duckfarmer27
New member
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2006
- Messages
- 9
Bear with me on this long epistle. 2004 machine with 700 hours.
Saturday before Easter I did a hundred hour service. Had taken the loader off, when done went out to hook it back up. Turned off tractor but was not quite close enough to hook up hoses - went to start it, heard starter solenoid click and nothing. Totally dead electrically - not even the four way flashers would work.
Dug out the repair manuals and started going through things. This was after doing the obvious checking of battery and ground connections. Analysis led me to test the operator safety module. Using the test procedure in the NH manual it tested bad. Was doubting things a bit, as this component should have no impact whatsoever on the four way flashers. Went and discussed with dealer I bought machine from back in 2005 (who is no longer a NH dealer but does get parts for me - real good guys). Since the safety module tested bad ordered one. Installed it and tried the 4 ways - they worked. So tried starter. Solenoid clicked and then nothing.
In testing the new safety module it is defective per the manual - but as I will note later it works. I believe the NH manual has an error in that test procedure. Once I get this thing solved I will be contacting NH concerning that - and some labeling errors in the manual schematic.
Could only work on the machine sporadically. Basically tore apart the entire electrical system tracing things out. Tested every relay, etc. Wrung out every wire. Was getting what appeared to be intermittent results. At that point realized the ignition switch had a problem from time to time. After reading on here about switch problems, popped apart the switch. Design is what I would expect in a garden tractor from Lowes, so that will get replaced. To continue testing have used jumper and starter switch. My best friend was amused with my problem so has helped for a couple days. We are both retired engineers - and he has more electrical trouble shooting experience than me. It has us stumped.
I have separated the wiring loom enough to verify that the splices in the harness under the steering wheel look good. Yesterday we were wondering if perhaps the starter solenoid could have an internal problem. Was still an intermittent problem with low voltage. Removed the starter and the battery, went to the local rebuild shop. Both test out fine. So continued trying to trace wiring, thinking the problem might be some bad connection. Jumpered ground wire lug attached to starter stud directly to battery to make sure good ground, no change in status,
Here is current status. I have disconnected the headlight harness, fuel shut off solenoid wire and glow plug wire in the main harness. Thinking we might have a high impedance in the positive battery cable, dropped the alternator cable out. Then disconnected the plug for the two wires going to the main fuse and pulled the cable off the battery. In testing the cable from starter lug to battery terminal got a reading of .1 ohm, so OK. At this point I hooked the battery cable back up. But then wired directly from battery to the connector for the main fuse. All relays and diodes installed. With ignition set to on getting 12.3 volts all places on the fuse block as well as the starter lug. Closing ignition switch (and holding it closed) picks the starter solenoid - the starter does not engage and the voltage at the starter lug drops to .4 volts. After about 2 seconds the PTO Safety Relay unlatches, dropping the solenoid. Releasing the starter switch allows things to reset and can then be repeated.
At that point I reconnected the connector going to the main fuse and tried the process again. When jumpering the ignition switch to on, nothing happened. Voltage was low, about 4 volts - and then climbed as if a capacitor was charging, taking a good long time to get up to the 12.3 volts.
Maybe we are missing something, but this has us stumped but good. Thanks for any ideas on what the issue might be.
Dale
Saturday before Easter I did a hundred hour service. Had taken the loader off, when done went out to hook it back up. Turned off tractor but was not quite close enough to hook up hoses - went to start it, heard starter solenoid click and nothing. Totally dead electrically - not even the four way flashers would work.
Dug out the repair manuals and started going through things. This was after doing the obvious checking of battery and ground connections. Analysis led me to test the operator safety module. Using the test procedure in the NH manual it tested bad. Was doubting things a bit, as this component should have no impact whatsoever on the four way flashers. Went and discussed with dealer I bought machine from back in 2005 (who is no longer a NH dealer but does get parts for me - real good guys). Since the safety module tested bad ordered one. Installed it and tried the 4 ways - they worked. So tried starter. Solenoid clicked and then nothing.
In testing the new safety module it is defective per the manual - but as I will note later it works. I believe the NH manual has an error in that test procedure. Once I get this thing solved I will be contacting NH concerning that - and some labeling errors in the manual schematic.
Could only work on the machine sporadically. Basically tore apart the entire electrical system tracing things out. Tested every relay, etc. Wrung out every wire. Was getting what appeared to be intermittent results. At that point realized the ignition switch had a problem from time to time. After reading on here about switch problems, popped apart the switch. Design is what I would expect in a garden tractor from Lowes, so that will get replaced. To continue testing have used jumper and starter switch. My best friend was amused with my problem so has helped for a couple days. We are both retired engineers - and he has more electrical trouble shooting experience than me. It has us stumped.
I have separated the wiring loom enough to verify that the splices in the harness under the steering wheel look good. Yesterday we were wondering if perhaps the starter solenoid could have an internal problem. Was still an intermittent problem with low voltage. Removed the starter and the battery, went to the local rebuild shop. Both test out fine. So continued trying to trace wiring, thinking the problem might be some bad connection. Jumpered ground wire lug attached to starter stud directly to battery to make sure good ground, no change in status,
Here is current status. I have disconnected the headlight harness, fuel shut off solenoid wire and glow plug wire in the main harness. Thinking we might have a high impedance in the positive battery cable, dropped the alternator cable out. Then disconnected the plug for the two wires going to the main fuse and pulled the cable off the battery. In testing the cable from starter lug to battery terminal got a reading of .1 ohm, so OK. At this point I hooked the battery cable back up. But then wired directly from battery to the connector for the main fuse. All relays and diodes installed. With ignition set to on getting 12.3 volts all places on the fuse block as well as the starter lug. Closing ignition switch (and holding it closed) picks the starter solenoid - the starter does not engage and the voltage at the starter lug drops to .4 volts. After about 2 seconds the PTO Safety Relay unlatches, dropping the solenoid. Releasing the starter switch allows things to reset and can then be repeated.
At that point I reconnected the connector going to the main fuse and tried the process again. When jumpering the ignition switch to on, nothing happened. Voltage was low, about 4 volts - and then climbed as if a capacitor was charging, taking a good long time to get up to the 12.3 volts.
Maybe we are missing something, but this has us stumped but good. Thanks for any ideas on what the issue might be.
Dale
