B2920 won't turn over.

Roy Rowlett · Jul 31, 2014

I have a Kuboda B2920 tractor that I bought new in 2010. It has been working fine, and used only 200 hours.
I tilled my garden today, and when I drove it back to my garage to clean it, I turned it off, then immediately tried to turn it back on to lower the loader bucket. It would do nothing. Would not turn over, and the console lights were either dim or absent.
I made sure that the PTO was disengaged. I put it in neutral, pressed the clutch, wiggled the PTO shifter back and forth. Still nothing when I turn the key to start. I checked the battery and it read 12v+ and the view glass showed "green".
I have put the battery on a charger. If it is the battery, it seems to me it is either bad or not charged. If not charged, then maybe I have an alternator problem.
What is the normal life expectancy of this battery? Is it normal for one to quit suddenly? It is the original. Four years old.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

meanjean · Jul 31, 2014

You've done a lot of the right things for trouble shooting and posting all the details certainly helps.
Often enough someone posts a non start issue and often enough it's because of a dirty ground. Clean all connections to start.
Have you got a good battery you can try?
Do you have a seat safety switch which would be malfunctioning?
Show

meanjean · Jul 31, 2014

You've done a lot of the right things for trouble shooting and posting all the details certainly helps.
Often enough someone posts a non start issue and often enough it's because of a dirty ground. Clean all connections to start.
Have you got a good battery you can try?
If a second battery causes the by rectory to fire up its likely a battery problem but still potentially a dirty connection some where.
Do you have a seat safety switch which would be malfunctioning?
Showing 12 volts makes me think it's not a battery power issue.

kc8fbl · Jul 31, 2014

Possibly your seat switch or you may try sitting on the seat and wiggling the HST pedal back and forth slightly and see if it fires off. There is a grease fitting underneath the pedal where the linkages all meet.

Daren Todd · Aug 1, 2014

Check with a fresh battery. Wouldn't hurt to get the battery load tested at the local auto parts store. Start tractor, and verify that your getting 13.5 to 14 volts at the battery. Clean battery cables as stated by the other posters.

Just cause the indicator on the battery shows green doesn't mean the batterys good. It's just showing a charge. And to answer your question about the battery going bad suddenly, yes it can happen. Both times the batterys gone bad in my truck, it was suddenly. Shut it off, and then went back out a few minutes later and it wouldn't start. And average battery life is between 4 to 6 years. Just depends on your location. Extreme heat and humidity seems to make them go faster, along with extreme cold as well. I've found it also depends on the brand of battery as far as durabilty and longevity as well

Tooljunkie · Aug 1, 2014

You mentioned panel lights seem dim, does is click and lights go out?
Connections at battery and starter as well as at ground connection.
Tillers shake machines pretty hard, loosening connectors and breaking wires.
I doubt wiring broke, its too young for wire to work harden and break.

Roy Rowlett · Aug 1, 2014

After having it on the charger all night, it still does not turn over. I tried jumping it off, no change.
It will sometimes illuminate the oil and battery lights on the console, but when I turn the key to "start", they go out and will not come back on.
When I turn the key to "on", I can hear a "humming" noise behind the engine, down near the firewall.
The headlights come on with the key on.
I don't believe I have a safety switch for the seat because I have a rotating seat for my backhoe. I can normally stand beside the tractor and start it.
Is there a starter and starter solenoid? I don't know if that would cause the console lights to go out though.
If I have to test the start switch itself, how do I get to it?
Thanks

Tooljunkie · Aug 1, 2014

Pull your positive and negative cables off the machine, clean where they connect to the starter and ground. My experience is the ground goes bad, allowing a little power through and going bad as soon as you load it with starter.
With a helper, put volt meter connectors on battery, right on posts and turn key.
If meter holds 12 volts, battery is good.
Move neg on meter to a good clean bolt on engine and try again.

By working your way down through the connections you will find the problem.
Its just a process of elimination.

North Idaho Wolfman · Aug 1, 2014

Pull the battery out and take it to automotive store and have it load tested, a bad cell or broken plate will show a charge with a meter and fail under a load!

Then if that passes clean all the ends of the cables.

Roy Rowlett · Aug 1, 2014

I will pull the battery and have it tested. I put a meter on the battery posts and had someone turn the key. The reading went from 12v to 2.5v.
Before I got the reply to test the battery for load, I did a few things:
I checked the fuses in the fuse box near the starter.
I checked the seat safety switch. It has been zip tied because of the rotating seat configuration.
I check voltage at the starter capacitor and read 12v.
I did a continuity check for the HST forward/reverse safety switch, and it checked good. Open when forward or reverse, and closed when in neutral.
.
By the way, I tried to remove the cover to get to the HST switch from the top, but I could not figure out how to remove the 3 point hitch speed control knob. It blocks removing the cover after the two screws are removed. How does that work?
Thanks again. I will post the results of the battery test.

ShaunRH · Aug 1, 2014

If you dropped that much voltage, I'd say your battery is internally shorted.

Try disconnecting the positive and THEN jump start the tractor. Jumping it with the shorted battery in the line will just dump all the voltage to the short.

Get a load tester from Harbor Freight for about $20. You'll use it on all your vehicles.

Tooljunkie · Aug 1, 2014

If battery went 12to 2.5,its done. You charged it and thats all i need to see
It is cracked internally. A dead short on tractor wouldnt pull a battery down that low, at least not without releasing a lot of magic smoke.

Roy Rowlett · Aug 2, 2014

Had the battery tested. It was bad. With new battery it fired right up.
I can't believe how quickly the old one died. No sign of weakness before it just went dead.
Thanks for your help.

Tooljunkie · Aug 2, 2014

Glad you got it solved,actually its a very common failure.
Depending where it cracks internally- yours dropped all but one cell.

Up here the extreme colld takes its toll on batteries,-28 seems to be the breaking point for a battery on its way out. Sell more batteries in the first week of -28 than rest of winter.
Same goes for summer, +32-35 celcius and they fail too.

ShaunRH · Aug 4, 2014

In winter you should have a battery on a maintainer that will keep the battery 'warm'. Summer there isn't much you can do for them...

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