Hello, I'm in a bit of a pickle at the moment. backhoe was left on site for a month - today went along with operator to get it to new site but it won't start. Battery changed - can hear it click but starter motor won't budge. Am I looking at replacing the starter motor or is there something i've missed? Fusy? it's a volvo bl71 - i'd really appreciate any help on this matter.
General starter advice, not volvo. If you have two people and an electric meter, it's pretty easy to figure out where the voltage drop is with the key in the start position. Without an electric meter you can guess. I'd check first 1 sure it's in neutral? 2 battery cable/ground connections, hold it in the start position for a few seconds, then check to see what connection got warm. Also feel the starter and solenoid for heat. 3 is it the starter clicking or a relay that's not on the starter? tried tapping the starter hard with a screwdriver handle? If you don't mind risking death, (and you're SURE it's in neutral) you can jump the solenoid, to see if the solenoid and starter are functioning. 4 if the starter, cables and all of the connections get equally warm, or if the starter hums but doesn't turn, you could check to see that the engine hasn't gotten water in it. If you can reach the fan, you can usually turn the engine over a bit by pulling on the fan and belts by hand. Let us know how it turns out.
Thanks for the reply Delmer It was raining pretty hard so I was unable to spend much time trying to find out why it won't start. will check if it's neutral...stupid me starter not clicking - must be a relay I did tap the starter - no joy there how do i jump the solenoid? will check if engine got water in it
solenoid/relay jumper from large connection on each side with a heavy wire BE SURE ALL IS IN NETURAL,,, IF NOT THIS MACHINE WILL RUN AWAY
Slightly safer if you leave the key OFF, and use a small wire (or screwdriver, or anything metal) to jump from the positive battery cable at the starter, to the smaller terminal on the solenoid/starter. If there are two small terminals, jump to the one that has a wire from the harness going to it. There may be a plastic cover over these terminals to keep you from doing this with the machine in gear and KILLING yourself. It's not that hard to come up with several feet of wire and an electric meter or a test light, so you can sit in the cab and turn the key, and see what's happening. First hook your wire to the big terminal going coming from the battery, should be 12v with the key off, on or start (if the voltage drops to 0 when you turn the key, then you have a bad battery or connection). then hook the wire to the big terminal going to the starter, if you get 12v when the key is at start then the starter is the problem. if not voltage, hook the wire to the small terminal, and check for voltage at start. if you get 12v at start but nothing out of the starter then the solenoid is the problem, if there's no voltage then it's not in neutral. just kidding, but then you need a wiring diagram or a volvo guy.
Rain stopped long enough today for me to go out and try figure out what's wrong with it. Decided the battery tray needed a clean first. Pulled it out, cleaned then fitted new battery as it was time anyway to get rid of the old one. Machine was in neutral so could not have been that. i decided to try start the engine by bypassing the battery disconnect switch and hey presto it roared to life. How lucky was that?? Now I'm wondering if I should leave it like that or get a new battery disconnect switch. Will look up the prices for a new one and if it's reasonable i'll get it, otherwise I'm not going to bother. Thanks Delmer for your help! Very much appreciated.