Jump started CK30 with my truck...now no electrical works on tractor

mitchelli · Oct 21, 2012

I am a newbie to tractors...had my CK30 about a year. (bought used with 100 hours on it). Went out this morning and it just clicked when I tried to start it. Sounded like a solenoid to me. Jumped the Kioti battery with my 12V truck, red to red and black to black. Started right up but when I got off tractor I could see smoke coming off of Kioti positive terminal, and it actually melted something on the post that looked like little blobs of solder. Yanked leads off, tractor seemed to run fine so I got to work. 15 minutes later, looked at gauges and none were working...put tractor in shed and when I shut it off it would not turn over again. Can't find my manual so I wonder are there fuses? Of course it is Sunday so I can't call my Kioti dealer...any advice greatly appreciated. scott

Buckgnarly · Oct 21, 2012

Mine are under the steering wheel to the right, but I have a DS. Do you have a volt meter or battery tester? Battery might be bad....

MotorSeven · Oct 21, 2012

Ooooh, that does not sound good. Kitoi's do not like dirty/corroded terminals, so clean both the battery post and the lead clamp. Also clean you ground to frame connection. There is an in line fuse, but I have never changed it, so I can't tell ya where to look. I would pull the battery and have it tested. Other than that there are some documented ignition switch problems but your issue sounds like a bad connection which makes a lot of heat.

SSdoxie · Oct 21, 2012

Fuse panel should be on Right hand side of the sterring column, behind the park brake lever. Most of the relays, except for head lights are on the fire wall just in front of the fuel tank. I think there is a main fuseable link in the cable comoing off the starter going back to the fuse panel. As Motor Seven said, these tractors are sensitive to dirty cables and triple check the ground connection of negative cable to main frame.

Coyote machine · Oct 21, 2012

What SSDoxie said, AND verify that the ground cable is not damaged internally. TBN members have reported numerous times, after frustrating searches for a cause, that the cable itself can and will fail internally, thus no path to ground and all kinds of headaches trying to figure out the issue. Can be EITHER cable.
When you check your battery do a specific gravity test to make sure there are no dead cells AND a load test to insure the battery won't die completely when a load is applied.

94BULLITT · Oct 22, 2012

Did you pull the cable off running? If you did the voltage may have spiked and burnt up something.

ritcheyvs · Oct 22, 2012

94BULLITT said:
Did you pull the cable off running? If you did the voltage may have spiked and burnt up something.

I assume the actual tractor battery was still connected so spiking should not be a problem. This spiking is common with boats where there is a total battery disconnect (the off-1-both-2 switch) such that the battery can be totally and instantly disconnected; it that case alternator diodes sometimes fail from an over-voltage condition during the spike.

Your problem sounds more like a battery or battery cable problem. The smoke and melted blobs sound like bad/shorted cell(s) in the tractor battery but could also be a high-resistance spot in a bad cable. Diesel engines run quite well with zero electrical power, so the fact the engine continued to run says nothing about the electrical system. A dead battery would certainly explain a dead instrument panel.

Get a voltmeter (multimeter) and check the battery voltage. If in doubt, try to charge it or get a car parts place (like Autozone) to check the battery for free. If a good battery doesn't fix things, check your battery cables by measuring the voltage drop across the cable (from negative batt terminal to engine frame on the ground side or positive terminal to the big lug on the starter on + side) with a load; start with headlights. The drop across these cables should be near zero volts. Alternatively, you can measure the voltage from the big starter lug to the engine frame (should be near 12v) when you try to crank (OK to drop to, maybe, 8-10 V while cranking).

I believe in the measure twice, cut once theory here. By that I mean to isolate the problem vs replacing parts in a semi-random fashion. And that requires a volt meter.

BTI · Oct 24, 2012

Main slo-blo fuse out by the starter motor.
It is typically wrapped in electrical tape to the point you can only see the window into it.
It is approx a 1/2" x 3/4" rectangle.
After replacing that, clean the battery terminals with a terminal cleaner.
Then disconnect your ground from the frame and clean/reattach.
Most issues I run into like this are bad grounds either at frame or battery.
Clean all to be safe.

BTI

ritcheyvs · Oct 24, 2012

BTI said:
Main slo-blo fuse out by the starter motor.

Maybe so, but could he have successfully jump started the tractor if that was the case?

Coyote machine · Oct 24, 2012

ritcheyvs said:
Maybe so, but could he have successfully jump started the tractor if that was the case?

It might have started by jumping and then blown the fuse in the process or as a result of same? OP did say smoke was coming off the + post, and THEN he removed the cables - seems to me like a bad ground, made good temporarily while jumping....
Overload, arcing on cable removal, etc.
Where is the OP in this discussion????