another starter switch question

arthor itis

New User
Tested the starter switch today on 9N. My readings were the opposite of what they should be. It showed 0 ohms not pressing starter button and infinite reading when pressed. I then took the battery positive cable and touched the starter cable. Still nothing. What am I doing wrong? Thanks to all for your patience and help.
 
(quoted from post at 16:38:49 12/03/14) Tested the starter switch today on 9N. My readings were the opposite of what they should be. It showed 0 ohms not pressing starter button and infinite reading when pressed. I then took the battery positive cable and touched the starter cable. Still nothing. What am I doing wrong? Thanks to all for your patience and help.
hat Ohms reading do you get when touching one meter lead to the other?
 
"It showed 0 ohms not pressing starter button and infinite reading when pressed."

Sounds about right to me.
 
(quoted from post at 18:13:46 12/03/14) needle pegs all the way to right
ou are not giving me any information! "Zero Ohms " given in case of button not pushed, but then when I ask what when leads touched together, you say "all the way to right"! Well for consistency, either state 'all way to right or left" with button pushed/not pushed OR state Ohms reading with leads touching. The Ohms readings are preferred. Don't care much for left/right.
 
meter shows 0 ohms - all way to left not pressed,
infinite reading when pressed - all the way to right. Leads touched together show infinite reading - or all the way to right.
 
(quoted from post at 07:38:46 12/04/14) meter shows 0 ohms - all way to left not pressed,
infinite reading when pressed - all the way to right. Leads touched together show infinite reading - or all the way to right.
Then the switch is good! When pressed it should show direct connection same as when you put the leads together!
 
hey Art.........use yer friggin head fer sumptin' besides keepin' yer ears apart.

Iff'n you touch the 2-leads together, how many OHM's should yer meter read??? ZERO!!! thats how many ohms. When yer leads are NOT touching, how many ohm's should you read??? INFINITY!!! (thatza lazy 8 on its side) Caprice???

Recommend a CHEAP analog meter ($10?) with a NEEDLE display 'stedda fancy digital meter 'cuz digital meters don't like sparkies.

Yer 9N has a SAFETY interlock scheme where the 3-speed tranny hassta be in NEUTRAL. When in neutral, yer safety interlock jiggle rod will then press on yer 2-nut button under neath yer battery tray. (1-button goes to yer battery MINUS (-), and the other-button goes to chassis ground (+) Simple, eh?

You do know yer 9N came from the factory POSITIVE (+) ground, don't you?

Surprizingly enuff, yer tractor will also run negative (-) ground, too. There are some obscure advantages for positive (+) ground but it don't matter much as long as yer genny is correctly polarized fer whatever ground yer battery is connected to.

Many shadetree mechanic wannabees gitt really confused about positive ground 'cuz all they've ebber known is 12-volt negative (-) ground of their BelchFire-V8.

BTW.......usually yer battery ground is a flat woven braid thingy and yer battery HOT is THICK as yer thumb INSULATED cable to the starter switch. CAUTION: many autoparts stores only sell THIN as yer little pinky 12-v battery cables, NOT the THICK 6-volt cable yer tractor requires.

Usually there are additional insulated wires connected to the same insulated switch terminal fer such mundane things as yer ignition switch and headlites. .........electrical Dell
 
(quoted from post at 17:38:49 12/03/14) Tested the starter switch today on 9N. My readings were the opposite of what they should be. It showed 0 ohms not pressing starter button and infinite reading when pressed. I then took the battery positive cable and touched the starter cable. Still nothing. What am I doing wrong? Thanks to all for your patience and help.

Please be careful when you're bypassing the start switch, if the tranny is in gear the tractor will jump or start and if you're standing in front of one of the wheels you going to get run over.

Is your tractor the wired up for neg ground or pos ground?

I don't know exactly where you touched your positive battery cable to but if you have a positive ground system then I would've expected Sparks if you touched it to the starter cable.

Check your battery is it any good?
 
(quoted from post at 19:26:47 12/03/14)
(quoted from post at 07:38:46 12/04/14) meter shows 0 ohms - all way to left not pressed,
infinite reading when pressed - all the way to right. Leads touched together show infinite reading - or all the way to right.
Then the switch is good! When pressed it should show direct connection same as when you put the leads together!
Infinite, or open, is all the way left on your meter.
Just like it is at rest with the leads apart.
As R Geiger said, your switch is closing and opening.
Touching the cables together didn't work either.
Were you touching the two large cables together that used to
be connected to the switch? If so it should have turned the
starter and the engine. (and moved the tractor if in gear)
Did they arc together when you did that?
 
Thanks for your explanation. I understand the difference now. I was wrong and am not to proud to admit it. That's how we all learn. I did touch the two cables from the starter switch together and no sparks or sound from the starter. Would even a low charge still have enough power to at least spark?
 

[b:5c19ce4ed1][color=red:5c19ce4ed1]Make sure the tranny is in neutral.[/color:5c19ce4ed1][/b:5c19ce4ed1]
Block up the wheels if you have to.
Make sure you know which side of the battery is ground. As Dell said previously which post is the ground strap connected to?
Use a jumper cable and connect one end of the cable leads pos and neg directly to the battery.
Touch (dont connect) the other end of the cable leads to the starter.

If there is any juice in the battery, that starter should move, arc spark or do something depending on how your jumper cables are connected.
If nothing. Your battery needs a good charging (which we already know that it does) or your starter is stuck or shot.
 
You're welcome. When we stop learning we stop living.
Yes, even a low charge should have caused a small spark
at the cables when you touched them together.

You can try jumping straight to the starter with a different
battery. If you need the procedure for that please ask. We've
answered it here several times.

You could also charge that battery and try it again with the
switch installed to see what you get.
If it doesn't do anything after charging, measure the voltage
at the starter post while pushing the switch.
If you have battery voltage at that post when the button is
pushed I would take the starter out and have it tested.
Got a good starter/generator rebuild shop around?
 
Thanks again. It has been raining here for the past two days so haven't had a chance to work on it. I will charge the battery first chance I get and try that. Will follow your instruction from there. If you don't mind please post the correct way to jump the starter from another battery. Yes we have a good shop here in town so that won't be a problem. I will get back with what I find out. Thanks again for you and everyone else's help with this.
 
Since you have a 12V system, I assume it is negative ground
with an alternator? If so, you could jump it like a car.

To jump directly to the starter, [b:8670ba17f5]make sure it is in neutral.[/b:8670ba17f5]
I even block the clutch down. Reduces drag while turning too.

Hook the positive lead of your jumper cables between the
starter post and the positive post on the jumping battery.

Hook the negative lead of the jumper cables to the negative
post on the jumping battery then touch the other end of your
negative jumper lead to a clean paint free spot on the chassis
of the tractor and the starter should spin.

If you want the engine to start, you will need the key on and
at least enough charge in the main battery to run the ignition.
It is not a bad idea to do this with the key off at first, just to
make sure it does not start and run over you if its not in neutral!

Let us know what you find. I'm curious to find out.
 

A ohm meter is the least used tool in my tool box... I would like to shove a ohm meter up a Ford Injuneers arse...

You have picked the WRONG tool to diagnose your issue...
 
(reply to post at 05:05:00 12/05/14)

When we stop learning we stop living

Google Voltage drop test... The HOT tip is the circuit MUST BE LOADED... If the starter were open it would nebber load would it... If the ground side were open it would nubber load would it...

Once you learn the circuit MUST BE LOADED... it will not fail ya....
I would still like to shove a ohm meter up a FORD injunneers arse...
 

When we stop learning we stop living

Google Voltage drop test... The HOT tip is the circuit MUST BE LOADED... If the starter were open it would nebber load would it... If the ground side were open it would nubber load would it...

Once you learn the circuit MUST BE LOADED... it will not fail ya....
I would still like to shove a ohm meter up a FORD injunneers arse...[/quote]
We each have our way of troubleshooting a problem, but I don't
think we're seeing it differently. If the starter was open, what voltage
would he read at the starter post when a working switch was pressed?

Ford engineers did not invent the ohm meter. :D
 
(quoted from post at 07:35:59 12/06/14)
When we stop learning we stop living

Google Voltage drop test... The HOT tip is the circuit MUST BE LOADED... If the starter were open it would nebber load would it... If the ground side were open it would nubber load would it...

Once you learn the circuit MUST BE LOADED... it will not fail ya....
I would still like to shove a ohm meter up a FORD injunneers arse...
We each have our way of troubleshooting a problem, but I don't
think we're seeing it differently. If the starter was open, what voltage
would he read at the starter post when a working switch was pressed?

Ford engineers did not invent the ohm meter. :D[/quote]

I will leave it up to y'all ohm meter lubbers to chase yet tail...

Ford diagnostics is the worst to lead you on a ohm meter chase..
Puters don't look at the ohm's readings they look at voltage... Tell me the Voltage please...
 
don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but might try cleaning where the starter bolts to the bell housing. your starter might not be getting ground through the rust that can grow there. just pull the starter and do a little sandpaper work on the front of the stsrter and the bell housing so its shiny
 
I also like just a plain old test light for things like switches, etc. yours is 12v neg ground? hook the clip to the neg batt post, with switch in and everything hooked up, then check at every connection, battery to first post on switch should light up always, second post on switch when switch is pushed, connection on starter when switch is pushed. if it lights up on all of those to the top of the starter, then you have a bad ground, or the sparks are getting lost somewhere inside your starter. the aftermarket switch I bought for my 2n worked fine on the bench, but if I put the cables on and tightened them down it sprung things inside the switch and I couldn't get power through it, good old china made parts lol.
 
(quoted from post at 00:04:31 12/06/14)
A ohm meter is the least used tool in my tool box... I would like to shove a ohm meter up a Ford Injuneers arse...

You have picked the WRONG tool to diagnose your issue...

I have a bunch of 'em. I use them to check the components of a circuit to isolate down to the actual problem.
In low voltage electronics they are indispensable.

You are correct in a high amperage circuit it's the amps and voltage you want to test for. But ohming out a particular component can rule it out.
Heck I have hundreds of screw drivers. They all turn a screw. But for me they all do it differently and each has a purpose.
 
Thanks again to everyone for your input. I have printed your suggestions so I will have them in front of me when I can work on it. I feel like I have hijacked this forum and that was not my intention. I have followed this site for several years and have learned a lot that has come in handy. I will take your suggestions and try one thing at a time till I figure this out and will let you all know. Thank you all for your patience and help.
 
(quoted from post at 22:03:19 12/06/14)
(quoted from post at 00:04:31 12/06/14)
A ohm meter is the least used tool in my tool box... I would like to shove a ohm meter up a Ford Injuneers arse...

You have picked the WRONG tool to diagnose your issue...

I have a bunch of 'em. I use them to check the components of a circuit to isolate down to the actual problem.
In low voltage electronics they are indispensable.

You are correct in a high amperage circuit it's the amps and voltage you want to test for. But ohming out a particular component can rule it out.
Heck I have hundreds of screw drivers. They all turn a screw. But for me they all do it differently and each has a purpose.

If it Ohms out what do you do other than chunk it...
I understand its fast and a good place to start but it still does not confirm the circuit is good under a load...

Your percentage of nailing a issue will go up the lower the amperage draw is in a circuit with a ohm meter but it is still not a go no go confirmed kill if it Ohms out... A ohm meter can tell you if the part is bad it can not confirm its good low voltage electronics are not ....

Diagnosing a circuit loaded has become the way to confirm a kill in my world... Its not that hard to do... If it Ohms out and still does not function load it up you will drop that beast in its tracks...
 

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