Something keeps killing my battery!

[Eric McCarthy]

I have a Kubota B6100E and something keeps killing my battery. I went to the dealer and asked the shop foreman what it could be and he told me he has never heard of a tractor doing what mine does. I can put on a brand new battery, charge one or jump start it off my truck and the tractor will start and run, but as soon as I shut the tractor down it will not restart. The dealer seems to think its either the dynamo or a short in the wireing. I would like some insight as to how bad changing a dynamo could be. I am not a mechanic by any means but I'm not scared to take a wrench and figure things out for myself. I do ok with mechanical problems but electrical and wireing is not my area. Any info would be a huge help. Thanks!!

 

[ipz2222]

If you have a fully charged battery and run the tractor for 2 or 3 minutes, shut it off and it won't start, the problem is not the battery being drained. You have a connection problem. Take all the batt cables loose and clean them, both ends, at the batt and the other ends.

 

[Theekillerbee]

I agree with the above. An older diesel will not need the battery to run, only to start. Sounds like a grounding issue to me.

 

[koppel]

Hi there,

I agree it sounds like a lead problem.

Sort of when you put the jumper leads on they compress a little the batter terminals.

You have a few choices

1. best option is to go and buy 2 new battery leads and replace the old ones.

these are available from most speed or car barn shop as just a generic set.

2. you could equally remove your existing leads and using a file clean the internal connections of ends going onto battery.

check carefully the lugs to leads as you could have corrosion here leading to a high resistance joint.

hope that helps so far

 

[Eric McCarthy]

The leads are new, not but a year or so old. No corrosion or gunk built up at all. It doesnt even make a sound if I try to start it back up once its off. Its like a battery is not even in there. Something is sucking the life out of a battery fast. I have put 2 brand new ones on and took them to back to the store after being used on my tractor and even the store tells me the battery is dead. The first time the new battery went dead I just thought perhaps it was a bad remanufactured one from the start. But to kill 2 battery's in a row its something else.

 

[todddrummey]

Hi Eric,

It sounds like a wire problem to me as well. Double check those new wires. Make sure they haven't worn through somewhere and grounded. Then check all the large gauge positive wires. I had a similiar problem a few years ago. I ran some heavy wires to the rear of the tractor to power an electric winch. After searching for two days I couldn't find the problem. After some cursing about the tractor, my wife came out to the barn, took one look at the tractor, and found a spot on the wire that had worn through. Sometimes a new set of eyes can find a problem you have been staring at for days. Good luck.

BTW, are the new cables before or after the problem started, maybe you have a bad cable.

 

[aquaforce]

The only thing that uses high enough power to do such a thing (granted all the leads/connections are good) is the starter. You should also have the starter checked at a reputable starter shop.
One simple field check you can do is to start the tractor and feel the body of the starter during the time it takes to kill a battery. If the starter is drawing current it will get hot to the touch.

In this senario the starter would get hot during the battery kill, then cool off as current drops or time of disconnect. Once it were cold, starting would not be hindered and the cycle starts again.
Good Luck

 

[Eric McCarthy]

The leads are good and intact. I would have thought if it was the starter I would get some sort of sound comeing from it. And I have tapped on it with a hammer to make sure its not stuck. When I jump it or recharge the battery it starts up just fine.

 

[eserv]

Just how fast is this battery being discharged? The dynamo cannot run down your battery but the regulator could.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I can trickle charge a battery overnight and hook it back up on the tractor, fire it up just fine one time and as soon as I start it up I can shut it down and be back to square one. DEAD!

 

[eserv]

if the battery is being discharged at that rate it can only be the starter doing it. anything else would have long since burnt up and if it is the starter it to will soon be burnt toast.

 

[koppel]

Ok Eric,

seems like you have looked at quite a few things. So time to step back and do some homework in point form as a trouble shooting guide.

1. You have a B6100

2. it has a D650 diesel 3 cyc

3. D650 service manual calls for a 12v, 65 AH battery

4. Starter is 800w in rating at 12v or 66 amps

5. Dynamo is 12v 150W thus produces 12.5 amps

6. Glow plugs have approx resistance of 1.6 ohms so draw about 7.5 amps each (amps=volts divided by resistance)

7. so for 3 glow plugs there is a draw of 22.5 amps while they are switched in

8. one assumes your dynamo is working and is charging battery. You could go to a speed shop and get a ampmeter and install that to prove it.

If for some reason your glow plugs are on the whole time then you have a 22.5amp discharge on plugs and 12.5amps charge on dynamo hense the battery will need to provide 10amps continuously.

that around 4 to 6 hrs and battery would be dead flat.

So at this moment there are 2 things that i can think can be your problem

a.. your glow plugs are ON continuously.

b.. the new batteries your buying a totally junk and not capable of doing diesel starting applications with engine that requires glow plug use.

slip off and read up this FAQ on batteries

http://www.marinebatteries.com/faq.html#1

What you can do next is

1. start with fully charged battery, of type approved for diesel starting and take it to tractor.

2. Connect the negative lead to battery

3. put either a 12v globe / lamp between the battery positive terminal and the possitive battery lead.. if it lights with ignition switch off then you have a short or somthing drawing current.

4. you could use a dc ampmeter instead of the globe but would need to be able to read at least 50 amps. BUT dont crank with that ampmeter in circuit as the Cold Cranking Amps draw of the starter motor could be as high as 150amps instaneous

hope that helps.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

AHHH gone are the days of just puting this dofloppy on that there thingamajig and with a little cussing and swareing the dohickey will work! DAMN I hate eletrical systems! All I can say as far as the battery I looked at it today and it has a 410 cca rateing. Which has done just fine in the last 8 years I have owned the tractor. I started to notice this eletrical problem this year back in the spring where the temp gets up to around 80ish. Yeah probably shame on me for going to Advanced Auto and puting on a dinky automotive battery but for the past 8 years its worked without a problem. When some of the snow we've had goes away I'll take another stabb at it with some techinacl equipment and see what happens. THANK YOU ALL for the help and advise thus far. I shall keep everone updated once the weather permits and I can get back outside to tinker with the problem.

 

[kuboman]

The glowplug idea sounds like the best bet. That should be real easy to check.

 

[aquaforce]

I could see a failed glow plug that has shorted pulling huge amps like a welder but it would have to be held on all the time. Simply disconnecting the plugs could help in an elimination effort.


Keep the visual inspection in mind as diesel vibration tends to rub things a lot.

 

[aquaforce]

AHHH gone are the days of just puting this dofloppy on that there thingamajig and with a little cussing and swareing the dohickey will work! DAMN I hate eletrical systems!

I guess the simplest solution is don't put a battery in there and it won't get killed.



I know that is a lot of help

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Funny you mention that aquaforce. There is a battery kill switch on the dash board that I can turn off to keep from loseing power. I suppose now is a good time to get a little hadle replaced on it so I can use it again. But then there is the problem if the tractor stalls out from a sudden jerk thats going to be a pain in the @$$ to get going again.