I noticed when I got back to the barn that there was a hose coming out of the top of the front differential just dragging the ground. It looks like it might be a vacuum hose of some sort. I could not see where it hooked to anything on the engine. Anyone know what this might be? Is it a vacuum line that needs to be connected somewhere or is it just an overflow hose?
Also, one other issue. I bush hogged some pretty rough terrain yesterday with some trees that were about an inch to an inch and a half thick. I noticed when I got back to the barn that there was a hose coming out of the top of the front differential just dragging the ground. It looks like it might be a vacuum hose of some sort. I could not see where it hooked to anything on the engine. Anyone know what this might be? Is it a vacuum line that needs to be connected somewhere or is it just an overflow hose?
k0ua
Epic Contributor
Are you saying .1 amps? Another way of expressing this is 100 milliamps. If so, NO, that would be an excessive parasitic load. Lets do the math. If you battery is an 80 amp hour battery which is probably optimistic. We are not talking about Cold Cranking Amps but actual capacity. Typically from 60 to 80 amp hours in a tractor battery. So THEORETICALLY you could pull 80 amps for an hour, 8 amps for 10 hours .8 amps for 100 hours or in your case of .1 amps for 800 hours. Actual capacity us usually less than maximum theoretical capacity. So 800 hours divided by 24 hours per day equals 33 days to total discharge. Likely the tractor would not start in far less than that 33 days.
So, you must find the cause of the parasitic current drain. Did you unhook the alternator connections and measure the current drain again? Remember I mention faulty diodes or regulator in the alternator. You must start unhooking things in the electrical path until the current drain falls to near zero.
So, you must find the cause of the parasitic current drain. Did you unhook the alternator connections and measure the current drain again? Remember I mention faulty diodes or regulator in the alternator. You must start unhooking things in the electrical path until the current drain falls to near zero.
k0ua
Epic Contributor
The hose coming out of the differential is normally a differential vent hose and the hose is usually routed up along the engine wiring harness to get it up above the water line of any body of water you would likely try to cross. The idea is to keep water from entering the differential, but allow a vent for expansion of gas buildup in the differential from heating the fluid.
OP
daydk1
Bronze Member
Yes, 0.10 amps. Pulling all of the fuses did not drop it at all. I didn't unhook the alternator connections. I don't know that much about working with electronics on vehicles. I may just have to take it back to the dealer and let them troubleshoot it.
OP
daydk1
Bronze Member
OK. Thank you. I was afraid I had pulled it off of something that would hurt it. I'll reroute it back up out of the way.
k0ua
Epic Contributor
If you pull the connections off of the alternator and the current draw goes to zero, you could take the alternator in for a rebuild by a rebuilder locally. Might be cheaper than the dealer,.. might not.
OP
daydk1
Bronze Member
So, is it possible the alternator is bad on the brand new tractor? Can you tell me or show me a picture of what alternator connections I need to take loose?
k0ua
Epic Contributor
I would start with the big one from the battery, but make sure any other connections on the stud that go on to the rest of the tractor are still made. In other words, just isolate the alternator and take another current reading with the rest of the tractor still connected. Another idea is to find your Main fuse. Usually a taped up inline fuse of 40 or more amp rating. Find that fuse and pull it from its holder and measure again. This will tell you if the problem is deeper into the tractor or probably the alternator as its main connection is before this fuse.
