Tg1860 "Click"

[Slim Silver]

I'm curious if this is a regular problem for this model. I've got a TG1860 Diesel and love it. The only problem I have is that more often than not when I turn the ignition I hear the solenoid "click" yet the starter does not engage or turn over. My brother-in-law liked mine so well that he has since bought two just like it and both of his do the same thing. These are low hour units in excellent condition. All batteries are good. If I attach a 50 amp boost charger to it it will start instantly. All batteries are in the specified amp output range without the booster though.

I figure this must be a regular thing since three of the same model do the same thing. If I run a switched power supply direct from battery to solenoid they will start with no problem yet this defeats all safety features and I really don't wish to do that. Any thoughts?

I spoke with a Kubota dealer who checked for service bulletins and found no mention of such.

[mla2ofus]

Don't know anything about a 'Bota. Could it be the fuel shutoff solenoid that kills the engine when you turn the key off?
Mike

[bobodu]

Hmmm....Sounds like a bad connection on one of them safety switches causing low voltage to the solenoid.Enough to make an audible click but not enough power to engage the high amp switch inside.

[mhb@ufe]

I'm curious if this is a regular problem for this model. I've got a TG1860 Diesel and love it. The only problem I have is that more often than not when I turn the ignition I hear the solenoid "click" yet the starter does not engage or turn over. My brother-in-law liked mine so well that he has since bought two just like it and both of his do the same thing. These are low hour units in excellent condition. All batteries are good. If I attach a 50 amp boost charger to it it will start instantly. All batteries are in the specified amp output range without the booster though.

I figure this must be a regular thing since three of the same model do the same thing. If I run a switched power supply direct from battery to solenoid they will start with no problem yet this defeats all safety features and I really don't wish to do that. Any thoughts?

I spoke with a Kubota dealer who checked for service bulletins and found no mention of such.
Are you sure you are turning the key fully to the start position and not just getting to the point where the glow plugs come on and and the click you hear could be the fuel solenoid.

[Slim Silver]

Positive. Once the glow plugs are hot, I turn ignition to start and get "click". and nothing. I hook 50 amp to it and try and it starts. There have been a few occasions where if I tried several turns of the ignition it would click each time and then engage and start after 4-5 attempts w/o booster. I stumped and would love to hear if anyone else has run into this.

[Maybar]

Positive. There have been a few occasions where if I tried several turns of the ignition it would click each time and then engage and start after 4-5 attempts w/o booster. This symptom sounds real typical of oxidized battery terminals / and possibly other connections in the high Amp. draw circuit. The lead on the battery and cable connections will have a hard crust if oxidized. Clean with a battery terminal brush or emery tape etc. until the lead shines silver color. :goodl:

[Kbeitz]

GMC had that problem in the 70's with there pickups...
It turned out to be the wires going to the neutral switch was to small...

[Volfandt]

I recall reading somewhere about a similar problem on an older B series Kubota tractor. Seems that over time the resistance in all the safety switches built up to a point that there wasn't enough current to pull in the solenoid enough to make contact for the starter. Ended up he wired in a small 12v relay so that the safety loop current was only needed to energize the relay and the relay's contacts were used to switch a separate battery hot line to the solenoid, problem solved.
To test to see if this could be your problem, you could make a jumper wire from the battery + lead, through an on/off switch and to the solenoid energizer terminal. When you turn the switch "on" and the starter spins every time then you've narrowed the problem to either the key switch, the safety switch loop and/or a safety switch or associated wireing/connections.

Or as others have said, you could just have some corroded connections at the battery and/or at the solenoid. A good clean up could eliviate that.

Good luck

[Slim Silver]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I have cleaned every connection and still have the problem. I will try the relay suggestion as well...makes sense. Thanks again.

[werknman]

Did you figure out your problem? Just found this site and my TG1860 diesel does the same thing. Bought new in 2002, midseason. Worked great that year, after that it has been one aggravation after another. The following spring, the pto would not engage if you stopped it after initial start up. Dealer had it for 2 weeks before replacing clutch. Later that year , the steering started turning to the right periodically, then all the time. Kept strong arming it until my son snapped the steering mechanism to the left wheel. $250.00 later, we were back to strong arming it and the start problem came up. Could jump start it so thought it was the battery. Cleaned the battery connections(not very corroded), and installed a new Interstate battery. All the elect. problems went away for the rest of that season. Next season, same problems again. All this started with less than 75 hrs on it. I now have 400 hrs on it and ready to pull the motor and junk the rest of it. I hope you have better luck.

[Slim Silver]

No, I still don't know what causes the click problem. I too replaced the battery and cleaned all contacts. To no avail. My brother in law liked my mower so well that he has since bought three of them. Every one of them did the same thing. The kubota dealer says they have never heard of this before, go figure. He installed a bypass switch to throw juice to the sarter and that solved it for him yet I would like to find the solution without a bypass. My hydro is still weak on slope and I'm trying to figure this out as well. I really like the mower and would love it if I could get these issues resolved.

[werknman]

I just pulled my out of storage a couple days ago and the steering was pulling extremely hard to the right and the "click" was there. I charged the battery overnight at 2 amps, cleaned the terminals, and pulled the 3 fuses and cleaned the slight corrosion off. Started it several times just fine after that. But that was just one day. The steering didn't pull as hard and after 3 hrs of mowing, went away. Unfortunately, it is always intermittent. The power steering is electrical, so i tend to believe that the slightest corrosion on any contact or even the slightest discharge of the battery affects it. I'm wondering if the ECU is faulty? I read on another site, a poster was told by the dealer that was his problem and it was a $1000.00 fix. Not ready to just change that!
On your hydro, have you tried to adjust the stops on your foot control? Mine hadn't been going as fast as it did new and would sometimes vary in speed. I loosened mine up so that when the pedal is fully depressed the stop does not touch it. While holding the pedal down, I threaded it back in until the stop just touches the pedal. Release the pedal then turn the stop in about 3/4 turn more. This will give you full range of travel but your pedal will hit the mechanical stop before it hits the internal stop of the hydrostat.It,s amazing how much speed I gained.Hope that helps.

[wally2q]

My neighbour had the same problem... it is a bad connection in the circuit - not necessarily the battery terminal.... jumping the starter with a screwdriver worked fine, so I figured it was the small signal line through the key switch and the safeties.... so I asked him if he wanted to embark on a troubleshooting spree, that would cost him a new ignition switch, and perhaps more.... or bypass it... he went for the bypass....

So I drilled a new hole in his dash board, and installed a gas-tight, water-tight industrial push-button labelled "START" on it... then hooked the button between a new dedicated in-line fused battery wire, and the starter solenoid actuator. Total repair cost: $25 ($20 for switch, $5 for in-line fuse holder), + 1 hour of work. The set-up still works after 2 years.

Of course, this switch can be pressed any time, and will actuate the starter - which some may consider dangerous.... but if one doesn't know how to properly operate a machine like that, then perhaps one should just stay away from it in the first place.

[Slim Silver]

Thanks. I started to go the very same route, and may yet. I bought a switch and have it ready. I cleaned every connection I could find in the circuit and it seemed to help for a couple of weeks. It is starting to do it again once in a while. I will probably put the bypass switch on soon.