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John Deere 345 starting issue

9K views 20 replies 8 participants last post by  RT3360 
#1 ·
Hey guys, picked up a 99 345 to fix up as the previous owner couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. He told me that he started having issues in the spring when it would run for about 10 minutes and then quite. He thought it was a fuel issue but eventually gave up.

Now that I have it, it has been sitting for the last three months. When I go to crank it over it does crank but won’t stop cranking even when I release the key. I end up having to disconnect the battery to stop it.

I was looking at the wires and don’t see anything obvious. It has the circuit board for the ignition and the two LED do light up so I guess that is working. Before I dig into the nine starting issue I would like to figure out why it won’t stop cranking, any ideas?

Thanks




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#2 ·
Instead of unhooking the battery just pull the purple wire off the starter solenoid. If it still keeps cranking then undo the batt. In this case the solenoid is sticking. I just repaired an LX255 with this problem today. I removed the starter and removed the solenoid from it and the solenoid was full of gritty crud. Flushed it out good and flushed out the upper end of the starter. Hold the starter upside down when doing this so none of the crud runs down into the starter motor. You just want to flush out the Bendix. The grease up the fork that moves the Bendix and install the solenoid. I put a tiny amount of lube on the sliding surface of the solenoid. All is good now.

If the starter stops turning when you pull off the purple wire then you have a switch, PCB or wiring harness issue.
 
#6 ·
Update, got the solenoid off and everything is moving freely after a good cleaning. Unfortunately, the problem has not gone away. Now I am wondering if the ignition board / key switch is bad. Any idea on how to test that?


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#7 ·
Update, got the solenoid off and everything is moving freely after a good cleaning. Unfortunately, the problem has not gone away. Now I am wondering if the ignition board / key switch is bad. Any idea on how to test that?

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If it doesn’t do the same thing after you remove the battery cable and reconnect it, there is a relay that is hanging up. There are such things as latching relays that work exactly as you describe. If you can disconnect the solenoid to stop the starter, reconnect it to see if the starter engages again. If it does, check the wiring diagram for relays that are in the circuit from the ignition switch to the solenoid. Then unplug them to find the culprit and find out if it’s the correct part. Maybe someone swapped a relay unintentionally.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Congrats on the purchase. Very nice machine. Looks to be in great condition.

I just purchased a 1998 345 from a dealer 2 hours away. Only has 627 hours on it and is in great condition as well. I will post pictures in a new thread later.

The dealer said they fixed a surging issue and the price was right, so I bought it.
As soon as I got it home off the trailer and rode around the house, it began to stall and flood out the engine. I called the salesman to tell him what happened and was told that they never did anything to it. I said "what about the surging problem?" He said they never found anything wrong with it and never did do anything to it. I said that is what the previous owner was telling you was wrong with it and was why he traded it in for a new tractor. I ended up working out a deal to get him to refund some of the $$ or I would be returning it. So he did.

Fast forward 2 weeks later, I replaced the carb and even with a new carb it still was flooding out.
After more youtube videos and online research I adjusted the high speed choke screw adjustment and all seems to be working properly now. It was choking when the throttle was set to the highest engine speed position without being in the choke position. Not 100% confident yet, but time will tell. Mowed the entire 1.6 acres with no issues today. Fingers crossed.

Not sure if that is your issue, but something to consider. I'm sure that is one of the reasons that they redesigned the throttle/choke levers to be separate.
 
#13 · (Edited)
It is located at the end of the throttle cable on the front right side of the engine directly behind the throttle plate. This is only on engines where the throttle and choke are on the same lever.
 
#10 ·
The high speed screw adjustment will have nothing to do with the starter staying engaged. Power is getting to the starter through the solenoid. Either the solenoid is sticking on or something is telling it to.

  1. Check for power to the wire to the starter at the output of the solenoid.
  2. If you have power there, check for power to the solenoid coil.
  3. - If you don’t have power change the solenoid.
  4. - If you do have power, then trace the circuit back to the ignition switch and find out why it remains when the ignition switch is off.
  5. If power is still coming out of the ignition switch while in the off position, replace the ignition switch, but it is not likely.
 
#12 ·
I am referring to the first sentence of the original post.
This has nothing to do with the starter solenoid:

"Hey guys, picked up a 99 345 to fix up as the previous owner couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. He told me that he started having issues in the spring when it would run for about 10 minutes and then quite. He thought it was a fuel issue but eventually gave up."

This is what mine did to and why I mentioned how I eventually fixed it. I never said the high speed adjustment screw had anything to do with the starter solenoid.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the tips everyone! I did check to see the power input to the solenoid and it does increase and decrease based on the key position. As one poster recommended I even disconnected the purple wire to the solenoid and the motor continued to crank. At this point I am going to order a new solenoid and see if that solves my problem.

I also checked to see if I have spark at the cylinders and I do not. Given that it’s both cylinders I feel that it the time delay module so I will be ordering one of those as well. Hopefully will be able to get this running soon!


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#18 ·
If I remember correctly the green means that you have power to the PC board and the red means that all of the interlocks are correct and that you can start the engine. If the red is not on then you cannot start the engine. Things like in reverse or the PTO switch is on etc.
 
#20 ·
Something like that, the previous owner said it would run for a bit then shut down. It got progressively worse until he called it quits. He never made mention of the continuous cranking issue.

Good news though, just received the new solenoid today and that fixed the cranking issue. Hopefully the time delay module is the cause of my no spark issue and this thing will run!

Thanks for all the tips so far!


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#21 ·
Something like that, the previous owner said it would run for a bit then shut down. It got progressively worse until he called it quits. He never made mention of the continuous cranking issue.

Good news though, just received the new solenoid today and that fixed the cranking issue. Hopefully the time delay module is the cause of my no spark issue and this thing will run!

Thanks for all the tips so far!

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I love it when you figure things out. Good job ?. I’m sure the other one is soon to come.
 
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