Won't do nothing

[Buckwheat 3]

Thanks for your help before. I have an old WH lawn tractor. Do not know year or model because all that information on the machine is unreadable—worn off.

I just got it out of winter storage- hooked up a newly charged battery from last year (stored inside, the battery), cleaned the connections- pushed in clutch and turned ignition and nothing.

Checked battery connections, fuses, connections to starter, switch under seat, attachments are off, etc.  Have fooled with it for a couple of hours.  Could there be a switch attached to clutch, or maybe my ignition switch is faulty. This happened last year, but all of a sudden it started and worked well all summer.

Any ideas

thanks,

David

 

[stevasaurus 22,764]

If you have kill switches, it is not an old horse.    The thing is, yes, could be any of the switches.  Give us a couple of pictures of different views of your tractor, and if we can identify your horse, we should be able to get you fixed up.  We need to know what you have there to trouble shoot.  

[Stormin 9,981]

 Try pressing the clutch pedal right down when trying to start. My C-81 has a safety switch on that. Also the P.T.O. lever has one. Make sure the P.T.O. is not engaged.

[Buckwheat 3]

Thank you.  Have pushed, slammed, checked under seat to see if clutch shaft is working, probably 50 times. PTO is not engaged.  I have been to,d older WH do not have kill switches.  Mine is an older model.

[Buckwheat 3]

Thank you,

Will take pictures this weekend.

appreciate your help

David

[Buckwheat 3]

Could too much oil cause it to not start?  Here in Vermont we do not have many flat spots to check oil level.

thanks

[Buckwheat 3]

I mean not turn over!

[Stormin 9,981]

Check all electrical connections are clean and secure. Especially earths.

[Stormin 9,981]

To much oil won't stop it from starting.

[OutdoorEnvy 1,522]

Take off the negative battery cable where it grounds to the tractor and clean both the cable end and the ground spot.  Get it shiny so there's no paint or rust.  Use wire brushes and/or sandpaper.  Also do the same for the solenoid ground as well.

 

These two locations have fixed 90% of my electrical issues when I have nothing happening when I turn the key.   If that doesn't work I would move to cleaning off the key switch terminals.

Edited May 28, 2021 by OutdoorEnvy

[953 nut 55,321]

Lets take a logical step by step inspection of your starter problem.

Is your PTO in the ON position, a wheel horse will not start with the PTO on.

Have you had the battery load tested at an auto parts store?

Have you cleaned and tightened all electrical connections including grounds?

Are all fuses good and fuse holders cleaned?

If these have all been done, we can check components of the starting system as follows; don’t skip a step or you may miss the problem.

Be sure the transmission is in neutral and the parking brake is set.

Take a pair of automotive jumper cables and connect the black cable to your battery  "-" and a good clean spot on the engine. Now connect the other cable to the large post on the starter and touch the other end to the battery "+" terminal, does the starter turn over? If the starter turns over the battery and starter are good. If it didn't turn over try the same steps with the battery in your car/truck, if that cures the problem then the "good" battery wasn't so good.

Presuming the starter turned over move the jumper wire from the starter post to the other end of the wire going to the starter which is one of the large posts on the solenoid. If the starter turns over when the battery is touched by the jumper as before then that cable is good, if not you have found your problem.

Presuming the starter turned over move that jumper to the other terminal of the solenoid, connect the other end to the battery and use a small piece of wire to temporarily connect the battery "+" terminal to the small terminal on the solenoid, this should cause the solenoid to close and the starter to turn over. If not, the solenoid is probably the problem.

If this was successful remove the large jumper cable and use the small jumper wire to the small terminal of the solenoid, the solenoid should close and the starter turn over. If not the cable to the battery is the problem.

Presuming all of these have been successful remove the black jumper wire and repeat the small jumper to small terminal, if the starter turns over the ground is good.

If all of these components test good then remove your ignition switch, be sure the transmission is in neutral, parking brake on, clutch depressed and PTO off. Use a small jumper to connect the terminals that were connected to the “B” and “S” terminals of the ignition switch. If the starter turns over then the PTO switch and other safety switches are operating properly and your ignition switch may be bad.

[Stepney 2,325]

My old '74 B80 had safety switches on it, she was a pretty old 'Hoss, my B100, 1975, did as well. 
Nothing more to add, pretty well covered there. Just figured I'd mention it.. I thought the interlock starter was new for 1973-4 model year?

[Crazyredhorse 295]

mine has safety switch on clutch underside of tractor. dont know how old yours is.you can try tapping starter and siloniod with hammer while turning key see if it trys too.

[Pollack Pete 2,273]

Does it have an amp gauge? One time I had a horse that was dead.Took the wires off the amp gauge,cleaned them,put them back on,and that solved my problem.Just another thing to try.

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

14 hours ago, 953 nut said:

Lets take a logical step by step inspection of your starter problem

Thanks for taking the time to write down this simple procedure that anyone can use to find a start/ignition problem with a couple jumper wires.

I can't stress enough the value of using this procedure instead of throwing expensive new parts at the problem.

Is this step by step logic in the demystification guide?   If not, it should be.

[Buckwheat 3]

17 hours ago, 953 nut said:

Lets take a logical step by step inspection of your starter problem.

Is your PTO in the ON position, a wheel horse will not start with the PTO on.

Have you had the battery load tested at an auto parts store?

Have you cleaned and tightened all electrical connections including grounds?

Are all fuses good and fuse holders cleaned?

If these have all been done, we can check components of the starting system as follows; don’t skip a step or you may miss the problem.

Be sure the transmission is in neutral and the parking brake is set.

Take a pair of automotive jumper cables and connect the black cable to your battery  "-" and a good clean spot on the engine. Now connect the other cable to the large post on the starter and touch the other end to the battery "+" terminal, does the starter turn over? If the starter turns over the battery and starter are good. If it didn't turn over try the same steps with the battery in your car/truck, if that cures the problem then the "good" battery wasn't so good.

Presuming the starter turned over move the jumper wire from the starter post to the other end of the wire going to the starter which is one of the large posts on the solenoid. If the starter turns over when the battery is touched by the jumper as before then that cable is good, if not you have found your problem.

Presuming the starter turned over move that jumper to the other terminal of the solenoid, connect the other end to the battery and use a small piece of wire to temporarily connect the battery "+" terminal to the small terminal on the solenoid, this should cause the solenoid to close and the starter to turn over. If not, the solenoid is probably the problem.

If this was successful remove the large jumper cable and use the small jumper wire to the small terminal of the solenoid, the solenoid should close and the starter turn over. If not the cable to the battery is the problem.

Presuming all of these have been successful remove the black jumper wire and repeat the small jumper to small terminal, if the starter turns over the ground is good.

If all of these components test good then remove your ignition switch, be sure the transmission is in neutral, parking brake on, clutch depressed and PTO off. Use a small jumper to connect the terminals that were connected to the “B” and “S” terminals of the ignition switch. If the starter turns over then the PTO switch and other safety switches are operating properly and your ignition switch may be bad.

Thanks for all the work to write this down. Will give it a try.

Buckwheat

[953 nut 55,321]

9 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Is this step by step logic in the demystification guide?

No, this is something I typed up and saved to use for this sort of question. As you can see I was in the waiting room for quite a long time while my wife's broken ankle was being repaired.    On the bright side her sister is coming up to care for her while I'm at the Big Show.   

[Ed Kennell 38,227]

2 hours ago, 953 nut said:

wife's broken ankle

So sorry to hear this Richard.   Best wishes for a speedy complete  recovery for Mrs 953.     And good luck with your caretaking duties for the next  few months.

We are slowly getting back to normal after Mrs. Ks foot surgery in Jan.    Three months in the wheeled chair,  two months in a walking boot and now in therapy for two months.

BTW,  My cooking, laundry, and nursing training went well.   I never did get a handle on the cleaning though.

 

[peter lena 8,634]

@Buckwheat  you said last summer it suddenly started , at that point you were  just about looking at it  , for a cure. you might try this , 1st and last pictures , looking down at battery ground rail , along side battery , add a battery cable from the battery ground point to the corner of the frame engine mount , last picture . that will increase the dash area grounding , and help out , just the fact that it did start , is telling you , that its a short , or related grounding issue . worth a try , pete

 

[Buckwheat 3]

On 5/28/2021 at 6:08 PM, OutdoorEnvy said:

Take off the negative battery cable where it grounds to the tractor and clean both the cable end and the ground spot.  Get it shiny so there's no paint or rust.  Use wire brushes and/or sandpaper.  Also do the same for the solenoid ground as well.

 

These two locations have fixed 90% of my electrical issues when I have nothing happening when I turn the key.   If that doesn't work I would move to cleaning off the key switch terminals.

You got it, thanks, did the above and she turned right over.  Thanks all of you for all the suggestions, was lucky it was the easiest one that fixed it.

What a cool forum for us new owners!!!

Buckwheat

[OutdoorEnvy 1,522]

Awesome!  Glad to hear it worked out.  It pays to check the easy stuff...