Electrical 1525 (baby tractor)

[Bdouglas]

Hi - new to the forum but looking for some help. Bought the 1525 in 2003 for my 1/2 acre lawn in the South. Too hot to push a mower around so found this small unit at Lowes. Ran great - worked great.

Moved North and the tractor sat in a storage unit for about 8 years. Decided to try and bring it back to life as we moved to a city lot about 4/10 of an acre.

1. Jumped from my truck but could only get started with starting fluid so knew it would run (eventually). Replaced battery, air filters and spark plugs. Fixed a flat tire. Took carb off and had it cleaned. Ran, but sputtered - ran very rich. Messed around with carb with no improvement so replaced it with new. Started up and ran great. PTO engaged, it bogged down and wanted to die.

2. Trailered it to my new property. Changed the oil, pulled the deck off and checked pullies. Regreased the blade spindles. Put back together and started up. After approx 5 minutes of running poorly with PTO engaged, it took off and ran like a champ. (Pat myself on the back for the success - but wait)

3. After cutting for a while, the PTO disengaged, all dash functions went dark, but tractor continued to run. Parked it, turned off, tried to restart and nothing. No clicks - no panel lights or hour meter - no voltage read out - nothing. Did not find voltage to the ignition switch. Pulled some connectors off - inspected - put back together and all functions normal. Cut grass again and developed same symptoms. I can jump across the solenoid and it will start but no lights or dash functions and PTO will not engage.

4. Started doing some internet searches but seem to be stumped. Pulled the ignition switch and did the proper continuity check - all good. More internet and forum searches found nothing that related to this problem.

5. My theory - I have voltage on the smaller red wire that is connected to the solenoid but do not have a wiring diagram to trace to the next component. My thought is that it does not lead to the seat switch (works fine but have not yet tested continuity) or the brake switch (not yet tested). I am thinking that the red wire feeds to the PTO switch and then to the ignition switch. But - that's just a guess. Suspect a broken wire or a bad PTO switch.

I appreciate any feedback or ideas. Thanks

[J-Mech]

It has nothing to do with the PTO switch. You either have a bad connection between the battery and the key, or a bad fuse somewhere. Poor connections at ignition switches are common. So are bad connections at the battery. Get out a DVOM and begin testing.

Here is what MTD gives for information out of the "service" manual. I think it's more of a joke. But, it fits the tractor.

http://service.mtdproducts.com/Train...l%20System.pdf

[Bdouglas]

Thanks for the manual information. Just beginning to read through it. Tractor is at our new home - 200 miles from where I am now so will be next week before I can get to it. I will start testing wires and connections.

Appreciate the response.

[Bdouglas]

Last Saturday, I began digging around and tracing voltage. Always had voltage through the fuse and to the battery wire to the ignition. Sometimes had voltage through the ignition (not sure why) and sometimes to the 7 way splice that was taped and wrapped up in the wiring harness.

Suspect a resistance problem so re-spliced the 7 way. It did not immediately come to life (no voltage, pto light, or hours display) but eventually did. Has been good ever since.

Re-tested the ignition switch and sometimes was good, sometimes not so I ordered a new one.

Not sure if I just got lucky or actually knew what I was doing. Anyway (knock on wood) seems to be fixed.

Cut grass today and ran like a champ.

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by Bdouglas

Not sure if I just got lucky or actually knew what I was doing. Anyway (knock on wood) seems to be fixed.

Well... it didn't work right away, and I see your soldering... You just got lucky. I'd say it will rear it's intermittent head again. Sorry... if you had truly fixed it, it would have worked immediately.

[Bdouglas]

Yes, I agree. Re-reading your original post, problem is between the battery and the key. My testing seems to agree with that since I found voltage on the input to the key switch, but not always coming out to the splice in the picture. (Not my splice, btw. I separated the wires and used wire nuts to a common splice.)

New switch ignition arrived but I have not installed yet. My hunch is that the origional switch is faulty.

Thanks for your input.

[Green stripe wide frame]

Wire nuts are for houses, not equipment that is in the elements. The proper fix is soldering all the wires together and sealing it with some high quality heat shrink tubing.

[Bdouglas]

Got it. Will get back to the tractor next week - with solder and tubing.

[ol'George]

And solder them properly, not mud them together.
In the case where you are joining multiple wires together, it is sometimes easier
to use a large crimp, wire end of any type, to hold them together while soldering them.
Or wrap a copper wire around the bundle to hold them together while soldering.
you will need a large iron, not a torch to do a quality/lasting job

[Bdouglas]

Thanks. I will give it a shot. I will post results next week when I am back to the new home.