Re: Had to disconnect neg bat cable to stop starte

Posted by MarkB_MI on August 29, 2004 at 08:24:15 from (64.31.10.162):

In Reply to: Had to disconnect neg bat cable to stop starter fr posted by Tim K. on August 28, 2004 at 21:58:47:

Tim,

Get a voltmeter or 12 test lamp and trace it back. Remove the cable from the starter and tape it up, Now you can trace back to the source of the problem without the starter cranking.

You'll find that the starter cable goes to a relay (commonly called a "solenoid", although it's not) under the hood. You will see the positive battery cable on one side and the starter cable on the other side. If you check the voltage on the starter cable, it will be 12 volts, which is wrong. You will also see one or two small terminals on the solenoid. Take the wire loose from one of these terminals and recheck the voltage on the starter cable. If the solenoid is bad, the starter cable will still be at 12 volts. If the solenoid is good, the starter voltage will drop to zero. This indicates a short circuit to ground somewhere between the solendoid and the starter switch. So you just have to trace the wiring back until you find the short. Note that the starter switch itself could be shorted.

Sorry if my instructions are a little vague, but since your tractor has been converted to 12 volts, it's difficult to say exactly how it's wired.

As far as the burned up ammeter wires, this is what normally happens when the starter gets "motorized". Once the motor is driving the starter instead of the other way around, it turns into a big generator, but with the wrong polarity. The high current flowing through the ammeter will burn out the ammeter wiring, or the meter itself, or both. You should just need to fix the wiring once your main problem is fixed.

Note that you could have both a bad solenoid and a shorted switch wire, since the solendid contacts might be welded as a result of the short. So if you replace the solenoid, just be sure and recheck the voltage to the starter cable before you hook it up.

One last note: You should be able to get a replacement solenoid at any auto parts store. Note that it's a 12 volt solenoid, since it would have been changed out during the conversion.

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