Put in a new Battery, got nothin' - I am not dumb, but maybe I'm not bright?

[FredBarber]

I had a similar problem with my Kubota L48 -- battery seemed to be failing, eventually wouldn't start, all dash lights went out when I tried, etc., etc. Replaced the battery and no joy. Cleaned up the battery and ground connections, including the ground connection to the battery tray. No joy. Did some (obviously incompetent) multimeter testing. Some of the readings didn't make sense, but it was clear that sufficient power to start the thing wasn't getting to the starter. Replaced the starter relay. No joy. Bought and installed a new main harness. No joy.

Finally checked the resistance from the battery ground to the engine block. Voila! The battery tray's connection to the tractor frame is obviously rusty (I haven't actually checked that), so the battery was effectively floating. Used a random piece of 12 gauge wire to connect the battery ground directly to the block (promising to do something better at a later date, which I haven't done yet) and everything came right back up.

As others have said, using the battery tray as the grounding point is a bad idea. The main harness on the darn thing goes right to the solenoid on the starter, so there's no reason they couldn't have included a proper ground there, too. (Well, no reason other than $$.) I can't help but wonder if the original battery was actually fine, even though it was the "obvious" problem when things first went south. At least I saved the old relay and harness, just in case I need them some day -- and to remind me of what an idiot I am.

Bottom line, even if this isn't your problem now, it probably will be some day. Go ahead and fix it before it bites you.

BTW, if you really do need to charge that battery, just disconnect it and carry it up to your garage.

 

[Fxfymn413]

Common sense says it has to be at the only thing you worked on. I'd vote a broken, or more probably, a heavily internally corroded, battery cable you broke when you changed out the battery. That may be why the old battery didn't work properly as well.

 

[camshawn]

Just going back to the start, did you remove the wires from the battery terminal clamps and if so, did they all get put back on? Often there is a big positive power wire as well as a separate control wire or 2 or 3. I have never (honestly) missed a wire when changing a battery. We have already addressed those pesky plastic caps over the battery posts that I have always removed before installation. Good luck.

 

[TORQUIN]

I have not seen, and perhaps I missed it, that you cleaned your battery terminals, on the battery AND on the cables, when you changed the battery. That is something you always do, since the cable terminals develop corrosion over time, and the battery, while fairly unlikely, does corrode the terminals slowly while sitting on a shelf.

Chris

 

[lman]

If the tractor doesn't have a home under a roof, corrosion is a more likely factor. We got 10" of snow here so hopefully the tractor will be running and plowing snow soon.

 

[JBF43]

Common sense says it has to be at the only thing you worked on. I'd vote a broken, or more probably, a heavily internally corroded, battery cable you broke when you changed out the battery. That may be why the old battery didn't work properly as well.

I vote for this as I have had this happen on my tractor and also a tilt bed trailer using a 'starter motor hydraulic pump' system to raise and lower the bed. The battery was new and fully charged, and tested well in all respects, including load testing. But nothing happened when trying to tilt the bed or run the attached winch. Even got voltage at both ends of both battery cables. But no amperage was available to run the motors. Closer inspection of the cables revealed that the cables were internally corroded inside the insulation, starting at the battery end of the cable and working toward the other end. I found both the positive and negative cables to be this way and corroded inside as far as halfway up the cables. replaced the cables, and everything was fine. Note: There was no indication that anything was wrong at all by looking at or handling these cables. But stripping back the insulation revealed the damaged wire inside. Looked as if they were acid-eaten. As mentioned earlier, I have seen this happen on my trailer and my tractor several times now. No clue what causes it, as I keep my batteries clean and no acid or corrosion at any of the connections. Just a thought and something very easy to check.