My tractor recently started all by itself. No key . I called the service department of the shop I bought it from and he says he’s never heard of anything like this. He spoke with his head mechanic and they figured it was a bad key switch or a fried starter solenoid. I pulled them both and took them the 60 miles to the dealer. He said it was under warranty and gave me a new switch and starter.
I got the new starter hooked up and as soon as I wired it the tractor started again. No key and NO Key Switch .
I plugged the switch in and tried turning it on then off. Nothing. I tried to kill it by removing the negative battery cable . That didn’t work. Tried stuffing a towel in the breather, that didn’t work. I finally killed it by grabbing the throttle linkage and flooding it.
Called and spoke to the Service manager again, he again spoke to his head mechanic and they agreed it must be “rats chewed wires” or a bad relay.
I unhooked the small b/w wire going to the starter solenoid, metered it to the chassis and had constant 12.8v.
I followed that solenoid wire up to a 7 pin and a 4 pin relay. Unplugged them both and still had 12.8v to the starter solenoid.
No key, no switch, no 7 pin, no 4 pin and the tractor would still crank on its own.
Called the service manager again and now they say it must be rats chewed the wires.
Bring it in and we can take a look.
The tractor isn’t going anywhere. It’s half way under a lean-to on my garage on rip-rap. (Large rocks and concrete chunks dump trucks run over to clean their tires when they leave a site) it was free and it keeps the tractor out of the mud.
The service manager says he has a mobile tech that’s out my way on Mondays and Tuesdays and he will send him by .
The first Tuesday goes by and I call , no answer. Few days later and I call again, this time he picked up and says BTW those parts weren’t covered under warranty. I jokingly said you haven’t got the bill for the labor yet…. He didn’t laugh.
I told him what the salesperson told me when I bought it which was it’s under warranty as long as it’s being paid for and if there was ever a problem that “we” (kubota) would fix it. This thing is only 2 years old.
No problem he says insurance will cover it. I’ll have my guy out there next Monday.
4 Mondays later I called and told him politely that we on nearly 2 months of me with no tractor with the bill still being paid, I need my tractor. “No problem sir I’ll have my guy out there Monday morning.
Well that didn’t happen so Tuesday I called and spoke to a new sales rep ( mine moved on) and I told her my issues and that I feel like I’m getting the run around.
“I’m going to speak to my manager and we will get some resolution “
Now I’m crawling around on rip-rap under the tractor looking for this obvious rat chewed wire and can’t find a thing.
I’m starting to think about all those seat switches and safety interlocks and wondering how this thing starts with all of them….now unhooked.
can’t find any signs of critters or any obvious shorts.
So starting at the starter I un tape the wire looms looking for burns. After unrolling a mile of electrical tape and a yard of wire loom I got nothing.
I picked up a thermal scope for hunting hogs at night (God bless Florida) and I thought maybe it would help me find a hot spot. Well it did . I followed the b/w wire from the starter up to the disconnected 7 pin and 4 pin relay and past them up under the dash (now removed) and there are 2, 5pin relays and one is warmer (in the scope) than the other. Ordered 2 on amazon ($7 each)and problem solved. Now for the chore of wrapping all that wire and loom back up so I can till my garden.
Last I spoke to the folks that sold me the tractor was a week ago and they were “right on it”…..still waiting for a response tho I stopped holding my breath.
Eventually I may get a call back from the young lady who promised she would get a manager involved or one of these Mondays some bubba is going to roll up looking for my tractor.
In the big scheme of things the tractor works fine now and technically the head mechanic was right on his initial assessment, it was A relay. I’m a little disappointed in the lack of service and I hope this isn’t foreshadowing on future service.
As I was researching the topic of “tractor starts by itself “ I came across Orange Tractor Talks but never could find anyone else with this particular problem. Sorry it was so long but I hope it helps someone.
I got the new starter hooked up and as soon as I wired it the tractor started again. No key and NO Key Switch .
I plugged the switch in and tried turning it on then off. Nothing. I tried to kill it by removing the negative battery cable . That didn’t work. Tried stuffing a towel in the breather, that didn’t work. I finally killed it by grabbing the throttle linkage and flooding it.
Called and spoke to the Service manager again, he again spoke to his head mechanic and they agreed it must be “rats chewed wires” or a bad relay.
I unhooked the small b/w wire going to the starter solenoid, metered it to the chassis and had constant 12.8v.
I followed that solenoid wire up to a 7 pin and a 4 pin relay. Unplugged them both and still had 12.8v to the starter solenoid.
No key, no switch, no 7 pin, no 4 pin and the tractor would still crank on its own.
Called the service manager again and now they say it must be rats chewed the wires.
Bring it in and we can take a look.
The tractor isn’t going anywhere. It’s half way under a lean-to on my garage on rip-rap. (Large rocks and concrete chunks dump trucks run over to clean their tires when they leave a site) it was free and it keeps the tractor out of the mud.
The service manager says he has a mobile tech that’s out my way on Mondays and Tuesdays and he will send him by .
The first Tuesday goes by and I call , no answer. Few days later and I call again, this time he picked up and says BTW those parts weren’t covered under warranty. I jokingly said you haven’t got the bill for the labor yet…. He didn’t laugh.
I told him what the salesperson told me when I bought it which was it’s under warranty as long as it’s being paid for and if there was ever a problem that “we” (kubota) would fix it. This thing is only 2 years old.
No problem he says insurance will cover it. I’ll have my guy out there next Monday.
4 Mondays later I called and told him politely that we on nearly 2 months of me with no tractor with the bill still being paid, I need my tractor. “No problem sir I’ll have my guy out there Monday morning.
Well that didn’t happen so Tuesday I called and spoke to a new sales rep ( mine moved on) and I told her my issues and that I feel like I’m getting the run around.
“I’m going to speak to my manager and we will get some resolution “
Now I’m crawling around on rip-rap under the tractor looking for this obvious rat chewed wire and can’t find a thing.
I’m starting to think about all those seat switches and safety interlocks and wondering how this thing starts with all of them….now unhooked.
can’t find any signs of critters or any obvious shorts.
So starting at the starter I un tape the wire looms looking for burns. After unrolling a mile of electrical tape and a yard of wire loom I got nothing.
I picked up a thermal scope for hunting hogs at night (God bless Florida) and I thought maybe it would help me find a hot spot. Well it did . I followed the b/w wire from the starter up to the disconnected 7 pin and 4 pin relay and past them up under the dash (now removed) and there are 2, 5pin relays and one is warmer (in the scope) than the other. Ordered 2 on amazon ($7 each)and problem solved. Now for the chore of wrapping all that wire and loom back up so I can till my garden.
Last I spoke to the folks that sold me the tractor was a week ago and they were “right on it”…..still waiting for a response tho I stopped holding my breath.
Eventually I may get a call back from the young lady who promised she would get a manager involved or one of these Mondays some bubba is going to roll up looking for my tractor.
In the big scheme of things the tractor works fine now and technically the head mechanic was right on his initial assessment, it was A relay. I’m a little disappointed in the lack of service and I hope this isn’t foreshadowing on future service.
As I was researching the topic of “tractor starts by itself “ I came across Orange Tractor Talks but never could find anyone else with this particular problem. Sorry it was so long but I hope it helps someone.
