Bad switch?

[550Doug]

I've got a good battery with cleaned connections in my Oliver 550/Cockshutt 2-44LL and it will not power the starter. When i turn the key it gives a slight sound but it is not the solenoid clicking. I measure the voltage at the solenoid when turning the key to be 6.1 volts, so it seems that the 12 volt battery is being drained somewhere before the solenoid. Is there something else that could be the problem other than a bad ignition switch?

 

[wore out]

I've got a good battery with cleaned connections in my Oliver 550/Cockshutt 2-44LL and it will not power the starter. When i turn the key it gives a slight sound but it is not the solenoid clicking. I measure the voltage at the solenoid when turning the key to be 6.1 volts, so it seems that the 12 volt battery is being drained somewhere before the solenoid. Is there something else that could be the problem other than a bad ignition switch?

Follow the Volts.

What is the voltage on the "hot" (fed from the battery) ignition switch terminal when in the crank position? What is the voltage leaving the ignition switch's "START" terminal vs. that incoming voltage?

 

[da.bees]

I was about to say you need to clean both ends of battery cables again but after reading details of your test procedures again it turns out the cables are bad plus starter is pulling more amps than it should.

 

[used red MN]

you need to clean both ends of battery cables

I will echo this as well. In particular the connection of the battery cable to the frame. I am not a real knowledgeable Oliver guy so I don’t know if this tractor is negative or positive ground. Every connection is suspect whether it be the battery end of the cable or where the opposite end is making its connection. If that all looks good when you say you “turn the key” and are showing 6.1 volts at the solenoid, the touch your meter from one end of the cable to the other. If you read anything voltage beyond say 0.5 then your cable is bad. And it could be either the negative or positive cable. I am not sure what you are doing when you turn the key. Is it to just turn on the ignition or is it to the start position? A simple pull on the battery cable as if you want to pull the terminal end off can find corroded connections that are hiding under the insulation and are not making proper contact. The also applies to the “eye” ends of the cables. Lastly what tells you that it is a “good” battery? Has it been tested some way?

 

[RJKeith]

I've got a good battery with cleaned connections in my Oliver 550/Cockshutt 2-44LL and it will not power the starter. When i turn the key it gives a slight sound but it is not the solenoid clicking. I measure the voltage at the solenoid when turning the key to be 6.1 volts, so it seems that the 12 volt battery is being drained somewhere before the solenoid. Is there something else that could be the problem other than a bad ignition switch?

Measure the voltage across the battery terminals when you turn the key. Your ignition switch powers the solenoid coil, and the solenoid is the switch for the starter. The heavy cable runs from the battery to the starter, so it you only have 6 volts at the starter, it means you either are not getting 12 volts out of the battery, you have a bad cable, or you have a bad ground. But the voltage across the battery terminal will drop when the battery is put under load, so you need to measure the voltage across the terminals with the starter engaged.

 

[showcrop]

I will admit to being absolutely positive that all of my cable terminals were good but then found one that wasn't

 

[RJKeith]

I will admit to being absolutely positive that all of my cable terminals were good but then found one that wasn't

And never fall for the trap of just because it is brand new out of the package it must be good!

 

[Janicholson]

A volt meter will read full voltage at locations down stream from a failed connection unless there is a load on the connection. even a test light can light nicely on a test point but only when there is nothing loading the circuit. Jim

 

[550Doug]

I now believe that the problem is the safety switch as I'm not getting any buzzing like I used to. I think it is the cause of the voltage drain. Where is this switch located and what does it look like?

 

[super99]

Look on the left side around the clutch linkage, The safety switch will be close by.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

I now believe that the problem is the safety switch as I'm not getting any buzzing like I used to. I think it is the cause of the voltage drain. Where is this switch located and what does it look like?

So you're saying, you turn the key to crank the starter, and the volts drop to 6.1V?

Starter's jammed. That's the only thing that could be causing that much voltage drop without catching fire.

 

[550Doug]

Look on the left side around the clutch linkage, The safety switch will be close by.

Because there is no buzzing, maybe it's something to do with the oil warning buzzer.
I will also put some heat onto the starter.

 

[da.bees]

Makes sense to me, if tractor won't crank due to bad oil warning buzzer,putting heat into starter should fix it.

 

[caterpillar guy]

If the3 starter is jammed as Barnyard says then it will probably need to be loosened up so you can wiggle it to get the stater gear loose from the flywheel. Then put back together and check. OR if you can rock it in high gear will also do it if you can rock it. Then recheck voltage.

 

[used red MN]

Because there is no buzzing, maybe it's something to do with the oil warning buzzer.
I will also put some heat onto the starter.

First I don’t see where you answered RJKieths’s question and gave a battery voltage across the battery post when you place it in the crank position. Does it hold 12 volts on the posts, meter probes actually on the round lead posts? If it does run the test I laid out in the first photo below on both the positive and negative terminals and see what your result is. Is the buzzing from an actual warning buzzer that you hear when the tractor was operating normally every time you turn the key on to start it? Normally this same buzzer buzzes until the oil pressure comes up? If that went away might guess in whatever connection you had that was bad and only transferring minimal voltage has now completely failed.
Here is what you need to do and there will be a little pretending involved because I didn’t have a real battery cable. Check with your meter on the DC volt setting. 1) Pretending this is a positive battery cable, check as shown in this photo turn the key to start or push starter button while reading.

If that shows anything more than 0.5 volts that battery terminal to post connection is bad. It needs cleaned better to nearly all shinny lead showing at the contact surfaces. A pocket or utility knife or actual blade type terminal cleaner will do this.
2) Now check as shown in the next photo, during starter crank attempt.

Touching only the eye lug on the end of cable if it shows over 0.5 volts the battery cable is bad. 3)Then again check as shown in the next photo.

If the previous test showed no voltage but this does then the connection between the lug eye end and the solenoid terminal is bad. Or in the case of the next series of test you repeat on the negative cable the cables connection to the chassis is bad.
So, yes repeat that process on the negative cable.
Report results.

 

[550Doug]

SOLVED
I heated the solenoid and starter and BINGO, everything now works.
I've been moving a lot of snow so I guess some moisture got in somewhere it wasn't supposed to be.

Thanks to all the replies and ideas about testing voltages.

 

[used red MN]

Makes sense to me, if tractor won't crank due to bad oil warning buzzer,putting heat into starter should fix it.

Want some hot sauce on that crow? I wouldn’t have believed it was the solution either.
Doug, glad you got it running!