Intermittent start - L3400

[bigballer]

yesterday while running around my place i must have stopped/started my tractor 20 times. there were a few times i turned the key over but the starter didn't kick in. could this be a simple ground issue or something else? the tractor has 225 hrs and never had any sort of issue like this..

thanks for feedback/recommendation

 

[leonz]

yesterday while running around my place i must have stopped/started my tractor 20 times. there were a few times i turned the key over but the starter didn't kick in. could this be a simple ground issue or something else? the tractor has 225 hrs and never had any sort of issue like this..

thanks for feedback/recommendation

Since we dont know what you were doing and:

Assuming you mean that it died on you while underway- sometimes its not simple.


1. bad battery with one or more broken plates in the battey-
2. broken battery post either +-
3. bad terminal end on +-
4. deteriorated battery cable from corosion +-
5. hairline crack in main fuse
6. " " " fusible link
7. defective seat safety switch
8. loose hot wire on starter soleniod-likely

9. do you have an electric clutch- if you have a bad battery the minute you activate the clutch it will kill a gas tractor and stop it dead for example.


If the solenoid is not even making contact it may be the starter switch is burning out of contact range as it is a momentary contact switch.

Start with the battery, check the water level if possible, remove it charge it overnight and have it load tested-it may be bad with bad plates/broken plates which if banged around enough with stop a tractor.

You may simply have a broken plate in the old battery and the dead battery does not feed 12 volts to the fuel pump and it dies.

the heat in the battery created by the electrical system would be enough to create a gap in cracked plate and eliminate any voltage from being delivered to the electrical system.


Thats the nice thing about air starters as require smaller electrical systems.

 

[KennyV]

I'm with leonz really do not understand the 20 starts...
If it is stalling or dieing you will most likely find the problem common to why it is not starting immediately..
IF you are starting and stopping it 20 times in a day... well do you normally do that? If so why?
Every thing has a finite number of cycles in them...everything will ware out. I know my tractor gets less 20 than starts per month and that is when I use it a lot... I mow and maintain about 30 acres of finish mowed grass, I start it and it is running until I stop usually at dark. Other than trying to use up the starter and all the associated components, why would you shut a diesel engine off and then restart just to do it again and again? The energy expended to start a diesel engine are not trivial and will add up quick...

sounds like you could have more starts in your 225 hours than some would have in several lifetimes...

 

[DiezNutz]

7b. Some other safety switch besides the seat.
10. Ignition switch - you may have worn it out. (I'm only half joking).

 

[Wheatland KB]

If it is an HST model it could be as simple as the rocker pedal not being in the exact neutral center position.

 

[teg]

I read it as... you started and cut off the engine a bunch of times but *sometimes* it would not re-start on the first try... what would it not do? Would it click but not start (battery), or complete silence (safety switch) then start normal???

 

[bigballer]

I read it as... you started and cut off the engine a bunch of times but *sometimes* it would not re-start on the first try... what would it not do? Would it click but not start (battery), or complete silence (safety switch) then start normal???

wow thank you all for the responses. let me clarify, i was on/off the tractor all day moving wood, pushing horse manure, running to neighbors, etc etc i figure why waste fuel if i am not going to using the tractor for more than 15 minutes, seemed logical to me.. the problem was when it was turned off and i got on to start it, when i turned the key i would hear a click but no engagement of the starter. once started it ran fine, again only problem was when i tried to start when the engine was already off. it is an HST and did not think about the rocker fwd/reverse pedal, that might have been. going to test now..

 

[leonz]

BATTERY!

 

[DiezNutz]

BATTERY!

Maybe, but I'm not as convinced. There are other explanations that are simpler (safety switches) than an intermittent battery that randomly chooses between being dead or half-dead, and starting the tractor normally. Not saying it couldn't happen, but wouldn't be common. Any time I've seen a battery go bad, it pretty much stayed bad.
:2cents:

 

[bigballer]

honestly guys i think wheatland might be onto the root cause.. i don't recall having my foot on the rocker when it was failing to start but i found tonight even just a little pressure on the pedal will keep it from turning over.. will monitor over the next week to see if it happens again.