New Holland LS180: Little Cranking w/ Fully Charged Battery

[enginegeek21]

Hello everyone, I recently ran into a issue with our NH LS180 Skidsteer where the battery reads 10 volts while trying to crank, and only 2 volts are supplied to the motor. I first started diagnosing by checking all of the connections for contamination. I found little to no contamination on any of the grounds or positive terminals, and all connections were secure. I then further investigated by doing something that I know you should never do, which is jump the top solenoid stud to the bottom. This ended up not working and the motor still didn't crank. I eventually pulled off the starter, only to find that the motor spins fine freely and the solenoid is in working condition. That's when I took the battery from the skidsteer and hooked it up to my 60's Farmall 560 Deisel. The engine cranked fine and started after 3 intervals of 10 second cranking (glow plug are bad in some cylinders). This is where my confusion came into place. I honestly have no clue why the battery could crank and start the 6 cylinder diesel tractor, but not the 4 cylinder turbo skidsteer. What do you guys think the problem could be? I think it's something with the solenoid cause we had the motor rebuilt last spring. Any suggestions will be appreciated!

Thank You,

Bryce

 

[RickB]

1. A bad battery cable. (Most likely, and most likely the positive cable)
2. A bad ground connection.
3. Likely NOT to be a bad starter or solenoid because of the reported voltage drop between the battery and starter.

 

[Roadworthy]

For a first step you should probably remove the battery and have it load tested. Clean the terminals on the battery as well as the contact area of the battery cable clamps. Be sure the ground cable is not corroded where it connects to the frame. Inspect both ends of the positive cable where it goes into connectors for corrosion. Be sure the mounting bolts on your starter are tight, they complete the circuit to ground.

 

[laurencen]

use a set of booster cables and run power from battery to the stud on the solenoid power terminal, connect other cable to battery ground and a good ground on motor, try cranking, if it starts remove the ground and retry, if it starts its the power cable