JD GT245 dead; electrical problem

sgoldste01 · May 11, 2011

My GT245 just died in the middle of mowing the lawn. It was running perfect, and then died cold. I'm not too technical, but it seems to me that it must be an electrical problem because the tractor is electrically dead. The hour meter doesn't show any data, and nothing happens regardless of the position of the key.

Can anyone help me begin to troubleshoot this problem?

Thanks!

Steve

sgoldste01 · May 11, 2011

Oh, by the way, I put a voltmeter across the battery terminals and got a 12.95 VDC reading. This was with the key in OFF position, and parking brake engaged. So I don't think it's a battery problem, but I acknowledge the battery wasn't loaded when I took the reading.

fuseboxer · May 11, 2011

Turn the key to "on" and try just the fron lights if they are bright and lite up strong you know the battery is good.

sgoldste01 · May 11, 2011

fuseboxer said:
Turn the key to "on" and try just the fron lights if they are bright and lite up strong you know the battery is good.

That wouldn't have worked; the ENTIRE electrical system was completely off-line.

Anyway, I troubleshot the problem to fuse F2 on the main control board that's behind the dashboard. Luckily, I had a 15 A fuse in my toolbox, so I replaced it. I expected this fuse to blow too when I tried running the tractor, but it didn't. I was able to finish mowing the lawn.

So here's the question: Is it common for auto fuses to go bad all by themselves, or is it more likely that there's an intermittent short that will be difficult for me to locate because it's, well, intermittent?

fuseboxer · May 11, 2011

I bet a temporary short, fuses are not light bulbs.

hizoot · May 12, 2011

look down by the pto clutch to make sure the wiring insulation hasnt been rubbed off,exposing the wire for a possible intermittent short

sgoldste01 · May 12, 2011

OK, I'll check there. You've obviously seen problems in this location before?

sgoldste01 · May 17, 2011

Well, I didn't see any bare wires in the area of the PTO. The only questionable wire I found was the wire running to the oil pressure sensor on the side of the engine. This wire did have some missing insulation, so I wrapped it with electrical tape.

But I'm skeptical that this is what caused the F2 fuse to blow. First of all, I can't see how this wire could have touched any bare metal to cause the short. It's possible that it could have touched the oil filter, but this is painted, so I don't know if that would have caused a short.

Also, when I look at that wire on the schematic diagram, it appears to me that shorting it would blow F3, not F2.

So I'm not convinced that I've found the root cause of my blown fuse yet. But all the other wires I checked all looked good.