Starting Issues

drambo

New User
Hi,
New to the forum but glad to have found it. I have an early 40's 9N that I use for plowing mostly. The problem I'm having is that when I try to start it nothing happens. Battery (12V) is new and fully charged and connections are good. Weird because it happened so suddenly which is why I first thought bad connection. After a really cold night (-25F) I had a hard time turning it over then all of a sudden nothing. Hate to sound like an idiot but how can I diagnose if it's the starter switch, solenoid, or starter, or something else? No clicking or anything. :?:
 
(quoted from post at 14:05:15 02/19/15) Hi,
New to the forum but glad to have found it. I have an early 40's 9N that I use for plowing mostly. The problem I'm having is that when I try to start it nothing happens. Battery (12V) is new and fully charged and connections are good. Weird because it happened so suddenly which is why I first thought bad connection. After a really cold night (-25F) I had a hard time turning it over then all of a sudden nothing. Hate to sound like an idiot but how can I diagnose if it's the starter switch, solenoid, or starter, or something else? No clicking or anything. :?:

What is the voltage reading taking directly across your battery terminals?
If you have at least 12.3 volts or so:

As a very quick test
Assuming you have an alternator and not a generator (you said 12 volts)

1. Make sure tractor is in Neutral so if it moves when you jump start it it wont run you over.
2. Using jumper cables from the battery go directly from battery to starter. Pay attention to your ground. Assuming NEG is ground on your tractor.
What happens?

If it starts you need to work your way backwards from the starter to the battery. Ground connections and wire connections would be where I would start.
 
(quoted from post at 11:52:13 02/19/15)
(quoted from post at 14:05:15 02/19/15) Hi,
New to the forum but glad to have found it. I have an early 40's 9N that I use for plowing mostly. The problem I'm having is that when I try to start it nothing happens. Battery (12V) is new and fully charged and connections are good. Weird because it happened so suddenly which is why I first thought bad connection. After a really cold night (-25F) I had a hard time turning it over then all of a sudden nothing. Hate to sound like an idiot but how can I diagnose if it's the starter switch, solenoid, or starter, or something else? No clicking or anything. :?:

What is the voltage reading taking directly across your battery terminals?
If you have at least 12.3 volts or so:

As a very quick test
Assuming you have an alternator and not a generator (you said 12 volts)

1. Make sure tractor is in Neutral so if it moves when you jump start it it wont run you over.
2. Using jumper cables from the battery go directly from battery to starter. Pay attention to your ground. Assuming NEG is ground on your tractor.
What happens?

If it starts you need to work your way backwards from the starter to the battery. Ground connections and wire connections would be where I would start.


Thanks. I'll give it a try when I get home tonight.
 
Well first off a 9N should not have a solenoid but then who knows what has been done to it. A couple things you may try to figure out what part is bad is this.
#1 Using a heavy wire like and old battery cable jumper across the 2 big studs on the solenoid if it does have one or jumper the 2 studs on the starter push button switch if it has the correct set up.
#2 go from the battery right to the starter stud.
If it spins over with both you know the solenoid or switch is bad. If it does not spin over on either then the starter is bad or a bad cable.
MAKE 1000% sure it is out of gear when doing this
 

A few more points to keep in mind. With the temperatures that you mentioned you will probably need to charge up the battery some even new batteries could lose up to 50% of their charge in those very cold temperatures. You may want to look at a trickle charger.
If you get it to start check the voltage at the battery when the tractor isnt running compared to while it is running to see if the alternator is in fact charging the battery.
Use your volt meter to see if voltage exists at both sides of the solenoid as you hit the starter button.
 

I have a trickle charger which has been on the battery going on 24 hours now. Unfortunately I won't be able to tinker with the tractor until probably Saturday or maybe tomorrow night. One thing I didn't mention is that when whatever is going on happened, I was jumping the battery off my truck because the battery was strained after trying to start it on the cold morning. Having it connected to my truck should have taken away any of the dead battery concerns right?
 
(quoted from post at 20:14:24 02/19/15)
I have a trickle charger which has been on the battery going on 24 hours now. Unfortunately I won't be able to tinker with the tractor until probably Saturday or maybe tomorrow night. One thing I didn't mention is that when whatever is going on happened, I was jumping the battery off my truck because the battery was strained after trying to start it on the cold morning. Having it connected to my truck should have taken away any of the dead battery concerns right?

If jumpered correctly it should have been no problem.
Let me ask a question. Are you sure you have a 12 volt system.
Which terminal from the battery connects to the chassis ?
 
" Having it connected to my truck should have taken away any of the dead battery concerns right? "

No.

You need a charge in the tractor battery to provide power to the coil.

First, ditch the trickle charger. They rarely provide enough current to charge a dead battery & will do more harm than good. For a long term solution, get a float charger. Short term, put a real battery charger on it.

And re chargers & jump starts, see tips 43 & 60.

If the starter won't spin w/ a jumper battery attached, you'll need to follow the volts as greywolf advised to find the problem.
75 Tips
 

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