Technical Assistants

woodlandfarms · Jun 28, 2008

I was referring to grounding straps. They can be found in any automotive store. Silver mesh wire with battery type lugs at the ends...

But now things have become interesting. It is possible that the intermittent contact has blown a fuse.

So start at the beginning... Get yourself a volt meter (cheapo from anywhere) or even one of those probes that lights up can work.

Check to make sure your battery has juice. Follow those leads to the first stop. On my tractor it is the starter solenoid... If you have juice there then turn on the key... Also, as we are thinking ground is the culprit, use the battery terminal ground and then if you get a positive response try the engine as a ground, or the chasis. Your whole tractor is a ground or negative part of the batter, only the covered wires are positive... (this is a real simple way to look at it BTW)

Really, electrical and hydraulics kinda are the same. It all starts at one point and finishes at another. Follow the flow.

PT has a rep for mediocre wiring. Thankfully it is dirt simple so you do not need an EE degree to repair, but still frustrating.

SpringHollow · Jun 28, 2008

I ran a grounding strap from the front to the back when my alternator was putting out 16.5 V. (Did not help with that problem).

I was concerned it might increase ground loops but i do not think there is anything that is that sensitive in the PT.

Ken

ldabe · Jun 28, 2008

Ok,
I found the problem (I think).

A wire from the wiring harness (then going to the eng.?, left side) had a bad connection at the 5 point connector.

I pulled it apart cleaned it up and made sure the connection was tight.

Started right up. Did about 45-60 minutes of mowing with no incident.

Btw, I did the jiggle the individual wire trick with the ignition and light switch on. When I moved that wire (black with a white stripe) the light came on.

Thanks for all the help. (Now onto my zero turn that broke a trans belt the same day the PT stopped!)