6310 Blown fuse- STUMPED!!

[rutwad]

This makes the most logical sense to me. I do not think it is the wiring either. It is something than gets hot and blows the fuse. So what could get hot that would also shut down the engine? Fuel injection pump?

I have been leaning toward a bad sensor, but someone mentioned that would not likely blow a fuse.

Going by your description in the original post, it doesn't sound like the problem is in the wiring. It sounds to me more like some component in the electrical circuit is drawing excessive current, which eventually overheats the fuse causing it to open up. You might try and see if you can feel if something getting hot about the time the fuse blows. Maybe you have already found the problem by unplugging that sensor?? You did say that the tractor ran after it was unplugged, I'm assuming you meant it didn't blow another fuse then?

Wrong sensor I unplugged. Did not affect the issue.

I appreciate all the feedback. Hopefully I can figure it out tomorrow. THANKS!!

 

[kebo]

I think that when the fuse opens up and the motor shuts off, it might be shutting off because something that needs 12v to run the motor is losing the 12v because the fuse blew.

In other words, the fuse supplies 12v to something needed to run the motor. When the fuse blows, this causes the motor to shut off but the motor shutting off is not directly related to the initial problem. In other words, it's just another symptom of the real problem.

Hope I made myself clear. It's getting late!!

 

[jenkinsph]

I'm an electronics tech by degree and it sounds to me like your problem is not a "dead short" per se, but rather what we call a "high resistance" short. If it were a dead short, then it would almost certainly blow the fuse as soon as you switched the tractor on, UNLESS you are using 30 amp slo-blo fuses. These will permit an overcurrent condition for a period of time before the fuse heats up enough to open up.

Going by your description in the original post, it doesn't sound like the problem is in the wiring. It sounds to me more like some component in the electrical circuit is drawing excessive current, which eventually overheats the fuse causing it to open up. You might try and see if you can feel if something getting hot about the time the fuse blows. Maybe you have already found the problem by unplugging that sensor?? You did say that the tractor ran after it was unplugged, I'm assuming you meant it didn't blow another fuse then?

Whatever is causing the fuse to blow will stop doing it after you let it cool down for awhile so in my mind, that is a component that is heating up and then drawing excessive current. A wiring diagram would definitely help you see all the components in the circuit that could potentially cause the main fuse to blow. Good luck finding it!

kebo I stand corrected,

I just reread the original post and the delay between starting and blowing the fuse indeed sounds like a component failure. A dead short would be an instantaneous blowing of the fuse.


Steve

 

[jenkinsph]

I think most Deeres' since the 1960 or so have all had electric fuel solenoids on the injector pump, certainly the older twenty series forward. So any newer tractor such as the poster has it. In todays computerized tractors it is needed to operate failsafe shut downs.


Steve

 

[Rob-D]

Kebo may be right. When the fuse blows it may very well cut the power to the fuel solenoid. You can test this with your bulb by going across the wires to the fuel solenoid after the fuse blows. Check before too so yuo know you're on the right track.
My guess is that you have a bad sensor and when the temp reaches a specific point it kicks in and blows the fuse. It may not be any engine problem but simply a sensor to adjust an engine parameter. What you might be able to do is look through Deere's parts catalog for sensors to see if you can determine how many you have and go from there. Do a search for 'sensors'. Or do a Google search for your tractor and sensors.
You may be able to simply pull off one sensor lead at a time until the problem stops.
Another thing could be that the bad sensor is affecting an engine parameter and thus shutting down the engine. In other words, the engine is expecting to have something change at a specific temp and when it doesn't get it the engine can no longer run.

Rob

 

[rutwad]

Thanks again for all the info. I tried thinking of when the fuse blowed. One day it had a trailer hooked to it- no wires, not PTO, lights, etc. Another time it had a seed spreader hooked to it but was not being used when the fuse blew.

So the other day the trator ran until warm and then some. Nothing happened. Tried driving the tractor around, shifted every gear, engaged PTO, used each brake pedal, etc. Nothing happened. So I guess the tractor will just be used until the fuse blows again.

But don't stop with the ideas!! I need all the info available when it does happen.

Many, MANY THANKS!!!

 

[Conn]

Rutwad,

Did you ever determine the problem? My brother in law has a 6110 that's doing the exact same thing. Blowing the main 30a fuse, and it shuts off everything (engine included) except for the lighting. It's the fuse with a "cranking engine" as the icon in the fuse panel.

He feeds hay with it over a 7 mile spread, does a lot of highway travel, and relies on it heavily. It hasn't blown a fuse in an hour or so of running, but he's gun shy to get it back on the highway.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[rutwad]

I guess the problem still exists. The tractor has hardly been used recently. Always keep a handfull of extra fuses! The 6310 can't really be fixed until it happens again. Now that we want it to blow, it won't!

 

[eepete]

Read this thread for the 1st time today. There is one situation I can think of where this might happen. Any component that uses a coil, such as a relay or solenoid, goes through both thermal cycling and mechanical vibration with use. When people think about relay reliability, they talk about the contacts. I've seen more failures on relays due to coil problems than contact problems (assuming here that the contacts are rated OK for the use). As a coil is energized, the copper expands as it heats up. Then it cools down. So the wires can rub on each other. Add to this vibration from both the contacts or solenoid rod moving as well as the device vibration (from the tractor engine) and you have sources of wear and tear on the coil. If the insulation has a weak spot (either too thin or cracked) then it can short out the coil. Depending on where the short is, it can draw varying amounts of current.

A coil damaged in this way can be intermittent. Vibration, temperature, and usage can cause the problem to come and go. Now how you find this is the $64K question. You could unplug all these devices and measure the coil, but it would take a solid failure to know which part it was. It's also hard to know what the right resistance is. I had a shut off solenoid go on my B21, and I posted in the tread about it what the resistance of a replacement solenoid was. I would suspect that a coil behaving this way would be drawing in excess of 10 amps more than it should. So if you can see the coil, it would probably be discolored. If you measure the resistance of a coil on a relay and see a resistance below 12 ohms, that would be suspect. Solenoids are harder because running a few amps through them might be typical. So resistances of 3 or 4 ohms might be normal. If your tractor only has 2 or 3 relay types, you can try getting spares and try the spares out and see if the tractor goes for a long time without failing. Of course, carry lots of spare fuses.

Finally, one last thing to try is figure out all the coils on the fuse, and when the tractor is running give them some nice taps with something. If it's marginal, it might pop due to the vibration. A reasonable "thwotnap" with the end of a screwdriver comes to mind.

I wish I had a 1-2-3 step answer, but as we know intermittent failures are the worst. I hope this information can help people put the pieces together as they observe things.

Pete

 

[rutwad]

Pete, you have definitely helped me out. Now I can be absolutely certain that it will be easier for me to let Conn figure it out first and post his answer!