Battery for generator

[femurphy77]

Because there’s no compression!?

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

I would lean towards resistance somewhere in the ignition circuit. Wire a relay, ready to go off Amazon or Ebay, off the starter switch to the starter. Diagrams should be easy enough to find you can build your own.

 

[HoughMade]

Going way back to the OP- if it started correctly when jump started, but not on its own, it's in the battery, connections, or less likely, the starter.

 

[churchmouse]

I'll admit, I'm learning this as I go... Why does it crank over perfectly when the cylinder head is removed?

OK I stated that the valves are there to create compression. That is what makes it hard to turn over. Take the sparkler out of your lawn mower and pull the rope briskly. Note how much resistance you get...…..then put it back in the head and repeat that same process. Got a good bit harder to pull. I am leaning towards an issue with the starter, the cables or the battery or a combo of both.

I had this discussion with a friend that could not get the race engine I built for him to turn over fast enough to start. He used his old starter in an attempt to save some money. We near argued as he said "Well it spins over when I test it out of the car"...….Arghhhhhh

I pulled the starter out of my race car, did the swap and it fired right up. Go figure.

But also understand we are making a critical diagnosis over the internet. From your input.

 

[churchmouse]

Going way back to the OP- if it started correctly when jump started, but not on its own, it's in the battery, connections, or less likely, the starter.

Winner.

 

[Hoosierkav]

Alrighty. I pulled off the starter and the starter solenoid, and cleaned them all up.  I checked the solenoid's wiring and thought that I had wired things onto the wrong post, based off the schematic from the manufacturer's site, so I flipped things around, cleaned up the frame where the solenoid sits so it grounds nicely and put everything back together, turned the key and nothing.

So, I pulled a battery from one of the vehicles, and directly powered the starter, and it spun wonderfully, so I decided to fire up the engine to make sure it even ran, since it's been so long--the most beautiful sound I've heard in a long time from this beast.

I'll go back to the wiring drawing board and try to figure out why the solenoid isn't working (I replaced it as part of this process); I put the generator's battery on the charger, but will have the vehicle battery just in case, as a "known good" while I troubleshoot...

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

Here's how the solenoid should be wired. You may have 3 posts, where the solenoid grounds through its mount, or my you may have 4 with an unused ground. Also check your cables for corrosion.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

This is the upgrade to fix an issue I've run across a couple times. It is a 5 pole relay wired into the existing harness. This is a really common issue on John Deere's with the Kawasaki engines.

 

[Hoosierkav]

Here's what I have. Red is from the battery; black is to starter. This is how I originally had it, until I looked at things online last night and realized that the battery post is on the same side as the little post, so that's why I swapped things at first today; after it failed, I went back to what I had. The battery is connected to the motor ground; ignore the green wire off of it--it doesn't go anywhere.

 

[churchmouse]

Here's what I have. Red is from the battery; black is to starter. This is how I originally had it, until I looked at things online last night and realized that the battery post is on the same side as the little post, so that's why I swapped things at first today; after it failed, I went back to what I had. The battery is connected to the motor ground; ignore the green wire off of it--it doesn't go anywhere.



View attachment 85932

Do you have a volt meter that will read DC voltage.

 

[Hoosierkav]

DC volt meter: got one

 

[Hoosierkav]

Problem solved.

The solenoid wasn't grounded; I hooked up 12v power to it, no click, no continuity. I took a cable from the negative terminal and connected it to the base of the solenoid: "Click".

Rewired things and ran that green cable from the motor ground to the solenoid ground: started right up.

All this time and it was one stinking wire from working right.

It's only a fail if I didn't learn from it all, right? Right?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[HoughMade]

Great! Electrical connections...no one could have seen that coming.