560 electrical mess

I have a F560 that has been a complete nightmare. I had thought I fixed it but apparently not.

Here is what is going on.
Most of the time it starts and runs fine. Intermittently if you let it sit for more than a day the battery is completely dead, but not always.

In the past three days, it has developed new gremlins. The other day I was changing oil on it and the starter kicked in for 2 seconds without anyone touching the tractor. It only did it once while I was in the shed (4 or 5 hours) but it kind of freaked me out. Then after I finished changing the oil I try to start it, and the starter won't disengage after I release the button. I shut off the ignition switch (power to the starter switch comes from the ignition switch) and it still kept cranking until the battery cable was removed.

Do I have a bad solenoid or am I getting voltage from somewhere else? I ran a new wire from the starter button to the solenoid so I know there is no short there. I unhooked the fuel gauge, horn, 12 volt outlet, and lights, so there is not much wiring left to be shorted out and it happened again tonight.

Solenoid or the other thought is the voltage regulator. both switches tested fine.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Marty

hello .checke the silinoid spring.the contacs in the silinoid is problably touching.

To isolate this problem, you'll have to remove the wire from the start terminal on the solenoid. Use it only when starting the engine. If the problem goes away, you'll have to track down where the intermittent contact problem is in the starter button--wire to solenoid circuit.
If the problem persists with the start wire removed, you have a problem with the contacts in the solenoid bakelite cap. These aren't hard to figure out--just remove the nuts & lockwashers from the terminals before pulling the cap. Ease the cap off slowly--2 terminals are connected to wires in the solenoid.-----Or just buy a new solenoid. But, you'll never know how the solenoid went bad then.

Marty,

Unless you've had that 560 from new, don't assume the rest of the wiring is correct. I made that mistake on my 560, once! Never again. I chased my electrical gremlins down to someone else's hack job of the wiring.


Good Luck,

Matt