# Weird Power issue



## mrcheapguy (Sep 27, 2021)

Tractor : 2001 or 2003 Massey Ferguson 1429. 
Background : Using my tractor almost daily for various projects. Current project is building a garage - specifically installing trusses. I slide the truss onto the top of the bucket, then use the bucked to lift the truss (carefully). Once high enough I push the truss onto one side of the building. Usually, the truss is leaning on a ladder I have set up so it does not fall over. I tie the truss to the previous truss with a ratchet strap. I then reverse direction of the tractor, and push the other end of the truss up. Works great. Slow, but great. I was doing this yesterday just fine (9/25/2021). 
Issue : This morning, I went to continue my truss raising, and the tractor would not crank. Nothing. Nada, zip. Glow plug warmer did not even activate. I checked the lights, Nothing, the flashers, again, Nothing. 
What I did : Change battery to a (what I thought was) known good battery. Again, nothing. No lights, no flashers, no glow plug action. I used my volt meter to check battery - 12.6 volts. I checked voltage at the starter - about the same 12.6 volts. I am in a remote location with some tools, but not many. Like I have no jumper cables available. I do have a third battery that I could use, but #3 I know is sketchy, so I did not waste the time to change to that battery. I did check for in gear, etc. Nothing seems to matter - but the lights would work with the gear lever in forward or backwards. 

Does anyone have a good way to eliminate the safety switches one at a time..? 

Since I have no lights, no flashers, I was wondering about a main fuse somewhere. I did look at the fuse panel under the hood on the right (passengers) side, but did not pull any of the fuses. They are individual - like lights on one fuse, something else on another fuse, etc. Chances of all fuses blowing at once is pretty slim. 

To add insult to the mess, I have the tractor parked in a shipping container to keep it out of the weather. The container is a whopping 8 feet wide (measured on the outside I bet). So space is tight and light is flashlight only. Oh what fun.  . 

tomorrow I will bring jumper cables and try them, but I have my doubts. I'm thinking there is an electrical issue - not my strong area of diagnosis. Help please. 

thanks.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

G'day mrcheapguy, welcome to the forum

Lets see if we can get you going, your ignition switch could be your problem, do you have one of those remote starter switches that hook onto the positive connection on the solenoid and the other to the starter hot wire spade of eyelet bolt?, if so hook on, turn ignition on and make sure the tractor is in neutral and press the remote starter, the engine should crank and possibly start, if there is no crank, then you will need to clean all of the battery cable connections on battery, starter and the earthing point on the tractor chassis or where ever this is bolted to.

If you don't have the remote starter, use the old standby, use a screw driver and bridge across the positive to the hot wire on the starter, same deal as before, make sure tractor is in neutral, no room to escape in a container.

The other is to disconnect the starter hot wire and use your multimeter to take a voltage reading between the hot wire and a good earth with the ignition switch held in the start position, I can't help you with the safety sensors, but there could be one on the clutch, brakes, PTO and gear shift, you can uncouple these one at a time and use a paper clip or something like that to bridge the connector.

Without a wiring schematic, it is hard to advise.


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## mrcheapguy (Sep 27, 2021)

FredM said:


> G'day mrcheapguy, welcome to the forum
> 
> Lets see if we can get you going, your ignition switch could be your problem, do you have one of those remote starter switches that hook onto the positive connection on the solenoid and the other to the starter hot wire spade of eyelet bolt?, if so hook on, turn ignition on and make sure the tractor is in neutral and press the remote starter, the engine should crank and possibly start, if there is no crank, then you will need to clean all of the battery cable connections on battery, starter and the earthing point on the tractor chassis or where ever this is bolted to.
> 
> ...


Thanks for replying/helping. 
No remote start thingie. Wouldn't work well on the Massey anyway as the solenoid is a plug in wire. I'd have to rig up some sort of plug (probably a 1/4 spade connector) to do any jumpering. 

I was hoping for someone with a wiring diagram to lend a hand. Guess the 1429 is not a popular enough model that there are a lot of wiring diagrams out there. I think it's a great little tractor - little being the key word. I could use something larger (more powerful) from time to time, but for what the 1429 is, it's great. 

So after yesterday and today poking with the various things (checked for voltage at the ignition, verified all the fuses were good, and checked for voltage at the fuses - there wasn't any voltage, checking wires, etc), I noticed what I thought was a relay - hey what the heck, I'll check that too... nope - it was a 40 amp fuse that was bad. There was another 'unit' right next to it with a 30 amp fuse also, that was good. So, I'm hoping that just the moon was bad and the fuse went. Probably not, but its a hope. I'll get a new fuse tomorrow and see what happens when I install it. 

If there is someone out there that does have a wiring diagram for the 1429 (also the 1433, 1440, and from what I understand the 1529 is similar), and can help, that would be wonderful. I'm looking for what is on that 40 amp circuit. Seems like everything , but if I have a short that popped that fuse, I might need some guidance. 

thanks...


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