Intermittent no-start issue resolved

[Hay Dude]

MT655E had been giving me intermittent starting problems since it arrived a weeks ago.
Never saw anything like it. One time it would fire over in 2 seconds and the next time it would just crank endlessly.
Adding extra voltage from a big battery jump starter seemed to help the issue.
I cleaned terminals and kept poking around looking. At one point I thought it was a fuel issue.

Then I found 2 large 50 amp sealed relays in the battery compartment just laying behind the batteries.
I opened them up and they were “sealed”, but not very well. Previous owner must have hung them upside down and water got inside

This is the end result and why I couldn’t get it to start reliably. It would also blow a 3 amp fuse in battery compartment because the relay wasn’t properly handling the electrical load.

The relays themselves are in the cap in the foreground. The socket or base for the relay in the background is corroded real bad and part of a huge “uni-harness” @ $2,200. I’m not buying a $2,200 harness. I have too many other “inflated” bills to pay….

One of the contacts in the relay is completely gone. Surprised she even started intermittently.

We can easily get new relays, but the bases are a hard wired part of the main harness. My plan is to locate some 50 amp sealed relay kits and splice them in as best I can into the wiring harness. There’s 2 of them. The kits I have found are only about $30 a piece, so I should have this issue resolved soon.

 

[oosik]

WoW!!! Some really charred bases. Glad you found this problem/solution fairly easily.

I had a similar situation with the M6040. About a month ago. The grease I used on the battery posts and the "gunk" caused loss of contact. I cleaned it all up - all is now well.

 

[Hay Dude]

WoW!!! Some really charred bases. Glad you found this problem/solution fairly easily.

I had a similar situation with the M6040. About a month ago. The grease I used on the battery posts and the "gunk" caused loss of contact. I cleaned it all up - all is now well.

I wish it was that easy as you had it, Oosik. I have been chasing down a lot of leads until I found this.

My old man used to say “Sometimes to find a problem, you have to just have ta start takin‘ sh_t apart!!”

 

[Alan W.]

Yes you never know until you look.
Glad you got it solved.
Im with you on the fixing it without paying inflated prices for parts. If your luck is like mine thats money you will have to spend somewhere else.

 

[DarkBlack]

Good find.
Bad design.
Do you know what circuit the relay is switching?

 

[Hay Dude]

The design is ok, but I think the previous owner removed them from their proper position and that allowed water & contaminants inside the “sealed” assembly (hung them upside down)

He probably did it when he replaced the batteries or when the new CVT was installed.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yes you never know until you look.
Glad you got it solved.
Im with you on the fixing it without paying inflated prices for parts. If your luck is like mine thats money you will have to spend somewhere else.

You got that right.
AG parts are super expensive. Combine that with record fuel & insurance costs and even a dummy can understand why food is so expensive.

 

[LouNY]

Had an issue with one of the magnums on the farm with a relay that intermittently drop out or not pickup. Ended replacing it with a different relay and a new addition wire to ground for the cab. Went through a couple of stock relays before just wiring a new one in. Actually carried a large alligator clamp in the cab for a while if it acted up would bypass the relay with the clamp.

 

[Hay Dude]

Had an issue with one of the magnums on the farm with a relay that intermittently drop out or not pickup. Ended replacing it with a different relay and a new addition wire to ground for the cab. Went through a couple of stock relays before just wiring a new one in. Actually carried a large alligator clamp in the cab for a while if it acted up would bypass the relay with the clamp.

LOL
Thats what I am doing now!

 

[LouNY]

We almost did away with the relay and my brother (his farm and tractors) was about ready to install a battery cutoff switch instead of the relay. I got him to try a different relay and it's been working for about 5 years now.