L3010 HST won't start. Battery good, starter good

[g_man]

Several comments about checking if the battery is bad. Unclear if you have/have not ruled that out. 12 volts with no load suggests battery issues.

I agree or maybe it isn't fully charged - we may be wrong but in my mind you have done more to prove the battery ( or cable/connections) are bad than anything else.

gg

 

[Dustyx2]

Post #6. Do this! Voltage drop test will find your problem. If you don't understand search you tube for voltage drop test. Easy to do once you understand it. As others have said 12 volts is basically a dead battery. Should be 12.7 fully charged.

 

[Moose7060]

I'm pretty sure this has come up before my search efforts have not found anything helpful. Apologies if anyone feels like this has been beat to death before I have a shop manual, but the information in it does not help Me to find some of the likely culprits in the electrical system - various safety switches.
My meter says I'm getting 12 volts at the starter with the key off, and when I turn it to start that reading drops to more like 4-5 volts. No sound with the key in start position. Indicator lights come on. Sometimes there's a low almost hissing sound as the key moves back to the On position. I've checked battery connections - replaced the grounding cable not that long ago because of intermittent problems there, the positive side is good and my meter reads 12 volts across the battery. I replaced the old starter hoping it would be that simple a fix, but of course not. Jumping the old starter, it runs. For now, assuming the new starter is good.
I need some KISS advice/instructions on how to track down this problem. Really need the tractor running, and my local shop has given me the runaround and doesn't think they can extract it from where it is, less than 50' off my driveway
Thanks in advance.

Things just keep getting "better". According to page 3 -NS31 in the shop manual, there's a safety switch mounted to the left fender mount bracket. There's another thread on here with an L3010 owner and he found the switch in this spot, easily accessible and that thread has another couple of diagrams showing the switch on the bracket and how it mounts. Just came in from looking on my tractor. No such switch, no place on the bracket for it to mount. I've jumped the solenoid on the new starter in place on the engine and while it revs up, there's no linkage to the engine, no attempt to turn it over. I can't jump the starter And hold the Clutch pedal down at the same time, so I can't test in that condition. I've tried jumping with a known good battery (aside from the known good battery already on the tractor).

Any success determining the problem?

 

[lugbolt]

Some time ago, somebody posted a detailed procedure. I'll try to get you started. If your voltage across the starter is only 5 volts, you either have a battery or connection problem.
1. Put you VOM probes on the battery posts, not the connectors. When you hit the starter, what's the reading? If below 9 or so, your battery is the problem. Assuming it's ok, go to 2.
2. We want to find where the voltage drop is, a bad connection. Keep the + probe on the battery + post. Then take readings (must be while trying to start, so you have high current) at + battery clamp, starter end of + cable, starter + post. Any voltage reading over 0.5v shows a bad connection. Then work from the - battery post to the - battery clamp, ground connector and engine ground. You'll find either a bad cable or bad connection.
If you get 11 volts or so at the starter and it won't crank, then you have a bad starter or starter solenoid.

that's pretty much how a voltage drop test works, and yes I posted on this a while back. Once one learns how to do that test, one can diagnose problems like this, sometimes in minutes instead of hours.

Funny thing is that the techs at the Kubota training center had no idea what a voltage drop test was. They had some "bugged" mowers that "we" (the supposed trainees) were to diagnose, all electrical and the focus on this part of the class was to teach how to use a DVOM, using ohms. Great. I get to a Z411, no start no crank condition. 4 of us in our small group and one of the trainers watching us. Guys looked at the obvious stuff and saw nothing obvious. I grabbed the DVOM and put it on DCV and tested starting at the source. Took maybe a minute to deem the negative connection "bad" (it was bugged with a piece of cardboard between the bolt and the cable, and between the cable and the engine, such that it was not making any connection at all. Trainer held up his stopwatch which showed 1 min 54 seconds diagnosis time. They weren't really testing us on time, rather just using the diagnosis time to figure out how much the flat rate diag time should be (it was 0.5 hour mostly across the board). Trainer looks at me and says "how did you test that?"--I told him "voltage drop test". "HUH??"--so I had to show him. He tells his boss, boss comes over, says do that test again starting from the beginning. Repeated the test and these guys were amazed, I thought they were supposed to teach us??? Goes to show, no matter how "good" you think you are, there's always someone better. In that case, we all (except one guy) learned something, which helps every single customer that has an electrical problem.

 

[6869704x4]

Shade tree battery check. Turn your lights on and hit the starter, see what the lights do.

 

[fried1765]

Shade tree battery check. Turn your lights on and hit the starter, see what the lights do.

Everyone here can afford a cheap battery load tester.
Under $50.
Makes life more simple.

 

[6869704x4]

Everyone here can afford a cheap battery load tester.
Under $50.
Makes life more simple.

What's more simple than turning on the lights and turning the key?
Like I said shade tree.
BTW, I have a battery load tester.

 

[fried1765]

What's more simple than turning on the lights and turning the key?
Like I said shade tree.
BTW, I have a battery load tester.

Turning lights on, and turning key, does NOT SHOW the load capability of a battery.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

well if the battery won't spin the engine and lights at the same time, it IS a good indicator the battery isn't 'up to the job'.
The problem with the 'under 50 bucks' is that they're 'generic' , a compromised, more or less, piece of test equipment. There's what 12-15 different types of 'batteries' you could drop into a tractor,let alone CCA ratings and every MFR has a specific set of conditions for THEIR battery 'load test', temperature being one key factor, time another ...30 seconds , 45 , 27 seconds ???
Probably a safe bet that no one here wants to spend $5K on a proper semiuniversal 'battery capacity tester' !

 

[6869704x4]

Turning lights on, and turning key, does NOT SHOW the load capability of a battery.

Yes it does. But there may be other things wrong.
We are talking about turning the key to start, right?

 

[BAP]

Everyone here can afford a cheap battery load tester.
Under $50.
Makes life more simple.

Not everyone on here has the unlimited amount of money that you do Fried!!

 

[fried1765]

Yes it does. But there may be other things wrong.
We are talking about turning the key to start, right?

A weak battery may crank the starter/engine, and still be a weak battery.

 

[fried1765]

well if the battery won't spin the engine and lights at the same time, it IS a good indicator the battery isn't 'up to the job'.
The problem with the 'under 50 bucks' is that they're 'generic' , a compromised, more or less, piece of test equipment. There's what 12-15 different types of 'batteries' you could drop into a tractor,let alone CCA ratings and every MFR has a specific set of conditions for THEIR battery 'load test', temperature being one key factor, time another ...30 seconds , 45 , 27 seconds ???
Probably a safe bet that no one here wants to spend $5K on a proper semiuniversal 'battery capacity tester' !

NO ONE here needs to spend $5K on a battery load tester!
What service/repair station, or dealership, buys, and uses, a $5K battery load tester?
Auto parts stores will test for FREE,..... and they use 100 Amp cheap carbon pile load testers.
I have a 500 Amp carbon pile load tester, that currently sells for $119 at NAPA
Amazon sells a 1,000 Amp carbon pile load tester for $268. (good for Trojan T-1275 golf cart batteries).

 

[airbiscuit]

Can anybody help with the safety switch question? Not just "Check them", but where to find them on a ca. 2002 L3010? Just for now, please stop assuming the battery is the problem when I've really done my best to say that's not the problem?

So, can you please give us an update?
Did you solve your problem?