L3700SU won't turn over. Please help!!

[Mikeofny]

Hi all. Having an issue with my L3700SU. 2010 hst 4wd with about 300 hours.

I parked my Kubota a few weeks ago and now it will not turn over. I replaced the battery, been week in the cold. Starter would engage but not spin, so I replaced starter. Still wouldn't spin so I replaced starter relay. Fuse is fine.

All lights come on like normal, engine just does not turn over. Oil level is fine. Hydro fluid level fine. Rear PTO spins freely. Backhoe and loader are both down so hard to tell if it rolls in netral. I shifted hst to N but not sure if it needs to be running to shift?

I unbolted starter , kept wired and turned key- it engages and spins fine.

When starter was off I tried to turn flywheel. Teeth all looked fine. I was able to turn it some but just not sure how easy or not it should spin...

Clutch pedal up or down didn't seem to effect flywheel turning.

I'm thinking maybe a clutch or internal engine issue? It seemed to run fine when I used it last then parked.

Any help would be appreciated!!

 

[Jim L.]

Suggest rounding up a voltmeter and a helper.

Measure the voltage across the battery terminals.

Then measure the voltage at the starter terminal and ground, when starting the tractor.

If the voltage drops on start, then there is a resistance between the battery and starter. Clean up all the electrical connections in that circuit. The starter should have almost full voltage when starting.

Also all new batteries need to be charged before putting on the machine.

 

[CobraTom]

You most definitely have a bad ground or positive cable heading to the starter. You may also have a bad safety switch.
The click you are hearing from your start attempt is most likely a relay or the stop solenoid pulling. It is unlikely it the starter solenoid, because typically these will click, reset, click again, reset etc. if it does not make contact or starter does not spin.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Make sure the tractor in in neutral, turn the key to on and then jump it from the large starter terminal to the small solenoid terminal see if it will crank and start.

If it doesn't crank you have a bad connection, bad cable, bad starter, or bad battery, or even more unlikely something wrong with the engine that is not letting it spin freely.
Even changing a component does not guarantee that the new component is working properly.

 

[mickeyd]

Welcome to the OTT forum Mike. You came to the right place to get help.

Enjoy.

 

[Mikeofny]

Thanks for the replies!!

Ok so I charged the battery overnight.

Cleaned the ground cable where it bolts to the frame. Battery connections and starter connection are good too.

Voltage across the battery is 12.4.

When trying to start voltage across battery drops to about 8, and at starter drops to about 6.

Is there multiple grounding locations?

I tried to start by jumping the 2 starter connections with a screwdriver but just got a big spark.

When I'm trying to start in hearing a chattering sound.

Thanks again for any assistance!!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Make sure the tractor in in neutral, turn the key to on and then jump it from the large starter terminal to the small solenoid terminal see if it will crank and start.

If it doesn't crank you have a bad connection, bad cable, bad starter, or bad battery, or even more unlikely something wrong with the engine that is not letting it spin freely.
Even changing a component does not guarantee that the new component is working properly.

Reread what i wrote, you do not short the two large terminals together!
By the numbers your battery is toast, sounds like a shorted or open cell, dropping half the voltage something should be smoking!
Now if you jump the larger terminal to the small terminal and just get a big spark and nothing happens, you have a bad starter.

 

[Mikeofny]

Reread what i wrote, you do not short the two large terminals together!
By the numbers your battery is toast, sounds like a shorted or open cell, dropping half the voltage something should be smoking!
Now if you jump the larger terminal to the small terminal and just get a big spark and nothing happens, you have a bad starter.

Thanks Wolfman!

So I took a closer look. The starter only has large positive terminal and a small terminal with black wire from relay.

I realized when I tried to short the 2 terminals I actually contacted the starter casing and not the small terminal.

Any suggestion on how to connect the big and small terminal beside a screwdriver?

I unbolted the starter, left it wired, supported it, grounded it. Voltage went from 12.4 to about 10 when I turned the key, basically under no load from the flywheel.

Rebolted it in place to check voltage. Once again dropped to about 6. I get the feeling the engine is locked up for reason.

Thanks

 

[SidecarFlip]

I Have a feeling that your 'new' battery is defective. Flooded cell batteries in an idle (no load state) should show between 12.9 and 13.2 volts across the terminals (if fully charged). 12.2 is basically DOA.

Replace the battery with a new one, take the old 'new' one back and exchange it. and trickle charge the replacement overnight at less than 2 amps before installing.

If the retailer where you got the battery questions your claim about the battery, have him load test it on a carbon pile battery tester which replicates a load on it. He'll soon find out it's junk.

Something is a miss inside the battery when the voltage drops that much.

JMO.