Getting very frustrated

I finally got my 2n running and decided to do a little brush hogging. Made a few rounds and it just died. Tried starting again and it turned over a few then nothing. I thought maybe the battery went dead so I put it on the charger over night. Went out today put the battery back in the tractor and nothing. So I pulled out the trusty test light and was getting nothing to the starter, ignition switch or push button start when the key was on. When I turn the key off and check these things I get light on the test light. I changed out ignition switch with a toggle switch I had and put in a new push button starter and still same problem. Any ideas as what is causing this? Thanks.

Poor connections some place be it ground ore at the starter switch. If wired correctly it should spin over with the key on or off.

Don't take this the wrong way, but just replacing parts is not a wise way to proceed. Many electrical problems turn out to be fuel issues and many fuel issues turn out to be electrical problems. Have you seen Bruce(VA)'s 75 Tips For N-Owners? If not, search it out and download it to your desktop so you can print it out and keep it handy.




[i:654c4848f0][b:654c4848f0]<font size="4">Tim Daley(MI)</font>[/b:654c4848f0][/i:654c4848f0]<table width="100" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" bordercolor="#000000"><tr><td height="25" colspan="2" bgcolor="#CC0000"></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td></td></tr></table>

[i:3c6622b00d]Triple check your grounds.[/i:3c6622b00d] If it's not a 0 gauge wire to the battery your contacts better be shiny clean.

I can not tell you how many times I've solved an issue by going straight to the ground wires and verifying they are the proper size and are doing their job. Now would be a good time to buy a length of heavy gauge welding wire and make new pos and neg battery cables.

The first step in troubleshooting any electrical issue is making sure that everyplace a wire connects to or current needs to pass through is clean tight and bright. An example of where current needs to pass-through is the wire from the battery to the frame ground be it positive or negative. Another is where the starter mates to the engine.
Unless you have a custom wiring, the on off switch has nothing to do with the starter push button. Push that button should make the starter spin.

What are you testing with the test light?

I am testing all of the connections to make sure power is flowing through them. I am going to go through later to day and clean all of the wire conections and grounds.

Be careful using a test light around the starter. Depending how you're testing, I haven't seen a test light yet that can handle the current draw of a starter.

Your starting system , charging system , and ignition system work independently of each other . They all have the battery and ground in common .

A 2n does not have a starter solenoid . It is a manual contact switch . You press the button and an arm pushes a rod which pushes the switch closed .

Your ignition should go from battery -&gt; key or toggle switch -&gt; under dash resistor -&gt; coil .

Both have the ground in common .

Pull the plug on the bottom of the carburetor and see if you have a good steady stream of gas for 30 seconds minimum .

It sounds like two electrical component problems or one ground problem. I'm favoring one ground problem.
The not turning over issue could be the mechanical switch under the battery where the batteries main negative wire attaches(if stock 6 volt positive ground) on the right terminal with the terminal on the left going to the starter.
As mentioned, this is a mechanically activated switch via the pushbutton in front of the shifter. If this switch is working properly, it should turn the motor over at all times(but you still need a good ground) but will not start the tractor until the key switch (now a toggle) is turned on.
Also on the right terminal of the mechanical starter switch, there should be a smaller wire going to the center terminal (if stock)on the resistor block, which then goes to the key switch to send power to the coil via the resister block. Here again, there is a chance for a bad connection at the mechanical switch but it would have to be a really crusty connection for it to not pass the little amount of current needed by the coil, therefore swaying back toward a bad ground though the main cable from the battery to the switch should also be tested
Also, just because a test light comes on, it doesn't mean that there is enough current to do anything. It can only takes one strand of wire left connected from a broken stranded cable to turn on a test light.