BATTERY

[DIRTCUTTER]

ck30 hst My battery has gone dead. I keep my tractor inside.Have not used it for two days when out and it wouldnt start,have to jump start. The battery came with the tractor with a date of Nov. 05. My question is has anybody out there had a problem with their battery 650 cca that came with the tractor.

 

[VictorW]

I picked up my CK30hst April '05. The battery was a dealer installed item. I don't believe that Kioti ships them with a battery. The dealer uses whatever brand he chooses. My CK sat for the last two months. About 7 inches of snow fell yesterday. Time to play with the CK. The glow plugs heated and the engine turned over easily.

Either you received a battery that just had a problem and died early or you have a short in the electrical system that is draining the battery.

 

[CurlyDave]

Call the dealer and see what he says.

It could be the battery or it could be your alternator or charging circuit.

To check which it is, jump start the tractor & then measure voltage at the battery terminals, at a high idle. If the voltage is less than ~13.5 volts, the battery is not going to charge properly and you have deeper problems than just the battery.

You might get a new one for "free". OTOH, if the dealer is far enough away it may be less costly to just go down to Costco and buy a new one for $50 or so.

My philosophy on this kind of stuff is that if it is going to cost me more to have the tractor put on a trailer and moved to the dealership & back than to just troubleshoot it & fix it myself, I tend to just fix it & move on. In less than 30 minutes you should know if it is a bad battery or a bad charging circuit. If the latter, get the dealer to fix it. If not, a new battery could be less than transport to & from the dealership.

 

[Highbeam]

So after you jump start and run the tractor, is the tractor able to restart itself? Have you tried disconencting the battery when stored?

I agree with dave, put a voltmeter on the battery when the engine is running to check for charging voltage. If it passes that test then check for a parasitic draw on the battery which is not that much fun.

The battery that your dealer put on the tractor is not Kioti's fault. Unfortunately, many dealers buy the cheapest battery that meets the CCA spec.

My dealer supplied walmart battery leaked acid all over the place so I replaced it with an Optima AGM gel cell battery that is more vibration resistant and uses no liquid acid. It is spillproof and has worked extremely well. Cost is about 100$ and it fits right in.

 

[bbse]

Did you say 650 CCA? Isn't that kinda small for a diesel?

I had to replace mine when I got it (got it used and ugly) and I put in a 1050 CCA. I still had a problem until I replaced the hot side cable. It was old but looked good. It was dragging at times. Replaced the cable and zoom...no problems now at all.

 

[williekioti]

Dirtcutter, you may want to check some of your relays, after checking the charging system as already suggested. These little demons can go bad, close a circuit when unwanted and drain your battery down. I had one go bad but it was relatively easy to diagnose when the headlights were on at midnight w/o an operator, key out of the ignition and switch off. I just diconnected the battery until I could figure out which gremlin was to blame and then just disconnected that relay until the dealer supplied me with a new one.

 

[RandyT]

Received my DK45S june 15, 2005, started fine all winter then when out one day back in March and turned on the key went through preheat and hit the key to start and lost all power. turn off key and turn back on the dash lights would come back on hit startr position and all would go black. found out i had a bad cell the the interstate battery that come with my tractor. if you would put it on a charger for ab out 10 minutes in would start the tractor and maybe hold a charge for up to a week. battery would even pass load test. battery hygrometer comfirmed bad cell. if you took a multimeter and when from the negative battery post to the battery case it would show 12 volts. battery shorted throught the case.