246 Fuel Shut off short(?), blowing relays??

[mcgoverner]

Posting for a friend with a 1991 246 Skiddy- apologies for the simple terminology (not mechanics)
- Machine sat for a portion of the winter, went to start and cranked but felt like low battery, so he jumped it with his truck and immediately the main 60 amp reset popped and he had no power to anything. As soon as he resets that main blue button "breaker", it trips it. So he disconnected the battery negative , and now when he goes to reconnect the battery (-), it sparks and throws that main 60 amp (doesn't blow it, just pops the "breaker") -

-Started to diagnose by disconnecting one relay at a time and testing to see if the short still existed (by touching the battery ground cable to the battery negative) - got to the relay labeled "gas pump with a line through it", which i believe is to the fuel shut off solenoid?? and the problem went away. Tested that relay and found it to be stuck open (continuity between #30 and #87, no continuity between #30 and #87a) -

-swapped out a known good relay, and it seemed to fix the issue. Reconnected battery and no pop of the main "breaker". Got in and turned the key, all lights came on and it cranked! But still no start, felt like a dead battery again. So we jumped it again. And the same thing happened, popped that main and when we pulled the relay it was also in the stuck open position. But the 10amp fuse in the cab with the same fuel shut off symbol is in tact!?? WOuldn't it throw that before it threw the relay??

-There's a short somewhere, and it seems to be narrowed down to that fuel shut off relay (or rather the wires associated), but could it also be a bad solenoid that would cause this issue??

Looking for any advice on how to move forward. Thanks in advance !!

 

[mcgoverner]

Anybody want to take a stab at it?? Pretty please!??

 

[foton]

I would guess that destroying the relay and not blowing the fuse would indicate that the problem is in the harness between the relay and the fuse,look for rodent nest and chewed up wires. find a wiring diagram and follow that circuit out to see what else might be on that circuits relay.

 

[mcgoverner]

thanks people, will let you know how it goes

 

[JimAnthony]

When entering a problem to the forum it might help to name the skidder type and age.

 

[mcgoverner]

Cat 246 (turns out its a 2001, not a 1991 as previously stated) - After deducing that it had to do with the fuel shut off solenoid system, we swapped out a known good relay and had the same problem. But after sitting for a couple of months, swapped in another known (tested) relay, charged the battery (perhaps the key issue after all??), and plugged her in for a few hours... Fired up and has consistently started since a few days ago. My current theory is that somehow the fuel shut off solenoid was stuck and shorting out somehow, through the block and thus energizing the whole block (as well as negative terminal on the battery) - WIll be interesting to see if this becomes an intermitent problem or has magically resolved itself. That's what i know, now you know, perhaps less than when this started
Cheers,
C