Electrical nightmare - Help Wanted

[Jovee 0]

If there were ever a reason to build a catapult this would be it. Im hoping someone here has experienced this problem. A friend brought over his tractor for new mandrels. Walk in the park. Ran great when it came in. Suffered an unrelated back injury so it sat a few weeks. This one is orange but not our orange. For sentimental reasons he will not let it die. Lucky me. Its a late 70s Hechinger (MTD) 12/38. Went to start it and nothing. Battery was good. Managed a few clicks from the solenoid. Dug a good one out of the recycle pile and still nothing. Then found the battery was fried. Put a new battery in and killed that one too. He did mention that the battery would drain just from sitting for a few weeks. Bought a new solenoid (3 pole) and no change. Bought a new ignition switch and no change. Cleaned all the grounds also. Traced wires and none were bare or touching anything. Bypassed the clutch switch and the deck switch and still nothing happening. Ran continuity checks on every wire and found that the starter side of the solenoid was showing ground as well as the single starter pole on it. Battery side was ok. Disconnected the starter wire at the starter and still had current on the little pole to the ignition by itself with no wire attached at all but the big pole cancelled. Tests have been run with stator disconnected as well as the coil/block ground wire. I dont understand where the backfeed is coming from or how. Solenoid mount has good chassis ground yet the little pole itself is in continuence with every metal part of the unit. If it was draining the battery just doing nothing I imagine this condition existed in a lesser form. I'm at the end of my rope. What am I missing?:(

[firefoxz1 4]

The litte pole should have continuity to ground as well as the starter side when conected to the starter, it should however not have voltage going to it if the ignition switch is off. As far as the drain I would check continuity through the stator on the charging side (with diode) with it disconnected. You should have cont. with positive on block and ground at terminal but none with the positive on the terminal and ground on the block. Also if it's got a wired in Amp gauge check that for a short. Starting: Can't think of anything else except to check voltage drop at battery when you turn the key. Big drop and a click I would check out the starter. minor drop and a click soleniod.

[sandyhillbill 12]

you are reading resistance through the winding of the coil in the solenoid to ground. This is normal. When you apply voltage to the positive side ( small post ) of the solenoid the other side of the coil is connected to the ground or metal frame of the tractor. You should read some ohm value but not zero ohms. not sure how much that value would be.

[Jovee 0]

If that ground should be at the solenoid then I will move on. I'm afraid of taking down another battery. The clicking at the beginning of this horror story came from the solenoid. Ive run a direct line from the battery post to the starter and it turns ok. The stator is ancient with no diode and a two wire setup. One to the ignition and one for the lights. I put a solid state coil in for him last year and everything was good then. The amp gauge has been disconnected and out of the loop for a long time. I dont even have empty wires for it. I will check out the stator lines after work. I also have a smartstop switch attached to the inside. One wire from the solenoid and the other runs to the ignition. Ive disconnected, bypassed and jumped that but it seems to not be a factor unless Ive done something wrong there. Thanks guys - Joe

[Jovee 0]

Still no good news. Everything works at the same time everything doesnt. No logical explanation. Voltage to everything yet nothing happens. Will search for the catapult on ebay -

[SmilinSam 3,932]

Bad ignition Switch? Is whatever is covering the battery ( seat, seat decks) making contact with the positive terminal on the battery? Just throwing out ideas....

[JoeJ 0]

Joe, Very, very carefully check the wiring harness where it runs from the dash down past the gas tank. There is a fairly sharp edge it passes over. I went through about the same thing last year on our MTD. Was a very tiny bare spot and intermittent short that drove me nuts. Fixed the wire, wrapped it in a piece from an old leather welding apron and it should be good for another 15 years. Joe

[Simplicity314 0]

Who keeps a MTD for sentimental reasons? That's like keeping a used paper plate for sentimental reasons.

[Jovee 0]

The ignition switch is new and seems to be putting the voltage down to the solenoid. That smartstop switch is also channelling the power to the switch. Ive got nothing coming from the solenoid to the starter and Ive gone thru 3 switches. The battery sits on a shelf outback like a weight fully exposed. All the wires from the battery have been checked out as well as the ones from the harness and switches. Everything is untaped and free hanging at the moment. I tried to leave no stone unturned.

quote:

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Originally posted by Simplicity314
Who keeps a MTD for sentimental reasons? That's like keeping a used paper plate for sentimental reasons.

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The tractor belonged to his grandfather whom he was very close to. I repainted it for him a while back and used the A/C orange instead of whatever orange shade it was originally. Thats either an upgrade or makes it adopted :D

[firefoxz1 4]

Without a diode you would be pushing A/C voltage to the battery which is no good. You can take the stator out of the loop (so it doesn't discharge the battery)by running it to the ignition switch on the Acc terminal but it still will be creating A/C voltage with out a diode (only a generator would create D/C). It is a stator setup and has no regulator, correct? I know this doesn't help the starting but is something to look into. If you get battery voltage to the little terminal on the soleniod and the soleniod has a good ground and, as you said, the starter turns when run directly to the battery I would have to say it's the soleniod or a connection at the soleniod. JMHO.