Massey Ferguson 255 No Start

LoganA22

New User
Hi Everyone. I am having an issue with my Massey 255. It will not start. I had it hooked up to a spinner spreader planting some grass shut it off and went to start it again and nothing. Nothing at all. The starter does not engage or anything. The battery has been tested and is fine. I have tried to cross the starter and nothing. I have tried to jump the starter from the battery and nothing. I pulled the starter and tested it. It works fine. The fuses on the dash are all good. The ignition is brand new. When I turn the key, power gets to the starter and the circuit tester shows that the neutral safety switch is getting power. I have even tried to cross the neutral safety and still nothing. It will pull start just fine. It has always started immediately except for the issue I am having now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Interesting!!! I would start by joining the two wires going to the neutral safety switch together. Be careful as you
could not start it in gear. If there is no improvement check your battery earth connection to the tractor. If it is
attached to the fuel filter body THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. The battery tray can become loose and you'll lose connection.
Attach the battery cable to one of the clutch housing bolts. If no progress attach a cable to the input side of the
solenoid and touch it to the +ve terminal on the battery after ensuring that the tractor is in neutral. If still no
progress connect a jumper cable from the battery -ve terminal to one of the starter bolts. That will rule out a poor or
'dry' connection. Do the same from the -ve terminal on the battery to the terminal on the starter and use the seperate
test wire. If still no progress it looks like you have a starter problem. It will work without load but not with.
DavidP, South Wales
 
I have put a jumper wire on the neutral safety switch terminals and still nothing. The ground strap goes directly from negative on the battery to a bolt that is attached directly to the battery housing. That too is a good solid connection. However the ground strap that is currently on it does have some fraying at the bottom where it bolts into the battery housing. Could this be an issue? I have tried to jump the starter directly from the positive on the battery to the input on the starter and nothing. I will run a jumper from the negative on the battery to one of the starter bolts and see if the ground is an issue. Thanks for the reply! Much appreciated!
 
I've had this issue twice with a 255, once it was the safety switch connector and the other it was a bad ground. This tractor has the 203D and the battery is in front of the radiator and it grounds on the front frame. Yours may be different, some had the battery underneath the steering wheel. I have seen a few starters that would turn well when removed but not when attached. To add to DavidP's excellent advice you might want to remove the solenoid end cap(5/16's or 11/32's)and see if the big washer is making contact with the copper bolt from the "+" cable. On most of those you can rotate that bolt 180 degrees and see if it helps. If you have 3000 hours or more the starter may need a rebuild but I think I would try that as a last resort. Might want to check the resistance of the ground cable to make sure it can handle the load. BTW my choice of "jumper" wire is a shiny screwdriver across the solenoid ;-) Good Luck with it!
 
Thanks for the advice! I have put a screw driver across the solenoid. I will be sure to check the ground. The battery is directly underneath the steering wheel. The tractor does have around 4000 hours on it. So it may just be the starter. I will pull the end cap and check that out as well. Thanks again!
 
first question is what starter does it have, Lucas or Delco Remy, if it has the low torque Lucas regardless of condition replace it with a delco and you will see the difference, put up with poor cranking for years especially in cold weather until I replace mine with a delco, your problem sounds like a solenoid, bad ground or bad cables, remove the battery cable from the starter, then with the battery hooked up strike don't just touch the outer housing of the starter motor with the cable it should produce a strong arc if you have a ground if not you have a bad grd or bad cables. if it does arc then touch the stud on the solenoid going to the starter motor it should spin freely but not engage the bendix if it does the solenoid is bad, this is a quick way to isolate the problem BUT DO IT AT YOU OWN RISK
 
ISSUE SOLVED. It ended up being a bad ground strap. I replaced it with a 2 gauge ground wire and it fired right up. Thank you everyone for the advice! It was extremely helpful and insightful. Thanks again.
 

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