Bobcat 610 starting issues. Battery? Alternator?

[DaveCarvesWood]

If I jump the battery I can get my Bobcat started and it will run as long as I need it to, but when I turn it off I can't get it to start again without a jump, or charging the battery. Even if I run it for a few seconds after charging the battery, it won't start immediately after turning it off. Battery reads just over 12v, but doesn't go any higher with engine running and full rpm's. The fact that I can run it without it stalling out makes me think it's not the alternator, but the battery is certainly not getting charged by it. Any ideas for what to look at? Thanks.

 

[DaveCarvesWood]

Forgot to mention the Battery has a sticker that says 5/20 so it's only a few months old. I got the Bobcat in July and it would start at first, but within a few weeks I started having this problem.

 

[foton]

Forgot to mention the Battery has a sticker that says 5/20 so it's only a few months old. I got the Bobcat in July and it would start at first, but within a few weeks I started having this problem.

I would say you need to determine what alternator you have on that machine, It is old enough to have anything. It might have been converted to a single wire delco type which might need to have a 12 volt source added on a momentary switch to the sense wire post to get it to charging easily. Also look and see if there is a external voltage regulator that could be a problem too if it is not the alternator. Get the info. off the alternator name plate and go from there.

 

[DaveCarvesWood]

I would say you need to determine what alternator you have on that machine, It is old enough to have anything. It might have been converted to a single wire delco type which might need to have a 12 volt source added on a momentary switch to the sense wire post to get it to charging easily. Also look and see if there is a external voltage regulator that could be a problem too if it is not the alternator. Get the info. off the alternator name plate and go from there.

Thanks. No name plate just Delco Remy embossed on the back, and it is single wire. A 2 wire harness connected to the side of the alternator with a red and a white wire coming from that and connected to the battery post on the back of the alternator, as well as a red wire from the battery. There is a voltage regulator, but nothing is connected to it.

 

[DaveCarvesWood]

Thanks. No name plate just Delco Remy embossed on the back, and it is single wire. A 2 wire harness connected to the side of the alternator with a red and a white wire coming from that and connected to the battery post on the back of the alternator, as well as a red wire from the battery. There is a voltage regulator, but nothing is connected to it.

There is a thinner threaded post on the back of the alternator with nothing connected to it. I'm assuming that would be ground.

 

[foton]

There is a thinner threaded post on the back of the alternator with nothing connected to it. I'm assuming that would be ground.

that post might be where the sense wire goes , what I did to mine was take a hot wire to a momentary switch that you can just touch and a wire leaving the switch that goes to the post on the alt. to see if it is that take a meter put it on the battery get a reading then take a hot wire and quickly touch the post as you look at the meter see if the voltage increases. If it does alt. is good add switch and after starting just touch switch and battery will charge. If nothing happens get alt. tested in shop or just replace. make sure if you are not using a external regulator you get a alt. with a internal regulator.

 

[DaveCarvesWood]

that post might be where the sense wire goes , what I did to mine was take a hot wire to a momentary switch that you can just touch and a wire leaving the switch that goes to the post on the alt. to see if it is that take a meter put it on the battery get a reading then take a hot wire and quickly touch the post as you look at the meter see if the voltage increases. If it does alt. is good add switch and after starting just touch switch and battery will charge. If nothing happens get alt. tested in shop or just replace. make sure if you are not using a external regulator you get a alt. with a internal regulator.

That's the kind of advice I was looking for. Thanks, I'll give it a go.