CK30 stalled while mowing and now won't start. Advice, please!

[ritcheyvs]

Folks, thanks for all of the replies.

Coyote machine: My '08 CK30 doesn't have a PTO switch on the dash. Just a mechanical lever with three positions: low/neutral/high.

I have a pdf set of the shop manuals and have located the clutch safety switch on the wiring diagram. Any ideas where it is on the tractor?

Ritcheyvs: I'll try some WD 40 in the ignition switch. I think the ignition relay is on the firewall.

I'll check these things after church in the morning.

Thanks again.

David

The clutch safety switch is on the clutch pedal lever, above the pedal. near the pivot. The relay is on the firewall. There is probably an identical relay there for the stop solenoid. Some owners tried swapping connectors between these two relays to diagnose issues: if the problem moves from the starter to the stop relay, the starter relay was bad.

 

[DOCatRU]

LouNY:

The starter solenoid clicks once when the key is turned.

I disconnected the clutch safety switch and bypassed with a jumper wire....no joy.

I reconnected the clutch safety switch and tried jumping the starter with a screwdriver.

With the ignition key on and the clutch pedal depressed the starter activated when I jumped it with a screw driver.

Ergo...I think it is a bad starter solenoid.

I wonder if you can replace the solenoid seperately?

David

 

[Amvcane]

DOCatRU, did you try what LouNY suggested?
Headlights on while trying to start. Do the lights go very very dim or stay bright?
If they go very dim and you know your battery is good you might have a bad battery cable.

 

[LouNY]

LouNY:

The starter solenoid clicks once when the key is turned.

I disconnected the clutch safety switch and bypassed with a jumper wire....no joy.

I reconnected the clutch safety switch and tried jumping the starter with a screwdriver.

With the ignition key on and the clutch pedal depressed the starter activated when I jumped it with a screw driver.

Ergo...I think it is a bad starter solenoid.

I wonder if you can replace the solenoid seperately?

David

It looks like it is possible,
maybe this one?
New KIOTI solenoid for E55-6316 starter on CK, DK, LK, NX, & RX tractors | eBay
Good Luck

 

[DOCatRU]

Thanks again.

I did see the separate solenoid on eBay. I'll give it a try.

 

[Clint S]

DOCatRU, did you try what LouNY suggested?
Headlights on while trying to start. Do the lights go very very dim or stay bright?
If they go very dim and you know your battery is good you might have a bad battery cable.

If it turns over with the screwdriver this diagnosis is not needed. He has diagnosed it correctly, bad solenoid

 

[ritcheyvs]

...

I reconnected the clutch safety switch and tried jumping the starter with a screwdriver.

With the ignition key on and the clutch pedal depressed the starter activated when I jumped it with a screw driver.
...

When jumping the starter, the key switch and clutch pedal/safety-switch have no effect on the starter.

Are you sure you jumped the starter correctly? The correct way is to jumper from the big screw terminal on the solenoid where the battery cable connects to the small spade terminal with the small wire. If this does not spin the starter, either the battery is bad, the starter/solenoid is bad, or a battery cable/connection is bad.

In case you are not aware, battery cable failures (with no visible damage) have been common on these machines. The conductor tends to corrode inside the insulation which produces an unreliable or defective (high resistance) connection. If this is the case. the headlights should just about go out when you jump the starter. Another diagnostic method is to bypass each battery cable (one at a time) with a good heavy-duty jumper cable and then try the starter.

 

[JoelD]

If he was able to jump starter with screwdriver then he’s getting ground. Only way I could start prior to replacing my ground cable was to bypass all with jump pack. Sounds like his ground is ok. You are right that bad ground cables common problem as I’ve dealt with it more than once on my machine.

 

[woolyAcres]

If it turns over with the screwdriver this diagnosis is not needed. He has diagnosed it correctly, bad solenoid

I'm not sure I follow this. Couldn't a bad or disconnected safety switch express itself this way? My understanding/expectation (which could certainly be wrong) is that the safety switches would prevent the solenoid from being energized. If shorting the starter with a screw driver gets the machine to roll over it rules out a bad starter. But why does it guarantee a bad solenoid. Just trying to learn about this so the next time it happens to me I can figure out what's going on.

When I was having trouble with the New Holland seat switch, the solution was a hot-wire from the battery directly to the fuel pump. Connect that and start it right up. So in that case the safety issue was preventing power to the fuel pump. But if I remember correctly, the tractor rolled over but wouldn't start.

 

[ritcheyvs]

Actually, I misread the OP's post and didn't understand that the starter did indeed spin up when he jumpered it with a screwdriver. So disregard the part about battery cables. So thanks for straightening out my misread, Joe.

But this begs the question: did he short between the two big screw terminals on the starter solenoid or did he jumper between the big battery-cable screw terminal and the small spade terminal. Only this second configuration would test the starter solenoid. If the starter spins and engages the flywheel the starter is OK and wooly is probably right: safety switch or relay.