DK6010SE electrical issue

[Claytonious]

Hoping someone here can help me understand the deeper mysteries of modern tractor electronics. I was running my tractor the other week, and everything was fine. Parked and killed the engine, left to do something, came back about 20 minutes later and hopped in. Turned the key and the dash lights came to life for about 1 millisecond, then everything went deader than JFK. The horn would operate at first, now it doesn’t. The flashers don’t work, but you can see it trying at the switch; the triangle symbol faintly illuminates and pulses. No audible sounds when the key is turned on. Here is a rundown of what I’ve checked so far:
1. Visual inspection of all connections I can find from the battery on back. No signs of damage or loose connections (I’m a sorry excuse for a mechanic though, so I easily could have missed something)
2. Found the slow burn fuses. Pulled them and continuity checked them. They’re all good, all three 60a fuses.
3. Pulled the ECM and starter relays and checked them with the multimeter. Both read around 74 to 77 ohms. From what I have found online this is also good, I think.
4. Checked all the fuses in the fuse block for ***** and grins. All good.
5. Checked the battery, also good (actually did this first, just forgot to mention it earlier).
That’s about the extent of what I can think of to do. If someone has run into this issue, or can think of anything obvious I’m overlooking I’d love to hear from you!

 

[Hay Dude]

When you say “battery good”, what voltage were you seeing? I have seen tractors that won’t start, then I put jumper cables on them and they start. The batteries were like 12.7. Seems like that wasn’t enough

 

[Claytonious]

I don’t recall exactly. I did throw a maintainer on it when we left for a week and the thing was hitting 14.5 when I pulled it off of it. I would think there would be some life in the dash even if the battery was too weak to crank the engine though, don’t you?

 

[garry1p]

Corroded connections at the battery can show good voltage but not enough amps due to resistance.

 

[Claytonious]

Corroded connections at the battery can show good voltage but not enough amps due to resistance.

That’sa good point, certainly worth checking. That said, don’t you think the dash would show some life even if it’s not getting the full dose of juice from the battery?

 

[Harry in Ky]

It probably would if it had a good ground. You haven't mentioned checking that. The bolt securing the ground cable to the frame (wherever that might be) is a notorious connection issue if it's the typical short cable bolted to something near the battery.

 

[Dave Canfield]

First thing I would do is put a charger or jumpers or a jump pack on it and see if it tries to start. In other words how old is the battery? Sometimes they die quickly when they get old, and sometimes they slowly get weaker and weaker.
Gonna be fun getting down into the hole they put the battery in!
My DK4710SE is about 2 1/2 years old and the factory battery is still doing fine.
The reason I think checking the battery is first is because it may not be good for the electric stuff to try and operate if it doesn't have enough current for whatever reason (bad battery, bad battery connections, bad ground...).

Dave

 

[Claytonious]

It probably would if it had a good ground. You haven't mentioned checking that. The bolt securing the ground cable to the frame (wherever that might be) is a notorious connection issue if it's the typical short cable bolted to something near the battery.

Thanks Harry, I’ll take a look at it tomorrow and see if that’s it.

 

[Claytonious]

Thanks for all the input guys. I’ll pull the cables off tomorrow and give the terminals a good brush down, check that ground cable, see if that does it. If not I’ll hit it with the jumper cables. I’ll let y’all know how it shakes out.

 

[Claytonious]

Well, I feel like a dumb ass, but at least the thing is running again! Everyone was right regarding checking the battery, ground, cables etc…. Dave actually nailed that one on the head. Went to loosen the negative battery terminal nut and the cable slipped right off before I could get the nut to turn. That’s what I get for doing a visual check and assuming it was secure because it looked pretty damn secure! Cleaned up the posts and terminals for good measure, checked the ground for funsies, checked my battery voltage (12.45), turned the key and everything came to life. Thanks for the advice guys, once again the simplest and most obvious thing was the culprit.
Dave, you’re also right about that battery position. What a pain in the dick! Decided it was a good time to blow out the air filter and clean up the radiator since you have to pull the air filter housing out of the way to free your battery anyway.