Intermittent no-start issue resolved

[Hay Dude]

MT655E had been giving me intermittent starting problems since it arrived a weeks ago.
Never saw anything like it. One time it would fire over in 2 seconds and the next time it would just crank endlessly.
Adding extra voltage from a big battery jump starter seemed to help the issue.
I cleaned terminals and kept poking around looking. At one point I thought it was a fuel issue.

Then I found 2 large 50 amp sealed relays in the battery compartment just laying behind the batteries.
I opened them up and they were “sealed”, but not very well. Previous owner must have hung them upside down and water got inside

This is the end result and why I couldn’t get it to start reliably. It would also blow a 3 amp fuse in battery compartment because the relay wasn’t properly handling the electrical load.

The relays themselves are in the cap in the foreground. The socket or base for the relay in the background is corroded real bad and part of a huge “uni-harness” @ $2,200. I’m not buying a $2,200 harness. I have too many other “inflated” bills to pay….

One of the contacts in the relay is completely gone. Surprised she even started intermittently.

We can easily get new relays, but the bases are a hard wired part of the main harness. My plan is to locate some 50 amp sealed relay kits and splice them in as best I can into the wiring harness. There’s 2 of them. The kits I have found are only about $30 a piece, so I should have this issue resolved soon.

 

[oosik]

WoW!!! Some really charred bases. Glad you found this problem/solution fairly easily.

I had a similar situation with the M6040. About a month ago. The grease I used on the battery posts and the "gunk" caused loss of contact. I cleaned it all up - all is now well.

 

[Hay Dude]

WoW!!! Some really charred bases. Glad you found this problem/solution fairly easily.

I had a similar situation with the M6040. About a month ago. The grease I used on the battery posts and the "gunk" caused loss of contact. I cleaned it all up - all is now well.

I wish it was that easy as you had it, Oosik. I have been chasing down a lot of leads until I found this.

My old man used to say “Sometimes to find a problem, you have to just have ta start takin‘ sh_t apart!!”

 

[Alan W.]

Yes you never know until you look.
Glad you got it solved.
Im with you on the fixing it without paying inflated prices for parts. If your luck is like mine thats money you will have to spend somewhere else.

 

[DarkBlack]

Good find.
Bad design.
Do you know what circuit the relay is switching?

 

[Hay Dude]

The design is ok, but I think the previous owner removed them from their proper position and that allowed water & contaminants inside the “sealed” assembly (hung them upside down)

He probably did it when he replaced the batteries or when the new CVT was installed.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yes you never know until you look.
Glad you got it solved.
Im with you on the fixing it without paying inflated prices for parts. If your luck is like mine thats money you will have to spend somewhere else.

You got that right.
AG parts are super expensive. Combine that with record fuel & insurance costs and even a dummy can understand why food is so expensive.

 

[LouNY]

Had an issue with one of the magnums on the farm with a relay that intermittently drop out or not pickup. Ended replacing it with a different relay and a new addition wire to ground for the cab. Went through a couple of stock relays before just wiring a new one in. Actually carried a large alligator clamp in the cab for a while if it acted up would bypass the relay with the clamp.

 

[Hay Dude]

Had an issue with one of the magnums on the farm with a relay that intermittently drop out or not pickup. Ended replacing it with a different relay and a new addition wire to ground for the cab. Went through a couple of stock relays before just wiring a new one in. Actually carried a large alligator clamp in the cab for a while if it acted up would bypass the relay with the clamp.

LOL
Thats what I am doing now!

 

[LouNY]

We almost did away with the relay and my brother (his farm and tractors) was about ready to install a battery cutoff switch instead of the relay. I got him to try a different relay and it's been working for about 5 years now.

 

[Hay Dude]

I’m still waiting on the 2 new relay kits, but tick tock, time is running out.
We’ll be bailing in 2 weeks.

 

[LouNY]

I saw a couple of the big places out mowing with the triple mowers yesterday, expect they will be chopping today or tomorrow. Likely today it will all be going in as haylage, no bales around here for at least a month.
yet.

 

[mrmikey]

Like you said, a couple of relays and new pigtails and your done, a far sight cheaper than $2200 too. All you need is a schematic and you're good to go.

 

[5030]

I’m still waiting on the 2 new relay kits, but tick tock, time is running out.
We’ll be bailing in 2 weeks.

Least you have a bailer, I don't so far, mine is still at the dealer's getting modified at Kubota's expense and my consternation. This is the 3rd time btw. First time was a too short net tail (the Kubota regional rep came out here and reprogrammed the bailer ECM) (Kubota won't give anyone the access code to access the ECM parameters, they have to do it). Second time was the lack of the second suspension spring on the pickup table causing it to cock sideways and bind up and now main drive roll building hay on it and pre tensioning the belts to the point of self destruction. From what I've been told, all the current BV round bailers now come with sileage scrapers and rotary excluders on the main drive roll. Mine didn't but will have now. This bailer has cost Kubota way more than they ever made in profit. I will say it makes an excellent bale and now wraps just fine and hopefully, once the roller issue is addressed, I will have a good running bailer. Problem is, I need to cut hay today, not tomorrow and not next week either. Not about to cut it and let it lay, waiting for the bailer and have a rain event and turn it to mulch.

Oh well.