L200 cranks,won't start

[dan lee]

any ideas appreciated, I put 2 new glow plugs in and still can't start, my question is, when I hold volt tester lead on hot wire to plug, (not hooked up) and turn glow plug switch, I have 12.4 volts, when I hook wire up to glow plugs and turn on switch I have 1.7 volts at both glow plugs. Does that seem right or am I supposed to have 12 volts at glow plugs??? My L200 is such a pain

 

[PoTreeBoy]

According to this wiring diagram, from Messick's parts catalog, you have a resistor and the glow plugs are in series.

Does your glow indicator glow when preheating? This is an indication that the glow plugs are heating.
I would guess you should have 3 to 5 volts across each glow plug while preheating.

 

[dan lee]

According to this wiring diagram, from Messick's parts catalog, you have a resistor and the glow plugs are in series.
View attachment 89176
Does your glow indicator glow when preheating? This is an indication that the glow plugs are heating.
I would guess you should have 3 to 5 volts across each glow plug while preheating.

the glow plug indicator does light bright red, I noticed there is iike a coiled resistor on top of crankcase below battery box

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Looking back at earlier posts, it looks like
* when you bought the tractor, it had been getting progressively harder to start
* you pulled the engine out and
* did some internal work

Please describe what you did and had done. Your problem could be lack of compression, timing off, fuel, and others.

 

[dan lee]

Looking back at earlier posts, it looks like
* when you bought the tractor, it had been getting progressively harder to start
* you pulled the engine out and
* did some internal work

Please describe what you did and had done. Your problem could be lack of compression, timing off, fuel, and others.

I did pull the engine but the only thing I did was took head into machine shop and had new valves,guides, seals and springs put on, reinstalled the head with a new head gasket and still nothing, glow plugs are working well too, also adjusted valves to spec

 

[Russell King]

The glow plugs are PROBABLY NOT in series but in parallel.

On my L185 the wiring is
Battery to main switch
Main switch then sends power (when turned on) to second switch that controls the glow plugs and the starter
When second switch is turned to left power is applied to the glow plug indicator that reduces the voltage to less than 12 volts but around 10-11 volts at the glow plug. The top of both glow plugs are now powered and the bottom of the glow plugs are screwed into the engine block which is grounded and that completes the circuit. The glow plug indicator may dimly glow but it is difficult to see in daylight. It is a zig zag wire that is seen through a chrome ring on the dash. I would not say it has ever looked “bright red” but a more yellow glow after the glow plugs are held on for 20-30 seconds.
When the second switch is turned to the start position the second switch sends power to the starter and also to the glow plugs but it bypasses the glow plug indicator since the starter is now dropping the voltage.

You can just attach a heavy gauge wire from the battery positive post to the top of a glow plug and the glow plugs should heat up quickly due to the 12volts directly being connected so don’t hold it on too long.

Is your wiring similar to that or different or modified from original?

Did you bleed the fuel lines at the injector pump and then at the actual injectors after the head replacement?

 

[Mark_BX25D]

According to this wiring diagram, from Messick's parts catalog, you have a resistor and the glow plugs are in series.

Where are you seeing glow plugs on that diagram? I can't find them.

I can't even imaging how it would be possible or desirable to have the GPs in series with each other. OR did you mean in series with the resistor?

In the latter case, the GPs are in parallel with each other and in series with the resistor. That makes sense electrically, and will mean there is NOT 12v at the GP terminal when the GPs are active. (Can't say what the actual voltage will be without knowing the resistance of the resistor and the GPS. With those known, it's a simple two-step calculation.)

In this case, if he is seeing 12v at the GP terminal, then the GPs are OPEN, meaning, shot. Time to replace them.

 

[ve9aa]

Glow (plug) indicator glowing "bright red" indicates current flow, yes?
(ie: It can't go "nowhere") Something is drawing current.

 

[Russell King]

Where are you seeing glow plugs on that diagram? I can't find them.

They are in the upper RH quadrant just to the right of the hand written note.
They are shown in series. I believe that error in Kubota schematics has been discussed in several threads already. I do also recall that some of the older (possibly gray market) tractors were significantly different than the US tractors in the wiring.

Looking at the schematic again it does show a “glow controller” that is wired exactly like what I called the glow plug indicator. Then there is a second “resistance coil” that is in series with the “glow controller” that would further reduce the voltage. So I retract the suggestion to go directly to the glow plugs from the battery.

I don’t know how that indicator would glow “red” but that is why I asked about the wiring being original or modified.

If it is a bulb then it would glow if anything is grounded (on the wiring past that bulb.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

They are in the upper RH quadrant just to the right of the hand written note.
They are shown in series. I believe that error in Kubota schematics has been discussed in several threads already. I do also recall that some of the older (possibly gray market) tractors were significantly different than the US tractors in the wiring.

Looking at the schematic again it does show a “glow controller” that is wired exactly like what I called the glow plug indicator. Then there is a second “resistance coil” that is in series with the “glow controller” that would further reduce the voltage. So I retract the suggestion to go directly to the glow plugs from the battery.

I don’t know how that indicator would glow “red” but that is why I asked about the wiring being original or modified.

If it is a bulb then it would glow if anything is grounded (on the wiring past that bulb.

I know some older Kubota schematics are 'suspect', but I was just going by what I had. The fact that his indicator is glowing means current is going somewhere, unless somebody rewired it or there's a short.

Based on his earlier posts, I suspect lack of compression, or possibly a fuel pump/injection problem. I think I'd check the compression first.

 

[Russell King]

I looked at those part numbers from the posted schematic and the 32901 came back as a $97 glow plug resistor and the 32701 came up as the glow plug indicator for $70. Both fit the L200. No pictures of either were available.

I also looked at the illustrated parts list on Kubota USA and there is a ground wire between the last glow plug and he engine head and there were extra isolation washers on the glow plugs compared to my L185. The glow plug part number was 15101-65510 and the ground cable was 15103-65570.

To the OP- are you sure you installed the glow plug wiring on each glow plug correctly? You may need to look closely at the illustrated parts list and see if you can figure it out. Now I think that they are probably in series!

I recall reading a thread years ago about this and will search for it and link to it if I find it

 

[Russell King]

The glow plugs are in SERIES

See these threads and start from top and read through to the bottom. One has a good picture of the wiring of the glow plugs and one shows repair of the resistor

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[Mark_BX25D]

Interesting, and thank you for posting that.

I'm not a fan of that design at all. If one GP fails (they usually fail open), they are all down.

I know WHY they are doing it, but there are better solutions. I see that one poster in that thread junked the design and found some physically compatible GPs which take the full 12v, and liked the result. That's probably what I would do if it were my machine.

Using a resistor in series to drop the voltage works, but it has the downside of creating a "cascade failure" scenario. If one GP fails, the rest see a higher voltage, thus will fail sooner. When the next one goes, the rest see a higher voltage, thus will fail sooner. And on it goes. On a V8, it gets expensive.