L2350 No start

[pollard12]

About ready to pull my hair out.

Have a L2350 model, recently have not been able to get it to start with the key. No lights to the dash come on with the key turned, and no blinkers/rear flashers work either. Using the old screw driver across the solenoid trick gets the tractor to crank.

Finally got some free time to try and track down what’s been causing the problem. Battery was good, read 12.4 volts. Replaced the key switch thinking it was maybe just bad being so old. New switch in, still nothing. Checked ground connection to frame with multimeter, it was good. Battery good. Continuity and voltage from battery positive to starter positive post good. Continuity and voltage to all but one connectors on the new key switch was good. Traced the one bad connector to a what I thought was a safety switch. Confirmed with the wiring diagram for the model and google that’s what it was. No voltage and no continuity to the safety switch.

I thought I had just figured out my issue, and it would be an easy fix.
Wiring diagram for this model has one line going from one of the terminals of the key switch, to the safety switch, and another wire going from the safety switch and tying to the small negative post on the starter.

Removed the safety switch and just reconnected the two lines that attached to it with a wire nut to test if the circuit was complete. Good voltage and good continuity from the new connection to the starter. “Yes! Just fixed it” I thought.

Try to use the key to get it to turn over, annnnnnnnnd nothing.

Ran through every fuse and wire checking continuity, and making sure nothing was stripped, shorted out, melted, lost insulator, whatever. All wiring was in good shape for its age, and no fuses were blown. Fusible link is good. About 7-8 hours deep into the fix and I cannot reason why it’s not cranking using a key. Anyone else had a similar issue, and if so, what was the result you found to work?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

and another wire going from the safety switch and tying to the small negative post on the starter.

There is not a negative terminal on the starter?
You should have a solenoid terminal and a positive terminal at the starter.

If your able to short the positive to the solenoid and it cranks then your problem is before the solenoid.

 

[pollard12]

Yep that’s my bad. Typo.

Any idea where to start?

 

[InTheWoods]

...Wiring diagram for this model has one line going from one of the terminals of the key switch, to the safety switch, and another wire going from the safety switch and tying to the small negative post on the starter....

I'd want to see the wiring diagram before offering ideas - any chance you could post it?

You say "THE safety switch..." as if there's ONE safety switch. I've seen some diagrams that have multiple safety switches (butt-in-seat detector, clutch, PTO, etc.).

Troubleshooting your issue without an understanding of the start interlocks is just silly.

For example, here's by B7510 - there are SIX safety-related switches.

 

[pollard12]

I'd want to see the wiring diagram before offering ideas - any chance you could post it?

You say "THE safety switch..." as if there's ONE safety switch. I've seen some diagrams that have multiple safety switches (butt-in-seat detector, clutch, PTO, etc.).

Troubleshooting your issue without an understanding of the start interlocks is just silly.

For example, here's by B7510 - there are SIX safety-related switches.

View attachment 162614

As far as I can see there is only one safety switch. It’s an early 90s model.

 

[Russell King]

I understand that it will crank the engine with the battery in the tractor when you short the positive terminal to the solenoid spade terminal. Please confirm that is a correct assumption and you are not using a second battery.

So I would suggest you start finding what the voltage is at the “fire wire” (black with white stripe?) when you have the key in the crank position. There may be so much voltage drop through the safety switches that it won’t operate the solenoid. There are relays that can be added so there is less voltage drop. Here is a wiring diagram of such a relay.

 

[pollard12]

I understand that it will crank the engine with the battery in the tractor when you short the positive terminal to the solenoid spade terminal. Please confirm that is a correct assumption and you are not using a second battery.

So I would suggest you start finding what the voltage is at the “fire wire” (black with white stripe?) when you have the key in the crank position. There may be so much voltage drop through the safety switches that it won’t operate the solenoid. There are relays that can be added so there is less voltage drop. Here is a wiring diagram of such a relay.

View attachment 162641

Correct assumption. No second battery.

And I removed the singular safety switch to see if it was bad or not and just connected the two leads that led to it. The “fire wire” has good continuity and voltage at that new connection where the switch was removed.

 

[Russell King]

Correct assumption. No second battery.

And I removed the singular safety switch to see if it was bad or not and just connected the two leads that led to it. The “fire wire” has good continuity and voltage at that new connection where the switch was removed.

Thank you for the confirmation!

I assume from looking at the wiring diagram that the safety switch is the clutch pedal switch. So you have eliminated the switch at the current time.

You measured voltage at the safety switch junction but would you also measure it at the end of the wire?

You can also apply voltage to the “fire wire” after the ssafety switch to be 100% sure it will crank the engine. I would recommend using a wire with an in-line fuse to do that if you want to do that test. Then continue up stream towards the key and battery.

From your description it should all be good but still won’t crank through the key so I suspect that there is a damaged wire that is causing the problem. There is really only that one wire (black with white stripe?) in the circuit and you can really manually bypass that whole wire through the key switch to see what happens.

You may also want to clean the starter mounting surface or provide a good ground wire from battery to the starter to eliminate that problem. And clean the ground cable connections at both ends. If the cables are old and worn you might want to replace them just to eliminate voltage drop problems but I don’t think that is your problem.

There is a voltage drop test that you can do.
See these threads for more information on that test

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[InTheWoods]

As far as I can see there is only one safety switch. It’s an early 90s model.

That diagram is a bit blurry, but I agree - it seems to only have one safety. Is there a more detailed wiring diagram, focusing on just the starting circuit, like I posted above for my B7510?


I'd be curious to know what voltage you have on the highlighted terminal both 'at rest' and when attempting to start it...

 

[pollard12]

That diagram is a bit blurry, but I agree - it seems to only have one safety. Is there a more detailed wiring diagram, focusing on just the starting circuit, like I posted above for my B7510?


I'd be curious to know what voltage you have on the highlighted terminal both 'at rest' and when attempting to start it...
View attachment 162644

That’s the only wiring diagram that I’ve been able to find online. Nothing that is specific to only that circuit unfortunately. Let me test the voltage at that connector in both situations like you suggest, haven’t done that yet.

 

[pollard12]

Thank you for the confirmation!

I assume from looking at the wiring diagram that the safety switch is the clutch pedal switch. So you have eliminated the switch at the current time.

You measured voltage at the safety switch junction but would you also measure it at the end of the wire?

You can also apply voltage to the “fire wire” after the ssafety switch to be 100% sure it will crank the engine. I would recommend using a wire with an in-line fuse to do that if you want to do that test. Then continue up stream towards the key and battery.

From your description it should all be good but still won’t crank through the key so I suspect that there is a damaged wire that is causing the problem. There is really only that one wire (black with white stripe?) in the circuit and you can really manually bypass that whole wire through the key switch to see what happens.

You may also want to clean the starter mounting surface or provide a good ground wire from battery to the starter to eliminate that problem. And clean the ground cable connections at both ends. If the cables are old and worn you might want to replace them just to eliminate voltage drop problems but I don’t think that is your problem.

There is a voltage drop test that you can do.
See these threads for more information on that test

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Here is a link to information on the testing process

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Measuring voltage drop is essential for understanding the health of an electrical system.

tooltrip.com

Will try that. Thank you for the help!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]