Kubota B series will not start

repair

My Kubota B2100 won’t start. Crap. Here’s what to check:

  1. Is the parking break is set?

  2. Is the PTO dis-engaged (mid-mount if you have it & rear)

  3. Is the transmission in neutral (hydro)?

  4. Is your ass in the seat

If it’s not a safety switch thing, try to jump it. If it still won’t turn over, check the following

Battery Terminals

Make sure your battery terminal connections are snug and clean. I use this to scrub all the crap off:

Schumacher BAF-BI Terminal Cleaning Brush

Then this stuff to keep it from getting cruddy again:

CRC 05046 Battery Terminal Protector - 7.5 Wt Oz.

Battery Ground

Next, check the ground cable and ground to the body for your battery. Make sure it’s not rusted or corroded and that the cable is not broken.

Test Safety Switches

There are 3 safety switches to check, one for the PTO, one for the break and one for the operator seat. They are all mechanical and must be closed to be “safe”. Locate each one and test that it reads closed with a meter when it is in the correct position.

If you need a meter, I really like this one because it comes with alligator clip test leads. This means you can clip one lead and have an extra hand free:

Crenova MS8233D Auto-Ranging Digital Multimeter Home Measuring Tools with Backlight LCD Display

PTO Switch

Brake Switch

Seat Switch

Fuses

The main fuse on my B2100 is located by the solenoid (it’s the pink thing in this picture):

fuse

Power at solenoid

Test for 12v at your solenoid

Ignition switch

Test your iginition switch

Extra relay

My tractor had an extra relay added to lessen the voltage going through the switch. Turns out that this was my problem, it was rusted all to hell and was not working:

relay

I replaced it and bingo!