My ZG227A (S/N: 50329) zero turn mower will not turnover. The oil lamp lights up when the ign. switch is turned to the ON position and the fuel pump activates. The oil lamp does not dim when the ign. switch is turned to the START position. The battery voltage measures good and the mower has been recently cranked and used. However, in the past, this condition has presented itself on occasion. I attributed this condition to most likely a safety switch and I would "jiggle" the control handles and other switches. The no crank condition went away. When the condition persisted, I was sure the problem was a safety switch and checked each with an ohmmeter. They all checked good. I have checked the fuses and the 50A slow blow fuse-all are good. I have checked the ignition switch and it checks good. I bought the service manual and it makes reference to 3 relays that are shown in this manual mounted under the seat. These relays are not there! Are they maybe located elsewhere and I am just over looking them? Did Kubota do something different with this serial number? I called the local dealer and asked a tech about the location of these relays and he said they were located under the seat as well. The schematic calls the relays out as Solenoid, Igniter, and Starter relays. I guess I am gonna ohm out the wires from the safety switches next if I can't find any relays. Thanks for any help from y'all.
ZG227A Battery Good, No Crank / Electrical Issue.
- Thread starter BamaPoBoy
- Start date
whitetiger
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Kubota tech..BX2370, RCK60, B7100HST, RTV900 w plow, Ford 1100 FWA
85Hokie
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Thanks guys for the super fast response. There is a cover there and i will remove and update the post. Thanks again.
They were there just like y'all said. Boy, talk about not seeing for all the looking! I checked continuity across each coil of the relays (approx. 90 ohms) and the continuity of the de-energized terminals and they were all good. I studied the schematic this morning over Waffle House breakfast (if you ever come thru prattville al stop at the bass pro exit waffle house on I65...the girl that works there sings while she cooks!) and I will make some measurements at the relay controller which seems to do the "OKAY TO START" logic and at a few other places. I also did some deeper diving into this forum and found a post describing a similar condition. In that posts the point was made by several contributors to make sure the grounds are clean and tight and that sometimes connections within the wiring harness can be loose at the points where wires are tapped into. Have any of you had this relay controller go bad? The service manual does not list it as a troubleshooting item to check, so that leads me to believe it does not have a high failure rate.
This is a link to the post that describes a similar issue:
ZD221 Electrical Issue
I will post what I find.
This is a link to the post that describes a similar issue:
ZD221 Electrical Issue
I will post what I find.
Update on Z227A Zero Turn No Crank:
The first thing I did yesterday was to check the ground at different locations such as at the relays and at the relay controller. They checked out good. I checked for continuity at the relay controller where the safety switches are inputs. As I checked, I found that the brake switch (normally closed) was not stable. I had checked previously and the switch does work. But when plugged into the wiring harness, the slightest bit of motion of the switch plunger will cause erratic change of state of the switch. I replaced switch with a jumper and I then had 12V at the starter solenoid when the key was turned to the start position. Here are some lessons learned dealing with electrical issues:
1) For non-mechanics (definitely an understatement when it comes to me), go ahead and get a schematic and study it enough to understand the basic operation.
2) From this forum, if the contributors say that a particular issue is the most common, then spend extra time making sure that is not the issue (not check it quickly and move on like I did)
3) Similar to 2), I was quick to dive deep thinking relays, relay controllers, etc.., and did not spend enough time checking the most common issues.
1 more thing...
It seems that poor grounds cause a lot of weird things. So, maybe first clean those ground points up.
That's all from this Po Boy in God's Country!
The first thing I did yesterday was to check the ground at different locations such as at the relays and at the relay controller. They checked out good. I checked for continuity at the relay controller where the safety switches are inputs. As I checked, I found that the brake switch (normally closed) was not stable. I had checked previously and the switch does work. But when plugged into the wiring harness, the slightest bit of motion of the switch plunger will cause erratic change of state of the switch. I replaced switch with a jumper and I then had 12V at the starter solenoid when the key was turned to the start position. Here are some lessons learned dealing with electrical issues:
1) For non-mechanics (definitely an understatement when it comes to me), go ahead and get a schematic and study it enough to understand the basic operation.
2) From this forum, if the contributors say that a particular issue is the most common, then spend extra time making sure that is not the issue (not check it quickly and move on like I did)
3) Similar to 2), I was quick to dive deep thinking relays, relay controllers, etc.., and did not spend enough time checking the most common issues.
1 more thing...
It seems that poor grounds cause a lot of weird things. So, maybe first clean those ground points up.
That's all from this Po Boy in God's Country!
