KAMA TS254C starter

[greg_g]

OK, here's the duh question of the day. And the glow plugs are located exactly .....?

Behind the intake manifold, above the fuel injectors. There are three of them, tied together electrically with either a copper buss bar or a series of jumper wires.

You might consider asking a mechanic friend to watch over your shoulder.

//greg//

 

[lakespirit]

I'm afraid I am on my own on this one. What is the risk of me doing this? I'm not completely lost, as long as I have help from good people like everyone on this site. Chip and a few others, perhaps even yourself, walked me through splitting the tractor and replacing the clutch. (it only took two tries to get the sucker right)

As I am looking at the engine from the drivers side of the business, There are three stainless braided hoses. Below them coming from the injector pump are three solid tubes. The only place I see anything resembling a buss bar is hooked on to the valve cover????

Could I be so bold as to ask for a diagram, please?

 

[3RRL]

This is a photo of my wife's 284 engine, which should be pretty close to what your engine looks like.
It is a view from the driver's side or left side of the tractor.



Remove the wire(s) to the glow plugs or buss bar.
Remove the thumbwheel nuts that hold the buss bar on.
The buss bar is the black strip that connects the glow plugs. This one has the covers slid back to expose it. I think it's brass or something?
The glow plugs can then be unscrewed and field tested like Greg described.

 

[lakespirit]

Thanks for the pic and diagram. If I find these to be under the 1.7 ohm are they available individually or must I get a set? Any idea what the cost of these little devils might be?

 

[bluechip]

When you just get one "click" form the starter, does the fuse blow? if so the fuse is probaly the reason for the one click (you can double the15 amp wire for further testing till you can get 30 amp wire on there). If you get one click when starting (and not blowing a fuse) it is a bad connection, usually the ground an on that tractor (and many others) it is where the cable runs from the negative side of the battery to the chassis ground. remove, scrape off paint if any in the connection area and rea attach. If you need glow plugs, we should have them but Im home now and don't have the pricing, they are not terribly expensive.

 

[greg_g]

If you were doing a bench test on these plugs, the 1.7v would be important. What you're looking for during this field test is a plug that is markedly different from the others. I used that figure simply so you'd have an idea of where to set the range on the multimeter

Cost isn't too bad, although I don't understand why Chinese glow plugs are so much more expensive than German. I just replaced all five in my Mercedes for $8.53 each, plus a small shipping charge. For some reason the Chinese plugs are 2 to 3 times that much. JMParts gets $14.25, CircleG gets an amazing $25. To be fair though, maybe that's for a set of three.

Don't put the cart in front of the horse though, you may not need any. We're only going through a process of elimination right now. But in a pinch, you can replace just one. But just like spark plugs, it's a good idea to change them all at the same time. Before I do that, I bench test several - and install a set that produce reasonably identical resistance.

//greg//

 

[lakespirit]

I cleaned everything, yet still get the one click. Can this be caused by a defective glow plug OR bad connection?

 

[bluechip]

Not unless the fuse is blowing. The glow plugs shut off when the starter is engaged, (unless the key switch is defective, a possibility).
You can test the starter by making sure the tractor is in neutral. take a screw driver and short across the starter solenoid terminals from the large main battery cable to the smaller terminal. the engine should crank if the connections to ground are good. THE TRACTOR CAN AND PROBABLY WILL START SO BE SURE BEFORE YOU DO THIS THAT ALL THE SHIFTERS ARE IN NEUTRAL. PEOPLE HAVE AND DO KILL THEMSELVES STARTING TRACTORS THIS WAY! (They run themselve over as they are usually standing in front of the big rear tire). If the starter does not turn, then go from the big battery cable wire to the othe big nut tha thas a bar attached leading into the starter. this will make a pretty big arc so dont use your favorite screwsriver. the motor should spin, but the solenoid will not engage so the engine will not crank, but you can tell if the connection/motor are good and go from there.

 

[greg_g]

I cleaned everything, yet still get the one click. Can this be caused by a defective glow plug OR bad connection?

No on the glow plug, yes on the connection. A clean but loose connection is still classified as a bad connection. The usual cause for this is where the lug is poorly crimped and/or badly soldered onto the wire. Another cause could be wire damage somewhere up the line.

But a low battery state will do the same thing over perfectly good wire. That's why I asked if you'd checked battery voltage and/or did a specific gravity check.

If you're still blowing fuses - and if you actually procede with the glow plug field test - there's a second step that I should have included. Once the resistance values for the three glow plugs are recorded, move the test lead from the negative battery post to the cylinder head. Find a clean spot where you're definitely touching bare metal. Scratch the metal with the tip if necessary. Then repeat the resistance test on the three glow plugs. Compare the six numbers. If you have a good battery ground, they should be the same. If they differ, you may need to do some more cleaning on the battery ground cable connections (both ends). If/when you confirm good battery ground AND the 1st/2nd readings still differ - that suggests the holes one or more of the glow plug receptacles might have dirty/rusty threads.

//greg//

 

[3RRL]

I experienced a very similar bad connection where it worked sometimes and then not. The lights came on etc., but the starter and solenoid would only "click". I even took the starter motor and solenoid to a mechanic and it checked out fine. What I thought was a good connection was NOT.
When my wife got her Jinma, the first thing I had her do was grind CLEAN the cable ground to the chassis with an angle grinder and re-connect using a start washer to bite in.