JD5045 won't start in cold weather.

siegmund

Member
My 11yr.old JD 5045 won't start in cold. parked always under roof(unheated barn).Hooked to 12 volt battery tender. terminals recently replaced. vehicle(suburban) to vehicle jump start, portable jump starter,to no avail.Cleaned and tightened cables and terminals,no dice.warm I don't know much about it. What does a faulty starter act like. if I wait for the barn to warm up to 50-55degrees it will start up.Thanks for any advice about replacing this starter.Brad
 

Absolutely normal for a cold diesel not to start. Plug in the block heater. Do NOT use ether.
Can't hurt to measure the voltage at the starter from the POS post to the starter's cast case while cranking. It is a vital trouble shooting test that people refuse to follow.
Rather than touch a voltmeter, people will randomly change batteries, starters, cables etc instead.
 
I had a low hour (450) one near like that in here a couple weeks ago, it had a cheap looking starter with no nose on it,,looked like a lawn mower starter,,I put an older model starter (with a nose cone on it)on it and that took care of it. I got it from DB Electrical
https://www.dbelectrical.com/ $194
 
it cranks once or twice very slugishly and each crankiest much slower...like a weak battery seems to me....but jump start fromarunning 12 volt vehicle doesn't seem to be any better.
 
never has been much of a problem till this year.seems to be a problem below 50 degrees. below 40 degrees you cannot start it at all.
 
Get the battery tested to be sure of its condition. As buickanddeere posted, do the voltmeter checks to narrow the possibilities of what the problem is.
 
Mr.B&D,never been very well trained with the ammeter except to check resistance.Worry too much about screwing things up and not being able to interpret the readings.Anyhow,thanx
for the advice.What should I be looking for in terms of meter readings? I'm guessing that a functioning starter should read about 12 volts "under load" and, if significantly less than 12
volts that the starter isn't functioning as it should or that the electrical flow to the inner workings isn't getting to the starter?.Brad
 
Jim,thanx. Failed to mention that I did take the battery and have it tested. They put it under load and told me that it was O.K.Brad
 
Some cables can look great, but are corroded under the insulation, usually at the battery end of the cable. Look for voltage drops or resistance across connections when cranking and hot spots after cranking.

Could you open the starter, check for worn brushes and clean out excessive dust that can cause shorts within the starter.
 
That's about the same size as our 2001 4600, it starts instantly down to about 0 F, below that I plug it in, and I have started it down to about -20 F. Ours has a Yanmar engine, It looks like yours was made in India. I would troubleshoot as recommended before buying any parts, and if you don't find anything obvious I would take the starter apart, or take it to a repair shop. How many hours on the tractor? It seems awfully new to be having any problems, ours has about 1100 hours.
 
(quoted from post at 10:54:24 12/30/18) Mr.B&D,never been very well trained with the ammeter except to check resistance.Worry too much about screwing things up and not being able to interpret the readings.Anyhow,thanx
for the advice.What should I be looking for in terms of meter readings? I'm guessing that a functioning starter should read about 12 volts "under load" and, if significantly less than 12
volts that the starter isn't functioning as it should or that the electrical flow to the inner workings isn't getting to the starter?.Brad

Never said anything about an ammeter . Measure the voltage between the big positive post on the starter and the anywhere on the starters cast iron body . WHILE cranking .
 
. While cranking there should be at least 10.0V and 10.5 is better .
As others have previously stated , good looking but defective cables and connections are all too common .
Can’t recall the battery cable routing on a 5045. No one ever made a mistake by routing a new HD ground cable direct from the battery (-) to a starter mounting bolt .
Every connection to frame , sheet metal or even the engine block is another place for a high resistance connection to occur.
 
. While cranking there should be at least 10.0V and 10.5 is better .
As others have previously stated , good looking but defective cables and connections are all too common .
Can’t recall the battery cable routing on a 5045. No one ever made a mistake by routing a new HD ground cable direct from the battery (-) to a starter mounting bolt .
Every connection to frame , sheet metal or even the engine block is another place for a high resistance connection to occur.
 
In general it sounds like a copper shortage in the cabling department, cleaning every connection can help very much since they tend to skimp in this area quite a bit. Time spent doing this is never wasted time. Real problem is you can't believe the load test done these days by free parts house testers. Their best tester isn't worth buying compared to the reliable old school load testers. Too many times it was the battery despite being giving the thumbs up from a load test done on a modern tester. Seems to be missing information intentional or otherwise, but just how old is this particular battery?
 

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