2011 NH Boomer 30 elec start troubleshooting

[LBJ23]

I’ve owned it since 2015 and only has 370 hours on it. About two years ago, I had a problem with the 50 amp main fuses blowing. Turned out cleaning all the grounds and terminals at all locations solved that problem by simply checking everything with a multimeter and ensuring about 12 volts are getting through, not just at the battery terminals. It must have took me 4 months to figure out all of that mess, even with 3 auto mechanics ( one certified) and two tractor mechanics not finding the problem either.

Problem of blowing 50 amp fuses is back again, but it’s not any clean terminals and grounds this time, I don’t think. I’ve went through and getting proper voltage.

I’m using the service manual which has been my most valuable source. I took another’s advice and unplugged most of elec connectors, kept turning on ignition switch until I found the one wire causing my 50 amp fuse to blow, which the pic shows. Everything else is hooked up. It goes to my glow plug bar. So I disconnect it, (see pic) and it won’t blow fuse anymore, all gauges perform as they should, glow plug light comes on, I can hear elec fuel pump working. Disconnected, I’m even able to turn over engine, although it doesn’t want to fire up, even on a warm day. I think others say they can get theirs to start and run.

Using my service manual, I’ve tested the following: ignition switch, glow plug relay, starter relay, all four glow plugs. My manual says .55 ohms maximum on glow plugs, one came in at .4, another one at .6, another at .7, and one at 1.6 which I thought may have been the main culprit, but after replacing all four, problem is still there. New ones test at .6 or .7 ohms, so they are over max ohms range too, but not by much. Last two times I’ve tried to start, it hasn’t blown out my main fuse, but after about a second after turning ignition on everything clicks off on dash.

While wire going to glow plug bar is unplugged, I’ve hooked up my multimeter to the end of it too, and shows about 12 volts for about 8 seconds like it should, before dropping to .003, which seems like what it should be doing.

I keep this tractor indoors when not in use, doubt any mice have gotten in the wiring. I’ve tried tracing down wires and wiggling them to see if something may be shorting out, no luck on finding anything there so far. Problem is not intermittent but ongoing.

I suspect some switch is still bad, but what else is left to check? Could the ignition switch still be the problem even after passing the service manual tests?

There is one relay switch my service manual doesn’t seem to identify correctly. It shows that with HST transmission glow plug relay will be on right side of tractor by flashers. On my gear model it shows it to be on left side, and as I’ve stated, it tests fine and is located there. My tractor is showing what manual says is glow plug relay on right side for HST transmissions. It has 5 prongs, and is wired into my tractor too. I’ve yet to find in service manual how to test it, maybe it’s in there, so will keep looking, and surely it doesn’t need two glow plug relays, but would like to know what it is.

Any guidance or suggestions will be appreciated. I’d love to send this to a troubleshooter guru, but they are hard to find, and I prefer not dealing with dealerships, nearest NH dealer is 80 miles away, anyhow.

Thanks in advance for any help, and if I get problem resolved, I’ll let the forum know what it was. Hopefully, it’ll help others from going through a similar ordeal on their tractors.

 

[LBJ23]

Here is a pic that is showing is a glow plug relay for my tractor with HST transmission on right side according to service manual, although mine is geared and glow plug relay is on left side, which manual correctly shows. It also has the numbers 40007122. Is this another glow plug relay?

 

[dlctcg]

Problem of blowing 50 amp fuses is back again, but it’s not any clean terminals and grounds this time, I don’t think. I’ve went through and getting proper voltage.

Just a thought... I see you have done a bunch for testing already & that you have confirmed proper voltage at many of the different locations...

Have you checked to see if you are getting proper amperage? Even if you are see 12V on the meter that does not mean you are getting the correct amperage. That could definitely be a bad cable, connection, corrosion or even battery. You not only need the proper voltage but need to have the proper amperage supplied for each circuit.

 

[LBJ23]

Thx for responding, dlctcg. I had to take a break from it all. Hired somebody at $300 an hour that came out today. I explained all that I did. He was noticing about 80 amps on the wire that feeds the glow plugs, that is on a 50 amp fuse. This gave him some concern, but after him checking a few other things, he decided to hook main wire back on the glow plugs. The tractor started up, and didn’t blow the fuse. It still showed high amperage, but would start going down a sec or two after turning on the ignition. For some reason, he wasn’t as concerned with the problem. And as I’ve stated in previous post, this had not been an intermittent problem over a period of 6 weeks or so, testing it many, many times, but was continuous on blowing the main fuse. He started it another five times or so without it blowing the main 50 amp fuse. So why did it not blow the fuse now? He tested what he thinks may be a slight parasitic drain coming from the ignition switch. He theorized that, even though it has power to crank it can still blow your main fuse if battery drains low enough to where volts, amps, I guess both get low enough. I seen on YouTube that when testing relays, and other circuits, it is important to keep a good charged battery to get reliable readings. I gave battery a good charge about 2 weeks ago. I didn’t start retesting everything just then, maybe a week later came out checking all main grounds, and relays all over again, and still blowing 50 amp fuse. Before he came out, thought I’d put it on a trickle charge for about an hour. He and I suspect that gave it just enough power to keep it from blowing the main fuse. I’m going to do some parasitic testing after I give it a good charge today. Then disconnect my battery terminal, see if I can detect any parasitic draw, and if so, start pulling fuses, see if I can isolate the circuit. This has been a very expensive and time consuming lesson. I wonder if New Hollands may be extra sensitive to low batteries popping the main fuses? Never had a vehicle ever be like this before, ever, my entire life, but I’ve never owned a diesel and dealt with glow plugs either until I purchased this tractor. Maybe all tractors with glow plugs are sensitive to batteries being just a little low? IIRC, my battery was never lower than 11.6 volts. I’m not convinced the problem is fixed and this is what is causing it. I recall my dad having a older JD 4020, and in the 10 years he owned it, never once had an electrical issue, low battery or not.

One little trick I learned had to do with main fuse. At $5.00 a pop, this was getting expensive. This is a fuse, that has the copper terminals with a small solder ball connecting them at the top. I broke the plastic cover, got to the small solder ball sitting on top of the copper terminals. I looked up melting points of solder and seen in was way lower than copper. So, I took my solder gun, laid a small solder ball on top of the copper pieces where there was always a small gap. Sometimes it would take 2 or 3 tries, but eventually got a small solder ball on top. Tested each time to show continuity. Don’t think it matters if your solder ball is a little smaller or bigger. I must have popped it another ten times, but just would simply put another solder ball on it, saving me another $50 in blown fuses. I’m sure pros might not agree with this, and probably would recommend something else, but it worked for me.

If I learn of anything else that may of been popping the main fuse, I’ll share it if it turns out a low battery wasn’t causing it.

Appreciate all of the knowledgable people contributing to this forum. Lots of good information to cull over on this site.

John

 

[LBJ23]

I checked for parasitic draw, yesterday, it read zero on my multimeter. So that sort of blows the theory that maybe a low battery charge was causing the problem of blowing main 50 amp fuse. It’s only a two year old battery, and tractor wasn’t started for about ten days, so doubt it was low enough to cause that problem, anyhow. The man that was out here the other day said he’d recommend just getting a push button kit for the glow plugs and by-pass present system. Has anybody else went that way?

 

[showcattle]

TC29: how I added glow plug button and sorted out timer relay

My TC29DA has cranked longer to start with the cold, plus some erratic behavior at the glow plug light. This post is to share how I worked though things. I replaced the glow plugs in the process. For documentation, my New Holland P/N is SBA185366190. I paid $30 for eBay replacements and...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[kwbretired]

11.6 volts sounds low to me I thought 12.3 to 12.6 would be a normal charge. How many volts is the alternator putting out?