glow plug indicator

[Anonymous Poster]

Ric,

What exactly is hooked up to the rear PTO?

It's a good size gearbox but nothing underneath it.../w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[ric]

Yard BOSS.

 

[ric]

John, The pto drives the gear box. Under the gear box is a large pulley that drives the belt that goes forward to the main pulley on the mower deck that drives the three blades under the deck. Great mower, mows the yard like carpet. ric

 

[njrqs]

Ric

Thanks for all your pics. Much appreciated.

Yep looks like a lot of work to that little baby off so I won't be out hunting for one just yet.

Interesting comment on the breaking 3PL habit. I hope not !

Serious bit of gear hanging off the back !!!




Chris - Yours sounds way too hard !!



<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

For some reason, I thought this had a mid-pto driving the mmm...

cause this is how they do it without a midmount-pto.../w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif
/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[bky]

i also have a l245dt and my glow plug use to be bright enough that i could see it in the daylight but not any more have you found anything out about yours?
and do you know anything about the front spline on the front of the motor what is is used for?
and another ? i hane the trailer hitch bar but i cant seam to figure out how it mounts to the rear of the troctor i know it slides between the rear plats and somehow it pins under the rear end but not sure what kind of pin or how it hooks.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Ric,

The glow plug indicator in the dash is in series with the glow plugs in the circuit. All the current going to the glow plugs must pass through the little coil and the resistance load causes it to glow. Mine used to glow fairly bright in the dark and after 45 sec to one minute it would be bright orange. I would suggest testing each of your glow plugs individually. If you have one that is not functioning properly the resistance load on the indicator coil will not be high enough to get it to glow. One bad plug on a three cylinder is a 33% reduction in starting capacity. I've learned from experience that the only sure way to test them is to phisically heat each one individually out of the engine. Hold the threaded portion of a glow plug with a pair of pliers against the negative post of a battery. Use a jumper wire attached to the terminal stud of the glow plug and momentarily energize the glow plug on the positive post. You should observe the tip of the glow plug turn red and the whole probe should glow. I have had glow plugs which show a resistance reading on an ohm meter fail the heating test or some that only heat one little spot near the base. Only heat the glow plug up to the point of turning orange or else it could vaporize like your little indicator coil although it does take several seconds to heat up. Remember it will heat up faster than it does when installed in the circuit since the resistor (indicator) coil is not in the circuit. The resistor also serves as a safety so it is impossible to burn out the glow plugs by energizing them too long. I don't know if you have had any experience with the old GM 5.7/6.2 or Ford 6.9/7.3 automotive diesels but most of them were equipted with 6v glow plugs so the preheat time was only about 8 to 10 seconds. The trouble with this set up was if the timer somehow failed or if someone tried to bypass or jump the circuit, after 15 seconds, POOF! eight burnt out glow plugs. So I always repaired the systems properly to safegard those precious glow plugs.

Stephen

 

[fractal]

The person I bought my B7200 from told me to turn the key to the left, count to 10, then start the engine. It wasn't until I had to move the tractor at night that I noticed that, yes indeed, the glow plug indicator did glow. I also noticed that a) the headlights on a b7200 sucked, and b) the FEL made headlights useless

Did the behavior of your glow plug indicator change or are you just curious about how it is supposed to work? I am quite willing to believe that one or more of the glow plugs on my tractor don't work and that it is "starting on 2 out of 3" or something like that. If the behavior changed, and the glow plugs are in parallel, it is possible that one burned out and should be replaced. I would check them individually with an ohm meter. A burned out one would be infinate resistance whereas a working one would be something less.

 

[njrqs]

Ric

Did you actually find out the problem??

<font color=blue>Neil from OZ.</font color=blue> /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[ric]

BKY, The front shaft is an alternate pto drive for attachments with their own controls such as a mid mount mower using an electric or cable activated clutch to run the mower. L Series front loaders also use this shaft to drive a front mounted pump to operate the FEL instaed of using the rear pump. These are the only two attachments I have seen that use this front shaft, I'd bet there are others. Still working on the glow plug indicator issue. On my 245 the hitch bar has short pin that drops through the bar and the mount to hold the bar in place. There does not appear to be a forward mount or attachment point for the bar under the tractor like you see on Utility or Ag tractors. The snug fit in the mount and the pin hold this in place fairly well. I don't use this for anything I use a drag bar with an arm lock to tow with allowing me to use the 3PT hitch to manage the load. Hope this helps, ric

 

[ric]

Neil, Not yet, ended up doing something else and have not gotten back to this yet. ric

 

[ric]

Fractal, My 245 has always been a little hard to fire as most older L Series tractors tend to be. Although the glow plugs all worked the indicator has never seemed to glow as it should in the time I have owned this tractor. I have a 175 and it's indicator glows as it should. The 175 and 245 are basically the same tractor and are wired the same, but the 245 glow indicator does not work when it should, so I'd like to try to figure out why it doesn't work. Thanks, ric

 

[ric]

Stephen, before I started looking into this I too thought the indicator was in series to reflect how hot the plugs were getting. However, taking this apart revealed two surpises. One the inidcator is not in series and two of the three wires attached to the indicator are hot. This is wired just how it's drawn in the manual but you can't tell which is hot or ground. One wire coming from a pole on the switch is attached to one side of the indicator with the a wire that goes to the glow plugs. Another wire from another pole on the switch is attached to the other side of the indicator. Both wires from the switch are hot when the switch is turned to heat the plugs. The wire from the switch to the indicator and the wire to the glow plugs are in the same wire end connector and are not terminated separately on the indicator meaning if the indicator dropped out of the circuit the plugs would still heat. If this makes any sense you can see why I am curious how this really works. Thanks, ric

 

[Anonymous Poster]

ric,
I just had a look at the wire diagram(I have an old photo copy from my original I loaned to someone once). I think you might be getting fooled by thinking there is power to both sides of the indicator at the same time. Try disconnecting all the wires from the indicator. Then use a test light to check which wire is hot when the switch is turned to the left(preheat), then turn the starter switch to the start position and check the wires. I think the way it is set up is to energize the the glow plugs directly when the starter is engaged bypassing the indicator resistor, so what changes here is the path the current takes depending on the position of the starter switch. Actually you probably could comfim this by just diconnecting the wire which is by itself on the indicator and testing with the light.

 

[ric]

Stephen, When I first disassembled the dash I removed the glow plug indicator to check it for continuity and if the resistance wire was really isolated from the frame as it appeared to be. I then checked continuity of all three wires and the voltage. No problems. Testing with a test light as you suggested. When you turn the switch to heat the plugs both wires from the switch have power. When the switch is in neutral neither are powered. When the switch is turned to start the engine neither wire is powered. During the process I replaced the glow plugs with new ones even though the old ones worked they appeared to work somewhat unevenly when I tested them. I also replaced the glow plug indicator. I checked each component before I installed them to be sure they worked as expected, all checked ok. What seems odd is that both wires to the indicator are hot, hence my curiosity about how this really works. I do have another L Series tractor just like this one, a 175, that is working correctly. I plan to tear it down to see what's different but I just have not done that yet. Hope this helps, thanks, ric.

 

[TonyC]

Sometimes you just gotta chuckle. Here's a thread on glow plug indicators and it has been viewed 563 times with 34 replies. Do we need a life or what! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[bky]

thanks ric it helped and i am still looking into the glow prob also

 

[bky]

also ric i hope this pic helps it shows the glow plugs wired in series and the last 1 goes to ground

 

[bky]

i will try pic again

 

[bky]

hey i think i got it down to the right size yeahaw