Blowing 7.5 fuse on my TC45

[itsmatt]

I finally solved the problem.

It really amazes me how little thought folks put into things sometimes... there is a group of wires (don't have the manual with me right now to give you the proper names for everything) that have two connectors, that ran under under the tractor floor forward to the column where all the steering/electrical stuff is.

The FWD/REV lever goes down a piece and then has a joint that connects it to a more vertical piece. At the base of this vertical piece there is a connecting piece that sticks out perhaps 1/8 of an inch. Whoever did the wiring decided that it would be a good idea to wire-tie this group of wires to that vertical piece and (of course) over time as the lever would rock from FWD to neutral and then to REV, it would rub against the wires. It eventually wore through the insulation.

Total cost to fix: 1.75 and maybe 2 hours of my time to diagnose/fix the problem.

I moved the wiring harness over to the middle of the column and wire-tied it so that it isn't in the way of any mechanical parts now or will rub against anything.

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions - really a great forum!

Matt

 

[jinman]

Good news! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Great troubleshooting, Matt. It's always frustrating to have to fix correctly what someone else produced with shoddy work. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It really amazes me how little thought folks put into things sometimes )</font>

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Whoever did the wiring decided that it would be a good idea to wire-tie this group of wires to that vertical piece and ( )</font>

Yep.. just another example of bad engineering. Reminds me of the posts about the wires run under the tractor that get snagged.. unplugged, and then leave a 20-30 thousand$$ machine setting there deade, while you crawl around inthe muck looking for a loose spade connector.

As with your case.. the bad connection point disabled your ? 20+ thousand $$ tractor.

As I said in the other cases.. the engineer that decided the wires should go there should have to personally come out and correct that problem,.. then perhaps next time he won't do something so boneheaded...

Soundguy

 

[rvb]

Wow! I'm having a problem with the 5 amp fuse that protects the fuel solenoid, safety start circuit, instrumentation panel, gauges and indicator lights, and alternator on my TC 30.

It's driving me nuts! I just can't figure it out. I thought I had a pinched wire in the instrument cluster, but it's still blowing out intermittently. I can identify any pattern to it.

/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

rvb

 

[jinman]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Wow! I'm having a problem with the 5 amp fuse that protects the fuel solenoid, safety start circuit, instrumentation panel, gauges and indicator lights, and alternator on my TC 30.

It's driving me nuts! I just can't figure it out. I thought I had a pinched wire in the instrument cluster, but it's still blowing out intermittently. I can identify any pattern to it.

/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

rvb )</font>

These types of problems are really frustrating. I know that blowing the fuse on a Class III is fairly common, but I am not aware that the TC30 has a similar problem. I have the Repair Manual for the TC35/40/45, but I have nothing to go by on the TC30. I kinda hate to make a general suggestion, but in your case, I don't know what to suggest because there seems to be no set of exact circumstances that brings on the problem like there was in Matt's tractor.

Does your problem always happen when starting the tractor, or does the fuse blow sometimes after you've been operating for awhile?

If it's on starting, you'd think the initial loads of the glow-plugs and/or starting solenoid might cause the problem. When the GPs or solenoid first come on, they will pull slightly more current. OF course, the GPs turn off after a few seconds, so if the fuse still blows, you have to look somewhere else for the problem.

The other problem might be that one of your safety operating switches is shorting to ground internally. That's not likely since when they are all closed, they probably supply a ground to the circuit anyway. That would show up the same as bypassing the switch rather than blowing a fuse.

I think you might find a relay coil that is faulty, but that's a tough thing to troubleshoot, and just replacing all the relays could be an costly exercise.

I think I'd go over the wiring very carefully and then think about replacing the 5-amp fuse with one of a slightly higher value. I think 7.5 amps at most. It that cures the problem, then you are good to go. If not, maybe the extra current will make the faulty item go permanently bad and become obvious. I hate to suggest this, but I think that's what I'd do if it were my tractor.

 

[rvb]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Does your problem always happen when starting the tractor, or does the fuse blow sometimes after you've been operating for awhile?

[ ... snipped ... ]

I think I'd go over the wiring very carefully and then think about replacing the 5-amp fuse with one of a slightly higher value. I think 7.5 amps at most. It that cures the problem, then you are good to go. If not, maybe the extra current will make the faulty item go permanently bad and become obvious. I hate to suggest this, but I think that's what I'd do if it were my tractor. )</font>

The problem doesn't always happen when starting the tractor. It also doesn't always happen when it's hot. It's weird. I just can't pinpoint it. I received some advice on where to look from someone else on the list. I checked all the wires, they were fine; no bare wires, no cuts, nothing.

So, I mowed yesterday for about 3 hours and then today for an hour without incident. I did a several things that may have helped although I don't know how they would help this situation.

1.) I raised the cutting height from 3" to about 4.5" inches which stopped some of the bottoming out the mower was doing in some spots.

2.) I am now running at the proper RPMs for the PTO. I had the RPMs too low before.

3.) I added 50/50 anti-freeze/water solution to bring it up to the proper level. The tractor was running hot and I found that it was low on coolant.

4.) I slowed down so that I wasn't bouncing around so darn much. Besides giving me a better cut, I don't get so saddle sore. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I don't know if any or all of these would help my situation, but so far so good. I also keep 5 and 10 amp fuses in my pocket to ward off evil spirits. I can only keep mowing and see if the problem rears its ugly head again.

rvb
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