Not Starting - JD 2320

[johnamon]

This past Sunday, after mowing the lawn for 3.5 hours, letting the tractor cool while I did some trimming, I blew the grass and dust off. When I tried to start the tractor to put it in the barn, nothing. When I turned the key to run the glow plug light came on and faded to nothing right away, no other lights came on. Turned key to start, nothing.

No smoke and no flames, so that is very good! :thumbsup:

There was this buzzing kind of sound behind the dashboard someplace. A voltmeter on the battery shows ~14 VDC at rest and dropped to ~5 VDC when the key was turned to run. You should know I am the kind of person who thinks the worst thing is what has gone wrong. So I started digging in. I have a Curtis Cab, to getting into the dash is a little more work, had to lift the cab up some. Getting in I found the Glow Plug Relay is the source of the sound. So I pulled it out.

After work I stopped at the local John Deere dealer, Lakeland Equipment in Brockport NY. I explained what happened to the service manager and he thought it was simply the battery because the voltage dropped so low. Likely shorted cells. On his suggestion I am taking the battery in tomorrow. I'll be real happy if it is just the cost to replace the 2006 battery.

I thought I got some good photos as I took everything apart, but could use a little help putting the Glow Plug Relay in. The plug with the green and brown wire goes in only one way. There is one connector with a wire wire and another with a red wire. Does anyone know or have a wiring diagram that shows which wire goes to which connector on the relay?

I'll post the results of the battery later.

Thanks
John

 

[Tx Jim]

Check ALL FOUR battery cable connections for cleanliness & tightness.

 

[johnamon]

Tx Jim,

Very good point. Every wire has two ends and with a positive and negative wire on the battery there are four ends!

I did take the battery in. It was down to 10 VDC with no load, and almost nothing with full load. A few minutes later I walked out with a brand new $100 battery. As a side note, the new battery is a sealed unit. Tomorrow it goes in and hopefully all will be well in the world again.

John

 

[johnamon]

New battery is in and all is well in the world again. :cool2:

 

[prosperity]

Had the same thing happen to my 2520 a couple years ago. Was out doing some mowing jobs - finished one job, put the tractor on the trailer, and drove 5 miles to the next job. Go to take it off the trailer and it was dead. Thankfully it happened while on the trailer so I ran home with it. It wouldn't take a jump start or a trickle or fast charge from the charger. Had to run 20 miles to get a NAPA battery and all was good. It's amazing these batteries will go like that without any warning.

I've read the same thing happens to car batteries also now. My F-150 is 5 years old and am watching the battery like a hawk - just had it load tested last month during service. I think I am going to replace it anyway at the next service as I can't be stranded around here with no cell service anywhere.

Also was kind of mad about buying the battery. Deere has closed all the dealers around me - the closest one is now 70 miles away. I've owned Deere mowers and tractors all my life and always had great luck with the Deere batteries. The Napa battery was the right size spec but a bit less in the CCA department. I noticed the difference in how the starter spun right away with the new battery in the summer. It did OK last winter but right on the edge of starting it I think.