Rick Ferrucci 17 #1 Posted January 31, 2021 Hi everybody, About three weeks ago, I decided to work on my tractor. (‘69 GT14) dead as a stone. I changed PTO switch because it was jury rigged. New ignition switch because it was slightly oxidized. New solenoid because it looked original. Cleaned all wire connections with a Dremel, still nothing. Changed the starter. Pretty sure that was the problem. Shaft was sloppy, wobbled around, hard to turn. Charged the battery, and it fired right up. Problem now is, ammeter is reading discharge. When I put a volt meter across the battery terminals, it reads 15.3 vdc. My question is, Could the bad starter,( shorting out my battery for three weeks) kill the battery? This battery was only a year old. My next guess might be the voltage regulator. Thank you for your input. Rick Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pfrederi 18,771 #2 Posted January 31, 2021 Check you stator for output. Find the 2 white wires that come out from the engine. Hook up your multi meter on AC voltage run the engine at full throttle you should reed over 30 volts if you do then look to your regulator is it grounded?? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldredrider 2,553 #3 Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) A reading of 15.3 volts is a bit high. Could indicate a bad voltage regulator. If ammeter is showing discharge, could be reversed wiring at the ammeter. A bad vr can cook a battery. Edited January 31, 2021 by oldredrider 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick Ferrucci 17 #4 Posted January 31, 2021 The voltage regulator is the only thing I haven’t changed. I just changed the battery also. Ammeter is still reading discharge. Thanks, I’ll check the stator output. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bc.gold 3,406 #5 Posted February 1, 2021 How old is the battery, it's possible a couple of plates are shorted as the battery ages the plates shed and this crap falls to the bottom of the cell which has a compartment designed to capture and keep it below the plates. If the basement becomes over loaded then the crap reaches the bottom of active plates these can be shorted out, a good way to test a battery is to removed the fill caps then load test the battery any cells off gassing would be suspect. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,561 #6 Posted February 1, 2021 Sounds like the ammeter leads are reversed. Did you have them off for cleaning? Garry 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 44,036 #7 Posted February 1, 2021 11 hours ago, gwest_ca said: Sounds like the ammeter leads are reversed. Did you have them off for cleaning? Garry Yes! 15.3 volts should not show discharge. Turn on you headlights with the key on but engine not running. If it shows charge leads are reversed. (As a side note, yes a starter with a short can discharge a battery) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rick Ferrucci 17 #8 Posted February 1, 2021 Thank you for your help, actually it was getting the headlights to work, which was what I originally wanted to do, when I first went out to work on the tractor. I’ll check the ammeter wires. I took them off of the switch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
