John Deere 314 engine shuts off After turning on Headlights.

1979JohnDeere314 said:

single cylinder Kohler John Deere 314 dies after I turn on the headlights.

I'm thinking maybe a short in the wire? Anyone had this happen before?


As long as the lights are turned off it starts back up no problem.


However.....some times...I turn the lights on and it doesn't shut the engine off. But lets say 7 times out of 10 it will shut off when i turn on the lights.

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It would appear you have some electrical restriction (probably dirty connections) that is allowing just enough current to pass to fire the ignition, but once you add the extra demand of the lights, you are experiencing a voltage drop to the ignition. May be a bad key switch, or could be any of the low amperage wire connections in the key circuit.
I'd start cleaning connections before I spent any money and it will probably go away. You mention no cranking or charging problems so we will assume they are ok.

What the problem turned out to be...was right about at the front of the hood...inside.....where the white sockets are. All the wires travel up to them....one of them was frayed and i didn't notice it and it was touching part of the metal up by the hood latch. So sometimes it touched and sometimes it didn't. So i used electrical tape and taped it up and now no problem.

1979JohnDeere314 said:

What the problem turned out to be...was right about at the front of the hood...inside.....where the white sockets are. All the wires travel up to them....one of them was frayed and i didn't notice it and it was touching part of the metal up by the hood latch. So sometimes it touched and sometimes it didn't. So i used electrical tape and taped it up and now no problem.

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Good to know, glad you followed up with the reply. It doesn't take much to drop the voltage. Always nice when the solution does not cost an arm and a leg.:fing32: