5203 STARTER PROBLEM

[gafarmer]

I own a '05 JD 5203 tractor and had the starter replaced after just 90 hrs of use. Now the new starter is acting up just like the orginal starter. The starter will not engage it just clicks, battery is good,and after tractor finally starts and gets warm, the starter works fine. Could something be causing this other than just bad luck with two starters?
Thanks in advance.

 

[ACKBill]

Gafarmer:

It takes much less juice to roll the engine over when it's warm so I would start looking at the starter circuit. Battery, cables, connections, solenoid, etc. All the connections must be clean, tight and show no signs of corrosion at all. I would check the battery first, it should show between 13 & 14 volts when fully charged.

If everything checks out OK, it may be mechanical in nature and it might be time to call in the dealer.

BILL

 

[ShookFarm]

I have to say, I think the starting system is undersized for the 5000 series utility tractors. My 5103 will not start up in cold weather and I, personally, think it's attributable to the 550 Cold Cranking Amp battery used for the 3029 model diesel.

At 17:1 compression, 625 CCA just doesn't cut it if it's below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. My dealer says the battery has to have a full charge to kick this thing over. It hasn't been cold enough to test his theory. That will change next week when we have night time temps in the teens and the battery has been on the charger with a maintenance cycle running for three weeks now. We'll see if it fires off then!

Just for giggles, the cold start option for the 5x03 recommends a 925 CCA battery. Kind of odd that the battery uses half again the CCA. That tells me something.

Get your battery tested. I have my doubts that the starter is the problem. Especially with the low hours on your machine.

 

[porky1]

I have a 5103. The first starter went out at 5 hrs. The second went out at 52 hrs. Closing in around 200 hrs no problems. I think BOSCH put out a bunch of bad starters. Would click when cold, once warmed up would start fine. All covered under warranty.
I've had no problems starting when temps in the teens.

 

[ShookFarm]

Thanks for the info, porky1. Due to the possibility of needing to build an ark (it's been raining in SE Missouri since Thursday), I didn't go out to the farm with the charged up battery. Maybe next weekend. I still have the battery on trickle charge, we'll see what it does.

 

[gafarmer]

Thanks for the info porky1, when you were having the starter problem would your starter/solenoid just click one time for each time you turn the key, or would the motor try to turn over. My starter will just click one time without the starting even trying to engage. Like I posted before I had the starter replaced after just 90 hrs of use, now the tractor has 130 hrs with the same results.I checked the voltage at the starter on saturday prior to starting and it read 12.47 volts, the same as the battery reading.

 

[BillyP]

Thanks for the info porky1, when you were having the starter problem would your starter/solenoid just click one time for each time you turn the key, or would the motor try to turn over. My starter will just click one time without the starting even trying to engage. Like I posted before I had the starter replaced after just 90 hrs of use, now the tractor has 130 hrs with the same results.I checked the voltage at the starter on saturday prior to starting and it read 12.47 volts, the same as the battery reading.

Could be a discharged battery. 12.47 volts is a little low.

 

[ShookFarm]

My battery on the charger (running maintenance cycle) is at 13.2 volts via digital display.

I've been told, by one of my electrically enlightened friends, that at 12.5 volts before load, you could actually drop your voltage well below 12 volts under load and therefore not get the kick it needs to start it up. He also told me to hook a large 12 volt load up to the battery (large spotlight or something similar) then check the voltage. If it drops below 12 volts immediately, the battery may be bad.

Battery power is king, according to all the people I've been checking with. I've also been told that low battery voltage could lead to shorter starter life.

 

[porky1]

gafarmer, the solenoid would click just once when you tried to start. I did a voltage check at the starter/solenoid and it was within range ( can't remember what the range was). Checked the battery, cleaned ALL connections traced wires back to the key switch. When I called the dealer at 52 hrs. they couldn't believe it was the starter, nor could I. They opened some kind of incident report. I didn't ask what they found. I noticed it had a new starter when they dropped it off. No problems since... The service from the dealer impressed me.... just one phone call, no questions.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I own a '05 JD 5203 tractor and had the starter replaced after just 90 hrs of use. Now the new starter is acting up just like the orginal starter. The starter will not engage it just clicks, battery is good,and after tractor finally starts and gets warm, the starter works fine. Could something be causing this other than just bad luck with two starters?
Thanks in advance.

Have you tried to jump start it with some good jumper cables? This would at least tell you if the battery is the problem.