2538 First Problem

[LA Confederate]

Today I went to get the tractor out for a little loader work and noticed that when I cranked it the "Check Engine" light was blinking. Shut the tractor down and restarted it in case it was a fluke but the light stayed on. Checked the oil and it was full and the temperature gauge seemed normal. Backed it out and the tractor was way down on power; it would bog down with light pedal position.

I did notice last time I was working it that if I shut down for a few minutes then restarted, I would get a lightish puff of bluish smoke for just a second. Don't know if that's related or not.

Guess it's off to the dealer tomorrow morning.

 

[bigsilver]

Just went through this with my 2540. CEL was blinking, low on power, puff of blue smoke on start up and had a P1801 code. Dealer came out and hooked it up to the computer and cleared the code. Code was for high pressure on the common rail. The set point is 50 and mine was 54. Tech said he has had to do this same thing to every 2538/2540 that they have sold, but couldn't remember having to redo any. Good luck.

 

[LA Confederate]

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

 

[dickfoster]

Just went through this with my 2540. CEL was blinking, low on power, puff of blue smoke on start up and had a P1801 code. Dealer came out and hooked it up to the computer and cleared the code. Code was for high pressure on the common rail. The set point is 50 and mine was 54. Tech said he has had to do this same thing to every 2538/2540 that they have sold, but couldn't remember having to redo any. Good luck.

Just so you know you can get yourself an OBDII scanner and do the same thing yourself. Read codes and reset the check engine light. If your car or truck was built since 1996 and you have a later tractor it's well worth getting yourself an OBDII scanner. They don't cost that much and are easy to use.

 

[bigsilver]

My OBDII scanner would not reset the P1801 code. The tech had to reset the 54 value to zero before the code would clear.

 

[melroebobcat]

egr needs to be replaced usually under p1801, ecu will need to be updated

also p1801 can be a bad harness connection on engine harness, sometimes you have to go through the pins and check for proper fit

 

[dickfoster]

egr needs to be replaced usually under p1801, ecu will need to be updated

also p1801 can be a bad harness connection on engine harness, sometimes you have to go through the pins and check for proper fit
View attachment 480739

View attachment 480740


View attachment 480741

Are those two connectors supposed to fit together? They look like different makes.

 

[melroebobcat]

Are those two connectors supposed to fit together? They look like different makes.

no they don't fit together , they hook into connectors on various engine components, just took a picture of some that we had problems with :thumbsup:

 

[melroebobcat]

it can be time consuming, sometimes taking several hours to check every pin hole on every connector. also you have to have the right males to check the slots which usually only a dealer will most likely have the right pin testers

 

[Snowback]

LA Confederate - any update? Hope it was a quick fix.

There is a new updated program for the 2538 HST that might fix this. Perhaps the guy that ran bigsilver's 2540 did the same update.

The high pressure flag is apparently a phantom reading due to early programming on these machines according to J5 tractors.

I had the new tune installed recently and its like a whole new machine. Throttle response and "crispness" is great. Even stronger like bull now!

 

[Dmz2540]

I have a 2540 going on 30 hours. The CEL light turn on at 18 hours but I had a loose wire in the alternator, it was draining the battery since day 1. Charge battery over night and work good for 8 hours or so and when battery was going low the PTO didn't engage. Weird thing I never had a battery light or anything on my dash board. Last time I drain it while using the rotary cutter engine and PTO started to acelerate and decelerate by itself so I turn it off and try to turn it on and it didn't start, so I put the jumper cables for 5 minutes or so and it turn on and worked fine for another 10 minutes or so.. I found the problem with the wire in the alternator not charging the battery and all is good now. The only thing is that the CEL is still blinking. Dealer said if engine is not under power or smoking it was just probably that the computer thru a code because of the low charging. So we will see when I take it in for the 50 hour service. Still has the same power since I got it the first day.

 

[melroebobcat]

LA Confederate - any update? Hope it was a quick fix.

There is a new updated program for the 2538 HST that might fix this. Perhaps the guy that ran bigsilver's 2540 did the same update.

The high pressure flag is apparently a phantom reading due to early programming on these machines according to J5 tractors.

I had the new tune installed recently and its like a whole new machine. Throttle response and "crispness" is great. Even stronger like bull now!

I Do the updates on these 2500 series what you said is about exactly right from all the test driving iv done...I hope my prior post didn't scare him away

 

[LA Confederate]

Haven't heard anything from the dealer yet. They are slammed with tractors right now because of all the flooding we had last month here in LA. I may call and touch base with them today to see if they've looked at it.

 

[Snowback]

Haven't heard anything from the dealer yet. They are slammed with tractors right now because of all the flooding we had last month here in LA. I may call and touch base with them today to see if they've looked at it.

Oh man - that's right. I had not even thought about all the machines that must have went under water. Did you and your family get out alright or have any impacts? Hoping things get back to normal for everyone very soon. Good luck!

 

[LA Confederate]

Yep we stayed high and dry. Got a good bit of water in the swamp bottom on the corner of the property but it wasn't close to the house or barn. We are definitely one of the fortunate few that could say that. Lot of folks we know lost everything they own. Probably 75-80% of the homes in this parish have some sort of water damage and only a fraction have flood insurance because they aren't in flood zones. By most estimates, it'll take at least 6 months to get back to some type of normalcy. The elderly on a fixed income may never recover. Lot of folks are living in travel trailers if they can afford them, many just living in tents.

My dealer had at least 10 tractors being looked at or waiting in line not counting zero turn mowers and small power equipment.

 

[melroebobcat]

Yep we stayed high and dry. Got a good bit of water in the swamp bottom on the corner of the property but it wasn't close to the house or barn. We are definitely one of the fortunate few that could say that. Lot of folks we know lost everything they own. Probably 75-80% of the homes in this parish have some sort of water damage and only a fraction have flood insurance because they aren't in flood zones. By most estimates, it'll take at least 6 months to get back to some type of normalcy. The elderly on a fixed income may never recover. Lot of folks are living in travel trailers if they can afford them, many just living in tents.

My dealer had at least 10 tractors being looked at or waiting in line not counting zero turn mowers and small power equipment.

That sounds Rough, Prayers for these people suffering that is terrible !

 

[Roughshod]

I had my 2538 into the dealer for something unrelated, and the dealer told me about the over pressure code you guys mentioned. He told me to always turn the key on for 10 seconds prior to cranking the tractor in order to give the computer a chance to completely boot. They also said to always idle the machine down prior to shutting it off, in order to lower the pressure in the fuel rail, so that it won't have residual high pressure in the rail next time you go to start it, which can flag a code. Both of these make sense to me.

 

[screamin400]

I had my 2538 into the dealer for something unrelated, and the dealer told me about the over pressure code you guys mentioned. He told me to always turn the key on for 10 seconds prior to cranking the tractor in order to give the computer a chance to completely boot. They also said to always idle the machine down prior to shutting it off, in order to lower the pressure in the fuel rail, so that it won't have residual high pressure in the rail next time you go to start it, which can flag a code. Both of these make sense to me.

Funny you mention that. When we did the update on mine he checked the computer and told me I was the only person he had that started and shut the tractor off correctly. No codes. I always cycle the key and always idle down before shutoff.

 

[dickfoster]

I had my 2538 into the dealer for something unrelated, and the dealer told me about the over pressure code you guys mentioned. He told me to always turn the key on for 10 seconds prior to cranking the tractor in order to give the computer a chance to completely boot. They also said to always idle the machine down prior to shutting it off, in order to lower the pressure in the fuel rail, so that it won't have residual high pressure in the rail next time you go to start it, which can flag a code. Both of these make sense to me.

I've been doing both as a matter of course just from common sense.

 

[LA Confederate]

So here's a minor update. Called the dealer yesterday to inquire as to the status of my tractor. I was told that, not only have they not looked at it yet, they also had no idea when it would be done. I told the service writer that wasn't acceptable since I have jobs to do and crops to get in the ground. Their solution was to work on mine while they waited for parts for other tractors and they'd try to get to it this week sometime.

Hung up with them and called Mahindra corporate customer service and left a message which so far has not been returned. Needless to say I'm not at all happy right now and if they don't make it right I'm going to be trading for an orange tractor in the not too distant future.