I reinstalled the engine back in the front half of the tractor hooking up the radiator, fuel, and electrical console. Turned the key and the glow plugs fired. Turned the key again and blew the main 40amp fuse. Rigged up a 40amp circuit breaker and blew the breaker every time I moved the key to start. So I wired up a temporary switch between the battery and starter/solenoid connection. Used the key to ignite glow plugs and used switch to engage starter. The engine turned. And turned and turned. The air bleed valve didn't seem to be doing much so I removed one of the injector lines. After a lot of cranking, fuel finally began coming out of injector line. Hooked it back up and the engine sputtered and came to life! Sounds great. It was pretty thrilling I must admit.
Major mistake #1 coming up. I brought my wife out the next morning to show it off to her. I went through the key and temporary switch process. It was a little hard to start but it fired and sounds fantastic. She was impressed but for some reason lost interest after about 10 min or so. Hey, I could have listened to the thing for hours. I let it run about 20 minutes and then turned it off. There was still a clicking sound after I turned off they key and shut the engine down. Oh no. What is that? Something rattling around in the engine? I go over to the other side. Sounded like what a car sounds like when you try to start with a very low battery. Oh no. In my excitement showing my wife the engine start, I forgot to turn off the temporary starter toggle switch! The starter had been running for 20 min and drained the battery. Not only that but it was blistering hot. Not only that but when I added power from the car battery, the starter still wouldn't turn
. I'd burnt out the starter. Stupid.
I left for work and called my local dealer to inquire about a new starter fearing the worst. Even that fear was on the low side. $650 for a new starter. Ugh. And it would take a week to get here. I said I'd have to think about that. I'm a lucky guy because I found a place online that sold me a new one, same brand, for $89. I even splurged and paid an extra $60 for overnight delivery.
I got back home and tried to start it again with the original starter. It worked! I hadn't burned it out after all but it had just been too hot before.
I combined the front and back of the tractor, installing the electrical connections the proper way and the key now functions properly. Not sure what the problem was. The key in start position shouldn't have done anything. There are two lock out switches, one on the shuttle shifter and one on the gear selector. I didn't have those connected previously because they were on the back tractor half harness. Don't know why the result would be fuse blowing rather than no action. But problem solved when all wires connected.
Several days later, it was struggling to start and I thought what the heck, I bought the new starter, I might as well use it. I installed it and it turned much faster. The engine now fires right away.
To make myself feel better, I now think that it started slowly from when I first tried it. The starter was probably on it's last legs when I got the tractor and before I ran it 20 minutes straight.
