[drano38]

Trying to figure out what happened to my X729.
When I turned the key, the fuel pump came on as normal. Then I pushed in the brake pedal and turned they key - and got nothing.
The hour meter display is blank.
I put a Battery Tender charger on over nite. It says the battery is charged, and a volt meter shows (edited) 12.8 volts across the terminals, and at the starter bolt.
I removed the left side grill, and all the fuses look good, and check good with the ohm meter. There is a bit of corrosion on some of the fuse spades and the female ends, so I pulled them in and out a few times to hopefully ensure a solid contact.
Still nothing, and the fuel pump does not come on for a short period of time anymore when I turn on the key.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.

 

[joneill4]

Do the easy stuff first, Clean both battery terminals and try it again. Then, follow the ground cable down to the engine block. This connection is a pain to get to on vertical shaft engines, so hopefully it is easier on yours. Remove it, clean it, and reassemble it.

 

[MARK (LI)]

If the advice in post #2 doesn't work, you may need a new key switch

 

[drano38]

Edited original post to say battery has 12.8 volts after being charged.
I looked at it some more. With the ignition key in Run, and the light switch is on, the dash panel backlights are on, and the tail lights come on (hood removed, so I'd assume they'd work too).
I have the 45 loader on, so I'll try to get that off (without hydraulics!) to give me more room to look and work.
Then clean the battery/ground cables as mentioned.

 

[Fabens_boy]

It may not be helpful in your case, but sometimes a voltmeter will read close to the expected voltage on a bad battery when there's no electrical load at all, but when the battery is asked for current it cannot deliver it. The cells of the battery are in series, and a cell or multiple cells can short or open and a voltage reading with no load may not reveal much. Turn on the headlights and see if there's a decrease in voltage. The best load you can put on the battery, though, is to try and crank the motor. When you se the voltage decrease dramatically while trying to crank, a battery failure is the likely cause.

 

[x738]

Anybody know if the hood can be removed without removing the 45 loader?

(Just got an X728 -- I know the hood can be opened, but haven't tried to remove it.)

I'm assuming it would make battery access better -- for replacement or for using jumper cables.

 

[drano38]

Hi X738, yes, hood easily comes off with 45 loader on - just a bit of a reach over the loader arms, but I did it myself.
Fabens_boy - great input. Hood off, so only tail lights to draw voltage, but that caused .2 volt drop.
It's a Walmart battery, June 2018. So maybe it's at end of life.
I'll get a new one, and clean connections in the process. And hope it works.
If it's the battery, I never had one die like this.

 

[drano38]

Update - still not resolved.
New battery installed and cleaned the connections at the battery. With the loader on, chasing the ground wire to the frame is going to be a challenge.
Where are these fusable links that I see mentioned on other posts/forums? Are they buried in the wiring bundles?
Review of symptoms:
When I tried to start it a few days ago, fuel pump ran as normal. But when I turned the key, starter won't go.
Now, with key in Run --

• fuel pump does not activate
• hour meter is blank, and no warning lights on dash
• turning on headlights switch - headlights, and instrument cluster background lights come on

Turning ignition switch to Start - nothing happens

Bad ignition switch?
Since the head/tail lights and instrument cluster background lights work, it seems to me the voltage regulator would be ok.
Something else?

 

[Frogmore]

Voltage regulator only comes into play when the engine is running.

I would use a voltmeter to check voltage from ground (on engine) to positive battery terminal.

Then do it from ground to positive terminal on starter solenoid.

That should give you an indication that both the ground and main battery cables are at least connected somewhat.

 

[drano38]

Good voltage from both:
--Positive battery terminal to engine block and the engine mounting bolt that has the braided grounding strap
--Positive starter bolt to ground
Saturday I'll have to see if I have 12 volts on the fuse block's hot side for each fuse.
According to this diagram (arrow right to the second thru forth pages), the ignition switch activates power to Fuse 1 and 2, so if I don't have 12 volts at those 2 fuses, I'll at least know that.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrNIUqn_81bvR8AcnzBGOd_;_ylu=X3oDMTEzNjluaHNrBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDVUkwMVRDXzEEc2VjA3Nj?p=john+deere+x720+wiring+schematic&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Djohn%2Bdeere%2Bx720%2Bwiring%2Bschematic%26ei%3DUTF-8&no=1&fr=ipad&h=859&w=658&imgurl=www.epcatalogs.com%2Ffile%2F63d594098bec9cf96c433969fd08cd73e3be3c6e%2Fjohn-deere-x700-x720-x724-x728-lawn-garden-tractor-repair-manual-pdf.jpg&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.epcatalogs.com%2Fjohn-deere-x700-x720-x724-x728-lawn-garden-tractor-repair-manual-pdf%2F&size=123KB&name=John+Deere+X700+X720+X724+X728+Tractors+PDF+Manual&oid=OIP.5ZgUNWPKfyt5Qs9kdEYLWgHaJq&tt=John+Deere+X700+X720+X724+X728+Tractors+PDF+Manual&sigr=130ke67ns&sigi=149q1ekg0&sigb=12bpnr1vq&sign=11ippbjke&sigt=11ippbjke

 

[ivel03]

Leave the key in the on position and wiggle the fuses.

Pull your fuses one at a time and make sure that they are not blown and clean on both the fuse and the holder. On my x720 the fuse block became corroded which would cause your symptoms as i think it's the top fuse is the first one in the circuit and everything else is dead if that one is dead.

 

[joneill4]

How about using an automotive jumper cable to create a temporary ground. One end on the negative battery terminal cable and the other to the motor or frame.

 

[PA318Guy]

I would actually use the jumper cables to bypass the existing pos and neg cable on the machine and connect the pos from battery to solenoid and negative from battery to a ground location on the machine (doesn't have to be the one used by JD). Then see if you can start it, if not likely the wire from the switch to the solenoid is bad or grounded, so test and see if that wire has 12 vdc on it when the key is turned to the start position. If not, then follow that wire back to the ignition switch and see if it has frayed or become disconnected somewhere.

 

[drano38]

Got 'er running!

Had my daughter stop at the car parts store and picked up a circuit tester, and fuses.
Swapped all 4 fuses on the fuse block, turned the key and the fuel pump ran, dash symbol lights lit up, etc. Sat on the seat, and it fired right up.
Crazy thing is, all the fuses check good on an ohm meter, and look good.
Yes, the fuse legs were dirty, and the fuse block contacts aren't the cleanest, but I pulled/reinserted the old fuses a few times to help ensure better contact. So ivel03 and I have had the same issue - fuse not making contact.
Walmart 4 year old battery was probably on its last legs, so a new one for $40 is probably a good thing.
$10 for a couple packs of fuses, and a $18 circuit tester isn't bad either.

I guess the new fuse legs made contact that the old ones were not. Don't know which fuse, but I'm guessing the 15 amp second from the top, and/or the 30 amp. But now that its working, I won't swap them back. But I will try to clean the fuse block contacts a bit more.

Thanks everyone for your great inputs -- trying the simple stuff first like cleaning cables, checking power at certain locations, clean the fuses, jumpering to create a new cable, etc.

 

[PA318Guy]

Got 'er running!

Had my daughter stop at the car parts store and picked up a circuit tester, and fuses.
Swapped all 4 fuses on the fuse block, turned the key and the fuel pump ran, dash symbol lights lit up, etc. Sat on the seat, and it fired right up.
Crazy thing is, all the fuses check good on an ohm meter, and look good.
Yes, the fuse legs were dirty, and the fuse block contacts aren't the cleanest, but I pulled/reinserted the old fuses a few times to help ensure better contact. So ivel03 and I have had the same issue - fuse not making contact.
Walmart 4 year old battery was probably on its last legs, so a new one for $40 is probably a good thing.
$10 for a couple packs of fuses, and a $18 circuit tester isn't bad either.

I guess the new fuse legs made contact that the old ones were not. Don't know which fuse, but I'm guessing the 15 amp second from the top, and/or the 30 amp. But now that its working, I won't swap them back. But I will try to clean the fuse block contacts a bit more.

Thanks everyone for your great inputs -- trying the simple stuff first like cleaning cables, checking power at certain locations, clean the fuses, jumpering to create a new cable, etc.

Great news, love it when some testing results in a low cost fix!

 

[UrbanTractor]

Great job troubleshooting. Thanks for sharing the outcome so we can all learn.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I just love happy endings...thanks for keeping us posted

 

[edfiero1]

My x500 fuse block also got dirty and corroded and causes me a lot of issues. Had to disassemble the whole thing and clean it.
Now no more electrical issues.