JD 445 won't start hot

[kluger]

Tractor starts great when cold. If shut down in the middle of mowing (lawn mower's union 12 oz break), trying to restart just causes starter solenoid to click rapidly, engine tries to turn but doesn't get anywhere. Same if using 75 A charger/starter. Same if jumping from pickup. Come back a few hours later & it fires right up. Can mow all day if I don't ever shut it down. When trying to start hot on tractor battery alone, voltage measured either at battery terminal or solenoid drops to 4 - 5 Volts while it's trying to crank. I replaced the starter solenoid on a hunch - wrong hunch. . . Any ideas guys? Thanks much! Kluger

1999 JD 445 ~950 hrs
60" deck
FEL
rototiller
snow blower

 

[kennyd]

Sounds like a bad starter motor to me...

Oh, And welcome to TBN

 

[kluger]

Thanks Kenny, that's kind of what I was figuring too - I just didn't want to throw more money at it without something more to go on since I blew it on the solenoid.

Since it the problem only occurs hot, is there any practical way to test the starter?

Thanks, Kluger

1999 JD 445 ~950 hrs
60" deck
FEL
rototiller
snow blower

 

[Laneman950]

I had the same problem on my old 950. First I would take the battery to autozone for a free load test. Mine was giving 4 volts at the solenoid when key turned on. Replacing the battery helped but it still would act up sometimes when hot. Next time it failed I took a meter and began testing connections. I found that the neutral safety switch was sticking. To prove it connect the two wires together and it should start. Check all safety switches (seat, clutch, PTO, neutral) any one of them can do this.