t1400 will turn over but not start.

[Nafarious]

First thing first, Hello everyone.

Ok, I was given a kubota t1400. ENGINE GH400V 0.389L.
The owner told me that it was running but then it was parked and then wouldn't turn over. I got it home and started doing some troubleshooting. Battery new, connections to battery nice and tight and clean. Fresh gas, fresh oil, and cleaned the carburetor. The forward/reverse pedal was frozen. Took that apart got it cleaned up and re greased. That issue fixed. And to my current issue. I turn the key and the engine will turn over great. But will not start. The compression sounds decent. So I would greatly appreciate any tips, tricks, suggestions. I've also tried starter fluid to get engine running which also didn't work.

Thanks.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Don't assume it has compression, test it.
Pull the plug and see if your getting spark.
Check that your getting fuel to the carburetor.

 

[Nafarious]

Carburetor is getting fuel, as I said fuel tank was emptied, also new fuel lines from the tank to the shut off, replaced shut off, replaced fuel line from shut off to carburetor. They were all in pretty bad shape. Spark is good. Compression tests good.

 

[ipz2222]

The carb will have to be taken apart. The feed jets will be stopped up, idle and main. If it had ethanol gas in it, the carb may be no good. Just to see if everything else is ok, you can spray wd 40 into the air intake while cranking the eng, it should start.

 

[RCW]

It does not fire at all? Nothing? Even with starting fluid?

Thinking spark - you sure spark is strong? Some kind of safety switch preventing spark, seat switch, mower deck off, out of gear?

Thinking along the line of ethanol gas problems - is it getting gas to the cylinder? Spark plug wet, and smell it? Is the gas fresh? Does carb need to be pulled and cleaned?

Sorry, not much help, but throwing out some troubleshooting ideas.

 

[RCW]

Whoops - ipz2222 beat me to the ethanol gas part! He has some great advice - I've had several problems with ethanol gas on small engines.

 

[D2Cat]

Looks like you've done a pretty thorough job of going thru troubled areas.

I'm not positive on your machine, but on most Kubotas of that size require you to have your right toe on the parking brake before it will start. The brake will lock in that position, so you heal will be on the brake pedal.

Once you get it running you will need set that parking brake before getting off the seat, or it will shut off.

Good luck, and welcome.

It's nice when someone comes on board and clearly states what all they have done before asking for solutions!!

 

[Nafarious]

I'm starting to think it may be the switch on the carb. I'm going to take it off and see if it's sticking. I'll post my findings a little later. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Honestly please keep them coming. I've come at a stand still with this one. First time in about 5 years that a mower has me stumped. And the gas that was in it was changed before i started working on it fresh gas so gas is good. I was also thinking a safety switch somewhere myself. And I'll be looking into that.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Im curious, no mention of spark.
Using starting fluid and still no bang means
Very low compression or no spark.

You mention engine turns over, is that with ignition switch
Or jumped at starter?

Possible some safety switch is cutting off spark.

 

[Nafarious]

Yeah exactly no "bang" and when checking the spark it was a little low so I actually replaced the plug and set the gap. When checking the compression it was within the specs that I found on Kubota website. What I'm thinking is that it's either the sensor on the carburetor or the compression is actually low and my tools are not accurate which could be possible. And yes the engine turns over from key switch. Key switch is good.

 

[RCW]

It's nice when someone comes on board and clearly states what all they have done before asking for solutions!!

Yeah - what D2Cat said - you gave a good explanation of where you're at!

 

[Nafarious]

Ok, so after work today I decided that I would start a minuet tear down and run some more tests. And I found that the spark plug was in fact NOT sparking. So what I did was start tracing wires back from magneto. And what I found was a rectifier part number DE4202 (7519Y1). And all the wires in the close visinity of this rectifier were melted. Also I found a ground wire and a hot (red) wire not connected to anything. I traced the red wire where it splices with 2 other red wires and goes from those 3 red wires to 2 red wires. One of those red wires goes to the PTO safety switch. The other red wire runs to the seat pressure safety switch (which was surprisingly not jumped). The black ground wire that was not connected runs also to a splice (2 wires to 2) and one goes to the frame and the other goes to the lights. So here is my questions

1. Where can I find a rectifier, or is there another way to wire this without the rectifier? (My understanding is you can't find them anymore)
2. Where are those 2 wires not connected to anything suppose to be connected to? As far as I can see there is no where to connect these "extra" red and black wires.

Thanks everyone for the help by the way.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Little confused???

Rectifier is P/N 66071-55230, not obsolete.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Regulator-R...m542fc59d34:m:mHmjOnUEwjgzP_EavgPp-EQ&vxp=mtr

Magneto / igniter is P/N 12182-67060, not obsolete.
http://www.colemanequip.com/parts/KubotaParts/12182-67060/

Rectifier is for power rectifying / charging, magneto/igniter is for starting/running.

If the rectifier is fried, check the charging coil as it probably is fried too.