[5324ever]

I have a 2007 X540 (sn 61092) and Kawa FD731V. This fall, I started my mower, drove about an acre (no PTO), and shut it off. Went back about an hour later to start it and I got nothing. Lights all came on, but not even a click was heard. This happened one time before, and my husband (who's 2x heavier than me) hopped on and it started right up. So he tried it again this time, and still nothing. Had to tow it home. I took her apart and found several wires that were worn, repaired them, but that wasn't the issue. I checked all connections per the repair manual, and everything is fine. Obviously, I can't do any of the checks for electrical issues that require it to run, but so far I have found nothing amiss. I even did checks on all the safety switches, and they all seem to be working great. Took the battery in and had it tested, said its running at 12.8V. I have cleaned it all up of years of grime and grass (I'm tough on the old girl) and whatever I have done, I finally got a click in the fuel shutoff solenoid area. That's all it will do. Today, after a bit more monkeying, I got it to <cough> once, where it sounds like it wants to crank, but its a short burst that sounds like a fuse blew on something you're trying to start. Then I try turning the key again, and silence. Today, I also tried jumping the starter that we replaced last year and all that happened was a whirring sound, like a blender that the teeth aren't grabbing. But it won't start. Before I start taking the radiator off to get at the flywheel, I think I should stick at something less deep. It seems like it should be simple. I have never had any real issues with her at 840 hrs, except for wires that rubbed through and caused overheating. Seems like even just an annual inspection costs over $1000 at our dealer. Having just lost my job due to an injury, I can't really afford to run her back to the dealer to find out it's something stupid and easy I could have done. I am quite handy (even for a woman), have the desire, some tools and a lot of stubbornness. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction because I am frustrated now.

Oh! and the manual gave direction on how to test the starter but I am lost when it says to check the purple wire. There are no purple wires that lead anywhere near the starter. The voltage regulator, yes. But not the starter. Since the schematics are backward in the manual, and I found that they referred to another couple purple wires as "brn" (zero brown wires in the whole machine), I assumed this was another oversight/typo but all the different engine types say to check the purple wire. There is one red one from the battery and a black one connected to all the others/ground. ugh

 

[ericforster]

A battery with good voltage can put out low amperage. I would check this first. It sounds to me like this is likely the issue.

 

[heathiopian]

If your dealer is charging $1,000 for annual maintenance, go to a different dealer. That's outrageous.

Certainly seems like a bad battery or safety switch to me.

 

[dave_r]

I would suggest jumping the starter w a known good battery (say, that your car/truck is using), w cables directly to the starter and engine. If the starter just whirrs instead of engaging w the flywheel, then it's take the starter off and figure out what the problem is.

After that, I would be doing electrical testing, so see what's getting power and ground and where it's not getting, when trying to start the engine.

 

[Alien5044]

I'll mention this even though you probably already checked them. Check the battery cables at both ends of each to be sure they are clean and tight at their attachment points. Particularly the negative cable where it attaches to the frame or engine. If that is loose, or corroded, even a new battery won't help.

To help our readers help you, when you mentioned the PTO, did it disengage while you were mowing? And, did the engine quit at the same time the PTO stopped? Might be a subtle clue there.

 

[Rarefish383]

I didn't go look at my 2009 X540, but my diesel loader has 3 terminals on the starter and solenoid. The solenoid is acting up, so the only way I can start it is jumping the solenoid. If you hit the wrong terminal, it just spins making a high pitch wine, like a blender with no teeth. If I hit the other two terminals, it fires right up. Check to make sure you jumped the correct terminals. If you want, I'll go out in the morning and shoot a ten second video and you can hear the difference when you jump the wrong posts. Let me know if you want the short vid?

 

[5324ever]

I didn't go look at my 2009 X540, but my diesel loader has 3 terminals on the starter and solenoid. The solenoid is acting up, so the only way I can start it is jumping the solenoid. If you hit the wrong terminal, it just spins making a high pitch wine, like a blender with no teeth. If I hit the other two terminals, it fires right up. Check to make sure you jumped the correct terminals. If you want, I'll go out in the morning and shoot a ten second video and you can hear the difference when you jump the wrong posts. Let me know if you want the short vid?

That would be awesome. Thank you!

 

[5324ever]

Sorry, for clarity, the mower deck was off for the season and I was using my machine as a tractor to haul chainsaws to the back 40. The PTO wasn’t on, but now that I think of it, earlier in the fall I’d get no response when trying to engage the PTO once in a while to mow weeds before the snow in the pasture. Forgot about that. Hmmm. Otherwise, there hadn’t been so much as a miss during that time.

I drove the 40 min to the dealer today to get a new battery, but they said I couldn’t return it if it was installed 🥴 if it turned out to not be the issue. I think I confused him by asking how’d he know a bungee and two bolts were tightened on it. I did talk to a very kind mechanic that understood I didn’t want to fail at this or accept defeat. He thought I didn’t have power to the solenoid, but I had checked all that. Perhaps the interlock module, but that’s $160 hope-and-see if I do it and nothing if they do and it’s not the part. That module was the only thing that made an eyebrow raise during diagnostics. Plus that damned purple wire.

 

[5324ever]

If your dealer is charging $1,000 for annual maintenance, go to a different dealer. That's outrageous.

Certainly seems like a bad battery or safety switch to me.

With oil change, there was always some add on. It had overheated last year before I retired so I never had time to tinker with it. A loose wire and a broken steering part cost $1200. I’m being threatened with having to get rid of it for how much it’s costing for stupid crap. I like my mower😕

 

[5324ever]

iCloud

hope this works. It’s a video of what happens when I turn the key (safety switches overridden). The loud click is the key, then the two quiet ones are subsequent turns to “start”.

 

[ericforster]

Another idea is to check your fuse. They dont often blow but it will cause sudden lose of power to ignition and its cheap to fix and easy to check.

 

[edfiero1]

Another idea is to check your fuse. They dont often blow but it will cause sudden lose of power to ignition and its cheap to fix and easy to check.

Yes, was just going to suggest this. Even if fuse didn't blow, they can get corroded and loose contact. Pull them all out. Check that the fuse is good. Clean any corrosion. Coat the lugs with dielectric grease. Start her up.

 

[Brad]

* * * Hold on for a bit before doing anything else towards trying to start your machine! Need another opinion on this and it appears you may be in danger of burning things up bad. I am going to bring some others in on the conversation now.

Gents--Take a look at the solenoid in the pics in the first post. The big red cable goes to the post that it should. BUT, look at the black cable. She indicated that is a ground. That is connected to where the cable to the starter should go if I see it correctly. So, when she turns the key to "Start", there is a dead short.

@MARK (LI) --have you seen this thread yet?

 

[Brad]

And, on your Icould video I do see a purple wire not attached to anything near the solenoid, could that have come unconnected? There has to be a wire of some sort that will connect to a tab on the solenoid, usually right between the two big posts.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I just saw this thread @Brad ( thank you for tagging me) ...How did that black wire get attached at that point? Did you do that as part of your search for the problem?...I agree with Brad's assessment ...can you trace that black wire back to its origin?
Do you have a multi meter, or a test light?....

 

[Rarefish383]

That would be awesome. Thank you!

I took a pic of my X540 starter and you really can't see anything, the wires are all in sealed connecters. It looks like some of your wiring may have been replaced, or was a little different, not being the same year. As for the video. It's cold out, and I put too many clothes on, I had sweat running in my eyes, my hand with the screw driver kept hitting my cell, so I didn't get a good pic of which terminals I hit. But, you can hear the bendix engaging the flywheel and turning the engine over. Then I jumped the wrong terminals and you can hear the whine of the starter spinning, but the bendix not coming out engaging the flywheel. This was on my loader. My X540 terminals are completely covered so I can't jump them. I also mixed and matched some of the terminology. But, all that matters is you said your starter sounded like a blender spinning. If it sounds like my loader spinning, when it does not engage the flywheel, I think you may have a wiring issue or a bad solenoid.

jumping solenoid

youtube.com

 

[Rarefish383]

If you pull the red boot back and jump it to the other big nut in the picture, those are the wrong terminals to jump.

 

[Alien5044]

It seems that we are seeing two issues here.

• One, the starter just clicks, or there is no response with the key turned to "start".
• Two, the starter sometimes spins (whines like a blender) but does not engage the flywheel to crank the engine.

I think I would remove the starter and bench test it to see how it is acting. When power is applied, it should "snap" into action aggressively with the bendix gear snapping into its outer position immediately. Any sluggishness in start up or if the gear binds on it shaft that is a problem.

If I have the right starter in mind the solenoid has a shaft that pushes on a "Y" bendix gear engagement arm. I think (others maybe can confirm or correct here) that you can remove the solenoid from the starter motor, and check it's full operation separately too.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it is best to spend the time necessary to identify exactly what the problem is before spending money on parts. You can do this, keep up with plenty of pics so you know where things go upon reassembly.

 

[Frogmore]

Do the test I suggested in this post in the other thread you created but appear to not be seeing anymore:
Can't get x540 to start

Your solenoid is not wired correctly, so it is no wonder it isn't starting the engine. @Rarefish383 is correct that on some starters you have to jump them correctly for them to work correctly. The Kawasaki in my X300 uses a standalone solenoid, so jumping the big terminals works fine. Your solenoid looks like it might have a plunger to get the gear to move, so if you jump the big terminals the starter motor runs, but the gear doesn't move/turn the engine over.

As far as the cost of Deere dealers goes, they have to pay their mechanics (and for all the overhead) so the shop labor rates are not cheap. Steering parts on a power steering Deere machine are VERY expensive, especially if it was the steering cylinder. If you compare the price to a new Deere machine of comparable capabilities you might be pleasantly surprised. Of course, it is frequently much cheaper to do the work yourself (as long as you don't count the value of your time or that of anyone that helps you).

It seems like you don't have a simple problem. I heard the starter relay click in your video. That is good. I did not hear the solenoid click. That is bad and is likely because it is not wired up correctly. Someone altered the factory wiring at some point, for some reason. It might have been a good idea at the time, but it is probably better to correct it the right way this time.

 

[Rarefish383]

It's funny, just a few years ago I was bragging how cheap my small engine shop was. I was mowing 11 lawns, had 4 tractors and a big walk behind. I would drop one off, starting in the fall, get it serviced, then drop another off, till they were all done. They checked all controls for adjustment, fluids, filters, blades and engine tune up, for right around $500. With the cash flow coming in, I thought that was cheap. Those were all 1 and 2 acre mowing jobs. Now I'm down to 4, 1/4 acre lawns, I cringed when my JD dealer told me $450 for a full service. I'm doing the service myself now.