HELP! JD LX266 ride mower - Wto start troubleshooting? No Juice!

MossflowerWoods · Dec 28, 2016

Guys my LX266 has been faithful for years but suddenly, it is completely dead. Nothing will power on, no headlights, no hour meter, nothing.

No Juice.

Battery is 1 year old and my charger said fully charged.

I cannot see any mouse chewed wires.

I'm stumped at even where to start looking for the issue.

We use this mower year round and it's never done this before.

Thanks in advance!

Be well,
David

beenthere · Dec 28, 2016

I would suspect it is the battery.. and at least need to get it checked out to see if it will handle a load.

After cleaning both ends of the battery cables to be sure there is not a bit of corrosion built up.

Richard001 · Dec 28, 2016

In addition to what beenthere said, check your battery cables where they terminate at the battery terminals. Sometimes they corrode away right were they connect to the terminal with only the jacket holding it together.

Richard

k0ua · Dec 28, 2016

David the above is good practical advice, but all electrical troubleshooting begins with a good VOM and the knowledge of how to use it. Do you have both of those? If so start by putting the voltmeter right on the battery terminals, NOT the battery clamps, but right on the terminals, What do you read? now try to start the tractor, what do you read? Report back..

MossflowerWoods · Dec 30, 2016

k0ua said:
David the above is good practical advice, but all electrical troubleshooting begins with a good VOM and the knowledge of how to use it. Do you have both of those? If so start by putting the voltmeter right on the battery terminals, NOT the battery clamps, but right on the terminals, What do you read? now try to start the tractor, what do you read? Report back..

James,

Good to see you old friend...

Yes I have and know how to use a VOM, good reminder though. I lost a day and a half to a sick little girl so I will do this over this coming end of year weekend.

Here is the thing though, I can see all of the above keeping it below the starting threshold of 9.6V or whatever, but the hour meter not trying, the headlights not even dimly lit, nothing happens. It's like 0 volts... That seems very odd. My charger is oldschool with a built in VM and it shows fully charged.

My first suspicion was a mouse chewed cable, but I see no evidence...

Thanks to all.
I will test.

Happy New Year!!!! I hope 2017 is awesome!

Be well,
David

jenkinsph · Dec 30, 2016

Have you checked for a bad fuse yet? k0ua suggest starting at the battery posts with troubleshooting and I agree with this. There are lots of possibilities but starting from scratch at the battery is a good method.

k0ua · Dec 30, 2016

jenkinsph said:
Have you checked for a bad fuse yet? k0ua suggest starting at the battery posts with troubleshooting and I agree with this. There are lots of possibilities but starting from scratch at the battery is a good method.

Yep, start at the battery and work outwards.. The things mentioned could all cause the "totally dead" condition. blown fuse, corroded cable, loose ground.. you just aren't going to know without a meter and some quick tests. If you have a VOM and know how to troubleshoot, then the answer is usually just a few tests away...

MossflowerWoods · Dec 31, 2016

Where is the Fuse?

k0ua · Dec 31, 2016

MossflowerWoods said:
Where is the Fuse?

Can't say for sure on yours, but on my little JD lawn tractor it is right up near the battery. Try going to the JD website, I believe all the manuals are downloadable on there.

Richard001 · Dec 31, 2016

Well you can go to the JD parts site and look at the wiring harness here:

John Deere - Parts Catalog

I notice that there is a part number for a fusible link: AM107087

Fuse links fail. They are a reduced sized wire that is soldered into the main harness at some point. The purpose is to prevent catastrophic failure of harness should a short cause a high current that would otherwise melt or ignite parts of the harness. What happens is that moisture gets into the solder joint and the solder is eaten away leaving an open circuit.

The harness diagram does not give a clue as to were the fuse link is.

Looks like there are two fuses on the circuit board that connects to the on/off/start switch. Check those. It is best to remove the fuses to check them and make sure that the terminals that they plug into are in good condition.

Richard