I purchased an MF-135 about a month ago. I've had it out twice blading snow off the driveway and once spreading out new gravel. Last time I used it was 10 days ago and it was running great. I store it in my garage that only gets down to about 40-45 degrees. I went to start it today and it was silent. I pulled up my truck and jumped it, then about 10 seconds after taking the cables off it would die. I did this process twice. Do you think the battery is bad or would it be something else? Is there a way that I can tell? I do have a battery charger that I use to charge my 12V marine battery if that would help me in any way. Thanks for the help.
- Thread starter smithjr31
- Start date
87nassaublue
Member
I assume you have a gas model. It sounds like your alternator or generator, which ever you have has not been putting out and your battery is depleted. It sounds like you were running on battery and now it's completely dead. It will run as long as you have it connected to a charged battery. Charge your battery and check out your alternator.
Gary from Muleshoe
Well-known Member
I would charge the battery up with the charger. Start the tractor and then disconnect the positive cable off, if the tractor dies you have a charging problem. If it keeps running you most likely have a bad battery. If the battery will not a charge then you definitely have a bad battery. Just my thoughts on the problem. If all this fails you may need to look for shorted wire that is draining the battery.
87nassaublue
Member
By the way, if you have a volt meter, the way you check an alternator is to connect it to the batter when it's running. If the alternator is putting out, it will pull the voltage up to around 14.5 volts. If it's not putting out, you will be reading battery voltage only which will probably be no more than 12V if the batter is fully charged.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Could be a lotta things. First thing, check the battery voltage, if under 12, re charge, and load test the battery. If the battery comes up, and ain't too old, check the charging circuit. If the alternator aint puttin out enough, or if the diodes are blown, you could have problems there. Test, test, test, clean connections, clean connections. It aint rocket science. This is coming from someone who just spent an hour in the return line at the walmart, returning a bad 9 month old battery, today!
You need a fully charged battery when you have a distributor. Not so if you have a mag. You probably have a battery drain on the battery. You can unhook the battery's ground cable when not in use or install a master switch in the ground cable. This will isolate the battery from being grounded. You can check what's causing the drain when the weather gets warm. Hal
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
Check the battery with a hydrometer.
teddy52food
Well-known Member
Well if the alt was charging before, that is a good way to kill it. Also a good way to blow up a battery. QUIT DOING THAT! Get a meter to check things out.
teddy52food
Well-known Member
If that battery is down to 2 volts you have a bad drain on it or the battery is shot. Even a discharged one will have 10 or 11 volts ,yet will act dead . Are you testing the battery posts or the cables? May have a bad connection.
Assuming that is about a 850 cca batery you need to charge it for at least 10 hours at 10 amps. Preferably in a warm room. Then take it to a reliable auto parts place and have them load test it.
If the battery is good your tractor is AFU. If it's bad, proceed with new batt.
How old is that battery in there. What is the date code on it?
Gordo
If the battery is good your tractor is AFU. If it's bad, proceed with new batt.
How old is that battery in there. What is the date code on it?
Gordo
Gene Davis (Ga.)
Well-known Member
Wouldn't a fully charged 12 volt battery need to read about 13.5 to 14 volts if fully charged and the specfic gravity was up to normal? If it read only 12.6 volts and the weather is cold when you deduct fom the performance the amount it loses for cold weather,it would be very weak since they get weaker as the temperature drops.
CHARGE YOUR BATTERY, TEST YOUR BATTERY,CKECK YOUR ALTERNATER, TEST YOUR ALTERNATER,CHECK YOUR CABLES
I NO THIS SOUNDS DUMB.
But if you charge your battery and then you test it and it test out at 12.9, check your alternater,
ckeck the wires and check to see if alternater belt is tight,if every thing is ok, check your cables.Take your ground lose and clean the spot and the cable end and areatach it and make it tight. Like I said this may sound dumb but it just might the problem.GOOD LUCK
JR.Frye
MF-135 has a generator not an alternator. Every tractor we have that has a generator will not charge. New voltage regulators, and tested the generators which tested good and still no charge. I just run them till the battery dies (takes a while with them being diesel) then charge the battery back up. I'll figure out the problem one of these days.
Update...to answer a few questions, I have the 1967 model, gas continental z-145 engine. After charging the battery, it started up and ran great. While running the gauge on the dash is slightly on the negative side, and when I am using the headlights, it is around -10. Also, when taking a reading of the volts while the engine is running, it fluctuates in the mid 13's. I read somewhere that the RPM's need to be above 1700 in order for the generator to charge like it's supposed to, but I've just been running at around 12-1300 while blading the snow. I'm not sure if I just need to run the throttle higher or if I have a wire that's not getting a great connection or if the generator's just not putting out what it should. Also, when I take of the positive cable while it's running, it dies.
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