Electric Gremlins - Kubota L35 - TLB

[Arkansas]

Thank you for taking a look. I'm a little stumped on this and trying to figure out the best way to track this issue down.

Problem: Something is draining my battery --- and fast. Overnight it can go from a full charge down to zero.

Potential clues:

- Saturday I had the key in the on position after trying to start it. I left it in the on position while I went to get jumper cables. The battery had a little juice in it but not enough to start. There was a rapid clicking sound coming from inside the dash...

- Coil light - I have noticed recently that the glow plug light isn't acting normally. For example, it won't even light up when I turn the key. Usually I see the light and wait for it to go out before I start the engine. Lately, that light isn't acting correctly --- may not come on --- may come on and not go off. However, it wait for a moment and turn the key anyway and the engine starts.

At this point, this is all I have. Any recommendations on where to start diagnosing this would be helpful. I'm pretty helpless when it comes to the electrical piece of the puzzle.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Thank you for taking a look. I'm a little stumped on this and trying to figure out the best way to track this issue down.

Problem: Something is draining my battery --- and fast. Overnight it can go from a full charge down to zero.

Potential clues:

- Saturday I had the key in the on position after trying to start it. I left it in the on position while I went to get jumper cables. The battery had a little juice in it but not enough to start. There was a rapid clicking sound coming from inside the dash...

- Coil light - I have noticed recently that the glow plug light isn't acting normally. For example, it won't even light up when I turn the key. Usually I see the light and wait for it to go out before I start the engine. Lately, that light isn't acting correctly --- may not come on --- may come on and not go off. However, it wait for a moment and turn the key anyway and the engine starts.

At this point, this is all I have. Any recommendations on where to start diagnosing this would be helpful. I'm pretty helpless when it comes to the electrical piece of the puzzle.

Sounds like you have a glow plug relay issue.

 

[Arkansas]

So, potentially, the clicking I am hearing is the relay itself? Is there any way to test this or should I just replace the glow plug relay and see what happens?

 

[Roadworthy]

You can connect a voltmeter to the output of the glow plug relay or to one of the glow plugs - they're wired in parallel so all are energized at the same time. If the glow plugs are energized they take a LOT of power from your battery. That won't tell if the relay itself is bad, only if it's energized. I don't know why the relay energizes - perhaps a time delay circuit elsewhere? You should be able to measure the input side of the relay to see if it's receiving a command to latch. You may replace the relay without solving the actual problem. Try to find out why the relay is activated, and yes it could just be a bad relay.

 

[Arkansas]

I'm going to pick up a new glow plug relay and install it and see what happens. Hopefully it will be that simple!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The other logical option is a bad ignition switch, that is triggering the Glow plug relay circuit and draining the battery.
I think that switch has a plug on the end, you could test it to see if it has too high of ohms or has crossover to other terminals.

 

[Arkansas]

Well, we will see if it is a final solution. I put in a new Glow Plug Relay and the clicking issue has stopped. I also went ahead and installed a new battery for good measure.

I put a multimeter on the alternator and it was reading somewhere in the 12.6V range. Does that sound low to you? --- I know car alternators tend to be in the 14.2V range. Considering the tractor doesn't have additional loads like air conditioning, radio, etc I thought maybe this tractor alternator was a little less powerful than a typical car/truck version. The alternator is less than a year old.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Well, we will see if it is a final solution. I put in a new Glow Plug Relay and the clicking issue has stopped. I also went ahead and installed a new battery for good measure.

I put a multimeter on the alternator and it was reading somewhere in the 12.6V range. Does that sound low to you? --- I know car alternators tend to be in the 14.2V range. Considering the tractor doesn't have additional loads like air conditioning, radio, etc I thought maybe this tractor alternator was a little less powerful than a typical car/truck version. The alternator is less than a year old.

12.6 with a new battery sounds about right, as the regulator is seeing a new fully charged battery it hasn't kicked up the voltage yet.

 

[Arkansas]

One last follow-up in case this helps people in the future.

This issue was caused by the glow plug relay AND the glow plug controller. I knew this might be the case but I started with the glow plug relay first.

I swapped it the glow plug relay and it definitely stopped the clicking noise that must have been the old relay trying to close.

However, even with the new relay installed the glow plug light continued to come on intermittently. I changed out the glow plug controller and that solved the rest. Now the light comes on, goes off, and stays off. No funny noises. Tractor starts beautifully.

 

[lugbolt]

There's an easier way to diagnose it but you've already thrown parts at it & fixed it, so there ain't no need in going deeper. 12.6v running is low.

 

[L35]

My relay went out a few years ago. I think it was somewhere around 900-1000 hours on it.