Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem

   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem #1  

Roy_in_NC

New member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
10
I cranked my Mitsubishi D2050 over to start it and when I did the ground wire that goes from my Alternator to my the ground screw on the frame fried, smoked like crazy, melted much of the insulation along the length of the entire wire. I tightened down all the connections at the battery and starter (the battery cables were loose). I checked the fuses and they seemed fine too. I assume I have a short somewhere. Anyhow, I cranked it again after towing back to the house and I hear starter going "click, click, click, click" but it won't turn over.

The alternator is only about 1.5 years old. What should I do to trouble shoot this problem. Is the alternator fried, can I take it somewhere to have it checked?
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem #2  
Check the ground from the bat.to the engine.
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Just woke up this morning and was thinking a similar thing. If the ground is bad from the alternator to the engine if may likely not complete the circuit for the alternator to work - it was the ground wire that fried and it may be it needs a whole new wire.

I'll check the battery ground to the engine as well. Thanks - boy I hope I can get this running - it keeps my wood to the house coming and we need the heat.
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I know I'm replying to myself, but maybe this may help others.

What happened is, for some odd reason my Negative cable on my battery just simply didn't like being grounded near the radiator any longer (weird).

To trouble shoot it, I installed a new battery negative cable and grounded it to the same location but nothing changed - it still smoked my alternator ground wire. So, I completely disconnected the battery and hooked jumper cables to the tractor to see if it could be started (not actually jumping my tractor battery but rather feeding the tractor with power from my truck). I hooked the positive jumper cable on my tractor to the starter (where the tractor battery connects) rather than the tractor battery; and then I hooked the negative jumper cable from my truck to a new ground location - specifically the tie-rod and/or frame (both worked). It worked, the tractor fired up and the alternator ground wire didn't smoke - which meant it was in the battery, the battery cables, or the connections with the battery and had nothing to do with the starter or alternator or any electrical switches or fuses.

I hooked my tractor battery back up and simply grounded it to another location on the tractor; specifically the frame (temporarily using a jumper cable) and it fired up fine. So, a days worth of trouble shooting to find out that my battery ground to the tractor just simply quit working.

Anyone know why a ground from a battery would arbitrarily quit working: Gremlins?
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem #5  
No, not gremlins, just corrosion!

The same thing happened to me a while back.
I also have a Mitsubishi (MT180D).
My battery ground was near or on the bottom of the battery rack which is on the 'sub frame'.
My only guess is that the frame was no longer well grounded to the engine.
After re torquing all bolts to attempt to make good grounds I simply used a longer ground cable and cleaned a good area on the engine block at an accessory bolt location (forget where now) and re made a good ground.
That was a couple years back and no furthur problems.

Time and the elements (plus salt in northern climates) will eventually corrode a lot of grounding points on any vehicle but starter circuits will act up the first because of the high amps they need to carry.
In fact I needed to clean up many lighting circuit ground points just this fall as I was starting to get occasional intermittants.
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem
  • Thread Starter
#6  
If I was a mechanic I'd probably found the problem in about 10 minutes or less - but I'm an idiot when it comes to vehicles (bad mix for a guy with a tractor). Well, today I'll take back the battery cable I bought yesterday and get a longer one and ground my battery to the frame. Rehook up the ground to the alternator and pray it solves the problem completely (need to put a tube of shrink tube on the melted alternator ground wire). Then, take the kids for a ride on the tractor to celebrate. :)
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem #7  
If I was a mechanic I'd probably found the problem in about 10 minutes or less - but I'm an idiot when it comes to vehicles (bad mix for a guy with a tractor). Well, today I'll take back the battery cable I bought yesterday and get a longer one and ground my battery to the frame. Rehook up the ground to the alternator and pray it solves the problem completely (need to put a tube of shrink tube on the melted alternator ground wire). Then, take the kids for a ride on the tractor to celebrate. :)

You'd be suprised how often mechanics forget the simple stuff.
 
   / Help w/ D2050 Electrical/Starting Problem
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Well, I regrounded the battery to the frame and wired everything back up and she's running great. It even seems to crank harder and faster. Thanks for the help AMP762. It certainly pointed me in the right direction.
 

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