# The ol Stx 38



## whobdah (Nov 2, 2009)

I haven't posted yet, but the posts I have read are great. I can't find anything about my exact problem though.

I have a JD stx 38. It was my dad's. He got it in 86. 

There seems to be a short somewhere. The battery is constantly dying. For awhile, I unhooked the battery when I was done. I got another tractor from someone else, because I couldn't get the tractor started after charging the battery. I left it hooked up and now the nodes are all corroded. It's been sitting for over a year. A friend was going to help me, but you know how that goes. 

It has a new coil, and new starter (?) (It's shaped like a cylinder and it's right next to the engine and it cost alot of money.)

I can't just rip out the wires. I'm not very good at fixing things like this, but I can't spend the money on getting it fixed.

It seems like such a waste. Right now it's probably a mouse hotel.

How do I find the short? How do I fix the short? Should I just let someone else fix it, because I'm not very good at this stuff?

Thanks for any help,

Rick


----------



## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

I have ran and owned 2 of these machines, and have noticed one thing. If you leave any switch on, it will drain the battery even if the key is off. there may be a way to find what is draining your battery. With the ignition off, use a test light (you can find it at any hardware store for a few dollars) and poke around inside the wires. You must ground the aligator clip on the tool to make the test light's circuit complete. If you find a lit up wire, that may be your source, who knows what would drain it, maybe this is not the case. I found that the PTO clutch drains the battery like hell if the battery is not fully charges. Once the PTO for the mower is engaged, the PTO is a solenoid and the solenoid needs the current from the battery to stay engaged. 

Getting to my conclusion. If the Electric PTO is drawing current from the battery, and you shut off the tractor after mowing, the battery may be dead. I think your engine's charging system may be unpluged, or is fried. If the battery is not receiving a charge from the stator(charging system) the battery will drain leaving you with a dead battery. Put the test light to the wire comming out of the engine housing while the engine is running. if it lights up, the stator is putting out power.


----------



## whobdah (Nov 2, 2009)

*ol Stx*

Once I remove the old battery and put in the new one, then I test the lines coming from the engine case. If the light is on, then the stator is bad, if it's off something else is wrong.

I think I got it, but will the STX be on the same page, I doubt it.

Thanks for you help.

Rick


----------



## tractors2repair (Apr 5, 2011)

This might sound very selfish, but if you give up on this tractor and sell it for parts I could use a transaxle and a hood in good shape. I do wish you luck on keeping it running.


----------

