Went to run the 153 today, and there was nothing. All lights came on, and everything, but nothing when I went to crank. Boosted it, checked fuses, checked to see if starter was getting power when cranking, tried jumping starter nothing, checked coolant shut off and seemed ok (although I don't think coolant sensor will prevent it from starting, it only shuts it down?). Eventually I gave up and took it back to the yard, where it started perfectly fine and did so numerous more times. Obviously got a loose connection or something somewhere. The machine will start with the arm up or down, does anyone have a diagram of how that works? I would like to dig into that and see how they did it and maybe that's my issue? I recently replaced the sensor for the arm, so I checked and that was fine also. Is there anything else that could prevent it from cranking like that? Also because it's given me problems a few times and shut the machine down, what's the easiest way to bypass the coolant sensor? When I was checking it it seemed like it's just a ground? Do I just need to ground the wire to the frame?
The water level sensor in the radiator hose can have its single wire grounded to bypass it. Bypassed all of mine (3 TL150, 4 TB180FR, & a TB53FR). That sensor will shut it down but, IIRC, will not prevent starting. If you jumped the starter and it didn't crank, the starter is suspect. But, ground wires are suspect (the big ones). The block ground on my TB53FR was bad (corroded) and it used the throttle cable for the engine ground until that melted.
I was wondering if there's a chance it's the starter, although I replaced it like 4-5 years ago when I was tracking down the non-starting issue before, so it doesn't have much use. I will have to check the grounding.
Looking for the ground the only one I could see to the engine was right below the starter is that the one I should be looking at?
I gave up on relying on just that one. I added a bellhousing to frame additional ground.
I can’t even see it good enough to tell what kind of shape it’s in without removing the starter, and I already replaced that and it wasn’t fun so adding an extra ground seems like a better option.
@suladas Have you tried it yet? Just curious as I plan on adding an additional ground to block on mine too.....
Not yet. Used machine plenty since and it's started perfectly fine every single time. I did have a look as for where to do it and couldn't see a good spot. Will tackle this later once winter sets in and have more time.
IIRC, I went from the left bracket to on the bellhousing bracket. Orange line in 1st picture. This was when I had to put a radiator and smaller water pump pulley on. It shows the metal I removed to make oil servicing easier. 2nd pic shows the metal before removal. Neither shows the new ground as that occurred after this work. Mind you, this a TB53FR, not a 153.
Thanks i'll have to check that spot out. Definitely a lot easier access then other side of engine.
If it’s not cranking, are the lights going dim on it? If so a ground is my guess like a car. If it’s not doing anything at all but it has power id pull that starter. I’ve never done a starter on a excavator but when I worked at Napa I have seen starters bench test good but under a load in the car / truck not work. I’d replace it reman starters just give up. Good luck