Put in a new Battery, got nothin' - I am not dumb, but maybe I'm not bright?

[kjon]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

Check the fuses.

 

[kenhar]

Don't know anything about LS tractors, but charged the battery on an old truck, put it on, nothing. Cleaned the battery terminals with the little wire brush cleaner, cleaned where the ground and positive cables connect to the starter and frame, nothing. An older mechanic friend came over listened to everything I had done. Pulled out his pocketknife and scraped the battery poles and inside the battery cables. Truck turned over and started. Did I feel like a dumb ass? Yes I did.

 

[bsekf]

Since Freddy has not answered I have another question. Bought an almost new Mahindra 5155, it had set outdoors at the dealers last winter. Had some, after market, LED light installed. Tractor works great, but no lights except the ones with independent switches(4 ways and work light and LED's). I have checked the fuses, they are mini's and difficult to remove and check, all appear good. The $300 4 way light switch, turn signal, horn and high/low beam headlights, may well be the problem, but changing it is a last resort. There are relays in the fuse block for high beam lights, low beam lights. How do you check those relays?

 

[JimR]

Since Freddy has not answered I have another question. Bought an almost new Mahindra 5155, it had set outdoors at the dealers last winter. Had some, after market, LED light installed. Tractor works great, but no lights except the ones with independent switches(4 ways and work light and LED's). I have checked the fuses, they are mini's and difficult to remove and check, all appear good. The $300 4 way light switch, turn signal, horn and high/low beam headlights, may well be the problem, but changing it is a last resort. There are relays in the fuse block for high beam lights, low beam lights. How do you check those relays?

You do not have to remove those fuses to check them. There should be a small hole on the back of the fuse on both ends to insert a test light into it.

 

[Gord Baker]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

Do the Lights work? Dead battery? Try a known good one. Ground connection to tractor is equally important.

 

[bordercollie]

I was gifted a jump starter. ( The kind that looks like a brick) It has helped me out more times than I can count when I had a dead battery. I used it last week on the skid steer. Also has a port for emergency usb charging. One of these would really be handy for most folks with a possible dead battery.
Real handy to keep in the car too.

 

[JimR]

I wonder if Freddy figured out what the problem was.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I have checked the fuses, they are mini's and difficult to remove and check, all appear good.

Hemostats are super handy for checking all blade fuses. Easy to grab and lock on and reinstall. I have several that I've accumulated over the years and use them quite a lot. Very handy for handling small parts, etc. (Not just for doctors anymore . . . )

 

[Todd727]

Do you have a jump pack that you could hook up to see if anything happens?

Well I do but I am going to need a tractor to pull it to a location with a plug. I just wouldn't think you would need to jump a new battery but maybe they sold me a lemon. Do you know if there is any safe switch that flips when you take out a battery? I could be just making that up in my head, but I am just frustrated. I will swing by ACE tomorrow and pick up that multi meter - It would be nice to have on hand.

Freddy, if you ever revisit this thread, a jump pack is a portable battery and cable setup that you can carry to the tractor. You don't need a plug, you charge the unit before you head to the equipment. Even easier than getting using another vehicle for jump starting.

Here is a nice one for larger equipment and it has a compressor, but you can find smaller, less expensive units:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/farm-ranch-1200a-lithium-ion-power-pack-with-150-psi-air-compressor-fr01544-1617024

 

[DRE97]

Freddy does your tractor have a PTO switch? Make sure it is turned off.
If the switch is on the ignition will not get power to start the tractor.

 

[HillCountry]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

There is a reply earlier in the thread talking about scraping the battery posts and re-attaching the cables. Tractors are notorious for having bad connectivity there.

If you have a volt meter, follow the “hot” cable from the battery to where it connects to the solenoid, which will be a switch about the size of your fist close to the starter motor. Use your volt meter to check between that solenoid connection and the tractor frame. If you read about 12V, you have ruled out the battery cables/posts as the problem.

If that IS the problem, scrape the posts and re-clean those cable clamps, and try again.

As a quick work around in the past, I have used a jumper cable directly from the battery to the solenoid to start the tractor.

Good luck!

 

[newbury]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now.

I've a Kubota B7610 which I routinely jump with a Gooloo 4000.link

 

[walnutman]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

Bad or uncharged?

 

[S854]

Hemostats are super handy for checking all blade fuses. Easy to grab and lock on and reinstall. I have several that I've accumulated over the years and use them quite a lot. Very handy for handling small parts, etc. (Not just for doctors anymore . . . )

View attachment 4408635

I had some of those back in my college daze… mid ‘70’s… kept me from burning my fingers when the… uh… um… “cigarette” … yeah, that’s it… it was a cigarette … when it burned almost to the end…

 

[Cycledude]

I wonder if Freddy figured out what the problem was.

Poor Freddy says he has to travel 200 miles to see his dealer.

 

[D&D]

I had some of those back in my college daze… mid ‘70’s… kept me from burning my fingers when the… uh… um… “cigarette” … yeah, that’s it… it was a cigarette … when it burned almost to the end…

The lowly engineering people had feathery alligator clips. Were you one of those med students with access to high end merch?

 

[I Piddle]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

How old is your tractor. I have that is 20 years old tractor that is like new it only has 400 hours. It has always easy to start. I shut it off for about 10 minutes, when i tried to restart it did nothing. I troubleshooted several different things, until I decided to check the battery ground at the frame. I cleaned it up and everything was good.

 

[TxSteveS]

I'll bet good money it's a bad ground.

Buy a new ground strap and ground the battery somewhere on the frame. Make sure you have a good ground from the engine to the frame. You can never have too many grounds connecting things.

 

[Rotorhead]

My LS will sometimes not turn over and I found that it is the lockout in the electric PTO switch. I turn the PTO switch on then off and it starts right up. I didn’t read all 12 pages, so I apologize if this was already mentioned.

 

[I Piddle]

I bought a LS tractor knowing diddle squat about tractors, but man do I love it now. I put in a new battery for the winter, I got nothing. I checked the terminals, clean. I checked to make sure I didn't put it in backwards. I tightened it down with a torque wrench. I swore at it a lot. I am not getting lights, dashboard activity, not a sign of life. I know nothing of tractors but I am ok with cars. Does this have a starter solenoid? Is there some sort of reset button when you change the battery that I cannot find? Anyone have any ideas apart from taking it to a shop 200 miles away?

An addendum to my first post. I had another tractor started good and when to start a few minutes later and would not turn over. This time I pulled the starter off and found the starter was locked up. I got it freed up and put grease on the end of the amateur (not sure that is the correct name for the lub point). There are screws cap to remove on the starter to lub the necessary points. In my 77 years that is the first starter i have ever greased.