Gentlemen,

I'm stumped. Went to start my tractor the other day and got the ole "click-click-click" which usually happens when the battery is dead. Put it on the charger...which was showing 12.3v. Let it charge for about 30 min and then turned the key and got NOTHING. No click, no lights, no horn, NADA. Started trouble shooting. Tried to jump it with my truck battery, still nothing, no clicks, no lights.

-12v at the battery + but less than1v at the starter solenoid when grounding to tractor, 12v when grounding to the battery.
-tried to jump the battery to the starter and nothing, no spark, no click, no turn.
-Checked the battery cable and looks good from battery to starter. Restripped the battery terminal end so fresh copper.
-Checked the battery ground. Looks good, no rust or corrosion.
-Jerked it with the truck while it was in gear thinking maybe the starter was hung up on the flywheel.
-Hit the starter and solenoid with a hammer in case it was hung up

Not sure where to go from here. It's a Mahindra 4025. Pretty simple system. I've already disabled the neutral/park safety sensor which wouldn't prevent bypassing the solenoid anyway. Any help or insight you guys might have would be great. Thanks in advance.

I have a 4025 that would not start once. I ran jumper cables directly to the starter and bypassed the battery and ignition. When I got it back to the barn my duh moment was when I realized the pto was engaged opening the safety switch.

My wife's car would not start once. I tried jumping it with my diesel truck to no avail. Brainstorming with my son he convinced me to take the battery loose and jump directly to the battery cables. It worked.

Had an old International tractor once that would not start once and found the low voltage wire to the solenoid had been chewed through by a rat.

Checked the ignition switch with the multimeter. good continuity in all the key positions. No power at the fuse box for the lights.

I had pretty much the same thing on my Kubota last spring. I put a new battery in it and it's been fine ever since.

Takes longer than 1hr to get up to cranking amps.

Get a new battery, imo.

Sensors do not like low voltage. I would replace the battery and it will probably just fine.

My pto switch was out just a little and mine wouldn’t start, I could short the starter and it would crank up.

Well, I guess I may be getting a new battery. Thanks Tbar, I hadn't thought about the PTO sensor. That wasn't it though. I despise those sensors...always seem to go out when you're in a bad spot. Had a lawnmower seat sensor once that gave me a headache until I finally figured it out.

It still doesn't make sense that I don't voltage at the fuse box with the key on. If I have 12v at the battery, I should have 12v at the panel. Gotta be a ground issue or something. gonna wade back in tomorrow after church.

I've had other safety sensors go out and I was able to short the starter too. That's why I don't think that is it.

Have the battery load tested before buying a new one, any parts store should be able to do it but it does sound like it’s bad.

Edit, it sounds like a great excuse to buy a jump box for future use

Ground the battery to the starter or the frame rail near the starter with your jumper cables,then jump the hot side to the solenoid where the wire is attached,if that does not work do the same putting both cables on the hot post of the solenoid,my guess is a bad ground since you are reading low voltage at the starter and are not getting any sparks (amp draw) at the starter when you jump directly to the starter.
I have no experience with Mahindra tractors but have had many similar situations with Deere and Case-ih tractors,if you are reading 12 volts at the battery and only one volt at the hot side of the solenoid it almost has to be a bad cable or connection.
BTW I would probably do this with jumper cables from my truck grounding to the frame rail and hooking to the hot side of the solenoid.if it does not at least try to turn over at that point then your starter is bad.

Pull the fuses and check each of them. Also check the connections in the fuse box for corrosion. I had a problem on an old Ford tractor that had a bad connection on the back side of the fuse holder. Switched the wires to an empty spot and installed the fuse and all was well. That is after replacing the key switch, battery cable and pulling the alternator and having it rebuilt.
Good luck.

I have seen ground connections that looked fine but were later found to be at fault given the amount of current needed to start a vehicle. I would suggest removing the bolt and cleaning the cable just to be sure. Of course, the steps outlined above will prove if a ground connection is at fault.

If you are reading 12 volts at battery that is your problem isn't it? Should it not be 13.1 at least?

This says your ground cable from the battery to the engine or chassis is bad OR the battery grounds to the chassis and then the chassis to the engine and that cable is bad. Use your jumper cables - put one black clamp on battery negative and the other black clamp on the body of the starter and check it then. You can do the same test by putting one black on the battery neg and one on the engine to test that cable.



A 12V battery at rest should measure 12-12.4V. Voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running and a properly operating alternator should be 13.2-14.2 (on average) depending on load, battery capacity, and alternator capacity.

Well, I'm an idiot. Thanks again gentlemen.

I was going to run a jumper cable from the neg on the battery to the frame near the starter as suggested. Went to loosen the neg battery cable and it moved a little. Looked good, but the bolt was about 2 turns loose. Tightened it down and the tractor fired right up. So stupid not to check that first. I guess I just assumed it should be tight since it was running fine before and I didn't change anything. Wasted a lot of time troubleshooting after missing step 2. Step 1, check voltage. Step 2, make sure the cable is tight on the terminal. Duh.

Won't make that mistake again.

Seems like I always start with the more complicated solutions, but often the root cause is a very simple issue…….

At least you didn't purchase a new battery just to find out you didn't need it. Glad you got it up and running.

I went through the same process with my tractor just this last weekend. 4 hours of charging, banging on the starter, trying to jump the solenoid, trying to chase down the phantom short. I finally noticed that I must have bumped the PTO switch last time I got out of the tractor.

-Checked the battery cable and looks good from battery to starter. Restripped the battery terminal end so fresh copper.

That made me think you had checked the terminal connectors.

No doubt many perfectly good scopes, bases, and rings have been replaced when the problem was with the manner in which one or more of them had been installed or the rifle simply didn't like the load.

You're welcome.