The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I've just had my starter rebuilt (it needed 24v to operate before!). Been and fitted tonight and 12v is still not enough to turn the engine over!

THe engine has been rebuilt and could be tight. Could this be my problem?

RossM wrote:THe engine has been rebuilt and could be tight. Could this be my problem?

Have you tried turning the engine over by hand, with socket on the crank pulley nut? My rebuilt engine turns over quite easily with a 3/4" drive socket set.
Alll the best,

Ben, it turns over and fires easily with 24v through the starter (before the starter was rebuilt).

Depends how good a job was done on the starter. If they just replaced brushes and cleaned the commutator you could still have the same problem. Could be windings breaking down under load.

I would take it back and ask them to check it again.

it was a full refurb at £120 by a well respected firm, however it might be worth taking it back.

Shame I haven't got another dexta to try it on! maybe an excuse to buy one!

Do you really need an excuse?

I had my Nuffield starter reconditioned by Lucas but eventually had to have a new one. Cost of that was around £125.00.

New starters are in some of the e-bay shops for around £130.00.

I am calling on Malcolm Hipperson later today and will ask him what he is selling them for.

Ross

Is the adaptor plate which your starter mounts on clean or newly painted. I had a similar problem a couple of years ago where all including the starter motor was newly painted, (feeling very proud of my work) put it together and nothing worked other than hot cable. Cleaned up the paint and bingo.

Disconnect the original wiring to the starter and connect it directly to the battery using jump leads, if the starter then turns OK you have a fault in the wiring or solenoid.

Gerald

Tubal, my tractor currently has no wiring so i'm connecting ditrectly to starter.

All mating faces have been ground clean also.

I have charged the battery and going to try it again tonight. Failing that i'm going to try 2 batteries in parallel to see if a larger CCA is required but still at 12V. If that works then I'll assume a tight engine and try to get it run in and loosened up if possible!

Ross,

my starter had the same problem after it's overhauling. I was not able to locate the problem until the tractor was painted. Check the rivets which hold the brush holder to the end-plate. If there's a faulty connection, the rivets will be that hot, the paint will burn.

After fitting a new end-plate, the starter runs like a kitten.

Stefan, that is very interesting, do you think I should take the starter back to the refurbishers and ask them to check this?

I tried a fully charged battery tonight with no result, the starter under no load doesn't seem to spin very fast but that might be me imagining things. Going to try taking an injector out and see if the reduction in compression helps it turn over, this would rule out the starter and point to the engine. But I'm hoping for Stefan's answer!

Ross,

use a 12 Volts battery and let the starter try to turn over the engine for about 10 seconds. Then check the heads of the rivets, which goes through the end-plate, for heat. If one or more rivets are hot .... BINGO.

Do you know which rivets I mean? If not, maybe a picture will help.

Stefan

I went down to the lock up at lunchtime and tested the rivet theory. Unfortunately they didn't get hot so thats not the prolem.

However,

I've just been down now with my friend who's a mobile Plant Fitter and he had a battery off a 6920 John Deere thats permanently on charge in his van. This turned the engine over and she burst into life!

So the starter is fine and it just must be the engine is tight and my battery is not quite powerful enough until the engine beds in a little. Thanks for everyones help.

RossM

Most common issue : lack of power of the Battery.

The Cold Cranking Current (CCA) hould be high enough to avoid the voltage to drop below a minimum. This CCA is limited due to the internal resistance of the battery in other words : the lower the iternal resistance, the higher this CCA gets ( the more expensive the battery gets)

I use a 12V - 90Ah - 540A Cold Current and works just fine.

My battery is 12v 70Ah 750CCA I think.

Ross,
Did you solve your starter problem

Yeah, we now have it starting well of a big 12v battery and when warm my smaller battery turns her over and starts her. I think its the engine is tight from rebuild and is gradually slackening up a bit with every time we run her.