How do I start a Ford New Holland 545d?

[clydesdale]

I am trying to start a tractor that is owned by a condo that I am on the Board at. It has not been started in a year and a half. I have charged the battery. It needs a solenoid, but when I jump the solenoid the engine cranks. Some animal nest shot out of the exhaust and eventually some white smoke. I am not sure what all the levers do and for all I know, I need to depress a clutch or something to get her to fire. Can someone tell me what the starting procedure is? All I did was turn the key and jump the solenoid. Thanks.

 

[barbqranch]

Are you sure that the solenoid is bad? If any number of safety switches are not in the right position, it won't start. On my TC29D the PTOs have to be off, the range lever in neutral, and someone in the seat. Otherwise, no starter and the fuel shut-off doesn't open.

 

[RickB]

It needs a solenoid, but when I jump the solenoid the engine cranks. Some animal nest shot out of the exhaust and eventually some white smoke. I am not sure what all the levers do and for all I know, I need to depress a clutch or something to get her to fire. Can someone tell me what the starting procedure is? All I did was turn the key and jump the solenoid. Thanks.

Sounds like you are trying to kill yourself by bypassing the Neutral Safety Start circuit.


Place the range and PTO (if equipped) in neutral. Give it a little throttle and turn the key to the crank position. If that doesn't get it running, find someone that knows Fords to help you before you hurt yourself and/or cause property damage. If you can't find the range shifter and PTO control, find the operator's manual or someone familiar with the tractor.


Do you think it needs a solenoid just because you can't get it to crank? It sounds to me as if you are instigating a substantial liability for the Board you sit on.

 

[clydesdale]

I am not a total idiot. That is why I came to this site. I figured there is likely a safety switch, pedal sensor or seat sensor that I may not be triggering. That is what I am here to find out. I do not have the owners manual. I did not dig much, but I found them on ebay for about 80 bucks. All I want to do is start it and sell it. The tractor has two complete, debeaded flats, the bucket is down, and it is in a large maintainence yard. I THINK I have all the levers in a neutral position. But, that is why I am here. I believe the solenoid is bad because when I turn the key I get clicking at the starter, but it will not turn. When I bypass the solenoid, she cranks. So, can someone tell me what the levers and pedals are for?

1. There is a lever on the left side of the steering wheel. This appears to be the forward, reverse and neutral lever. It is currenty in neutral.
2. There are two foot pedals on the right side of the tractor- I am thinking they are left and right wheel brake, but I could be totally wrong.
3. There is a lever on the right side of the steering wheel- what is this and where should it be?
4. there are two stick shift type levers on the center/left side of the floor. They appear to be in neutral. What do they do?

I do not want to buy the owners manual on ebay, so if someone can give me some basic info, I may be a able to get a little futher with this. I was told by the previous maintenance guy, that they solenoid was bad and they had to jump it in the past. The starter will crank just fine when I bypass it and it just clicks otherwise.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am not ready to pass it on to a tractor shop who is going to charge me big coin to come out and look at this thing, unless absolutely necessary.
It is puffing white smoke, from my limited diesel experience, doesn't that mean it is getting fuel?

 

[CaptMarion]

Left side lever- PowerReverser lever. This controls whether you're going forward, backwards, or nowhere (neutral). Handy for loader operations.

Foot pedals on the right- correct, those are the wheel brakes (proper name: differential brakes, but you get the idea....)

Right side lever: throttle

Dunno about the stick-shift levers on the floor- I'd say they're the shifter for the transmission and the range box (auxiliary transmission, I guess you'd call it), but I am not 100% sure.


If you could take a picture of the control area (around the seat, the pedals, and the dashboard area), that might make it a bit easier. Someone could easily open that up in Paint and label the important controls for you...

I'll let the pros chime in here in a bit. Hopefully this gets you a bit farther.

 

[clydesdale]

Here are some of the pics that I took a little while ago. I will get some better pics, but this may get us started. Thank you very much.

 

[dcyrilc]

Here are some of the pics that I took a little while ago. I will get some better pics, but this may get us started. Thank you very much.

Based on your first and second pix, I'm going to say that those are the shift levers for the trasmission. The shorter one should be high/low range and 1-4/5-8 on the taller one.

 

[clydesdale]

Thank you. Any idea what the foot pedal on the left side is for?

 

[dcyrilc]

Thank you. Any idea what the foot pedal on the left side is for?

I'm going to say axle lock. For locking left and right axles together during limited traction situations. This is just an educated guess though.

 

[RickB]

I am not a total idiot. That is why I came to this site. I figured there is likely a safety switch, pedal sensor or seat sensor that I may not be triggering. That is what I am here to find out. I do not have the owners manual. I did not dig much, but I found them on ebay for about 80 bucks. All I want to do is start it and sell it. The tractor has two complete, debeaded flats, the bucket is down, and it is in a large maintainence yard. I THINK I have all the levers in a neutral position. But, that is why I am here. I believe the solenoid is bad because when I turn the key I get clicking at the starter, but it will not turn. When I bypass the solenoid, she cranks. So, can someone tell me what the levers and pedals are for?

1. There is a lever on the left side of the steering wheel. This appears to be the forward, reverse and neutral lever. It is currenty in neutral.
2. There are two foot pedals on the right side of the tractor- I am thinking they are left and right wheel brake, but I could be totally wrong.
3. There is a lever on the right side of the steering wheel- what is this and where should it be?
4. there are two stick shift type levers on the center/left side of the floor. They appear to be in neutral. What do they do?

I do not want to buy the owners manual on ebay, so if someone can give me some basic info, I may be a able to get a little futher with this. I was told by the previous maintenance guy, that they solenoid was bad and they had to jump it in the past. The starter will crank just fine when I bypass it and it just clicks otherwise.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am not ready to pass it on to a tractor shop who is going to charge me big coin to come out and look at this thing, unless absolutely necessary.
It is puffing white smoke, from my limited diesel experience, doesn't that mean it is getting fuel?

Lever on left of the steering column is the F-N-R lever.
Foot pedals on the right are the turning brakes.
Lever to the right of the steering wheel is the loader joystick control, it should keep itself in a detented neutral position, or float.
The longer (LH) shift lever is the speed shifter; 1,2,3, &4 th gear.
The shorter (RH) shifter is the range shifter low is forward, neutral is center, high is back. The NSS is conected to this shifter and must be in neutral to enable the cranking circuit.
The foot pedal on the left is the torque converter 'dump switch', loosely translated to a "clutch pedal".
The foot pedal on the right rear is a differential lock.
White smoke does indicate fuel getting to the cylinders.