starter only clicks

[harryhrdn]

i just put another motor in my tractor and my starter only clicks, checked the ground its fine, battery is charged, checked everything i can think of. any ideas ?

 

[TomSeller]

i just put another motor in my tractor and my starter only clicks, checked the ground its fine, battery is charged, checked everything i can think of. any ideas ?

What type of tractor? Often it means you are not getting enough electrical capacity to the stater in your wiring, meaning poor electrical connections on your heavy power carrying conductors. have you taken each loose and taken them down to smooth clean metal and tightened them back up? What is the voltage at the battery?

 

[Winch Fix it]

You possibly have a worn solenoid in your starter motor, Its possible to get this part replaced at a autoparts shop, but today most starter motors come affordable and in good availablity. Do try testing further with a volt meter to find potential loose linked connections. Maybe the key switch or cabling is shorting out or loose.
Or a cable has broken.

 

[Charlie Packwood]

Have you done a load test on the battery? We had a similar problem with a 6 cylinder, the voltage with no load was 12+ volts at the battery but when we load tested the battery it dropped to almost 4 volts. Must have been a bad cell or two. In any case a new battery fixed the problem. By the way we tried to boost it with another vehicle and even that would not work with the old battery in the circuit. I would also check every thing mentioned in the other posts as well, all good ideas. Can you turn the engine over by hand or the starter, maybe a dead spot in the armature.

 

[flyerdan]

The starter in my forklift acted up like that, clicked but didn't engage. Bench tested fine, kicked out the bendix and spun up. Turns out that there are two square headed copper bolts that the solenoid bridges to make battery contact (they are the ones that the cable bolts to on the outside and the other goes to the internal windings) that had half the head eroded and the plunger wouldn't reach them. Popped the bolts out and turned them 180 degrees so that the new part was to the inside and it works like a new starter.

 

[Texasmark]

The starter in my forklift acted up like that, clicked but didn't engage. Bench tested fine, kicked out the bendix and spun up. Turns out that there are two square headed copper bolts that the solenoid bridges to make battery contact (they are the ones that the cable bolts to on the outside and the other goes to the internal windings) that had half the head eroded and the plunger wouldn't reach them. Popped the bolts out and turned them 180 degrees so that the new part was to the inside and it works like a new starter.

Not familiar with the forklift, but inside most all solenoids are these high current posts mentioned by Dan with the 3/8" or larger (I guess) copper studs sticking out each side of the solenoid. over time these get pitted due to contact arcing and the current carrying area gets reduced to the point where there isn't enough current to roll the engine, just click the solenoid and slam the plunger and that's all. I have disassembled numerous solenoids over the years and flipped things around to clean material to solve the problem.

 

[Walt 2002]

Tom just asked what type tractor. Some people call ridding mowers tractors others really mean tractors, engine model number might be helpful for small engines especially.

Walt Conner

 

[Texasmark]

Tom just asked what type tractor. Some people call ridding mowers tractors others really mean tractors, engine model number might be helpful for small engines especially.

Walt Conner

I think the accepted term is lawn tractor to distinguish a rider from a push mower.