I have a 10 year old John Deere lawn tractor. It's a little hard to start when it's cold, so I ran down the battery down. I hooked it up my charger, and, as usual, I didn't let it charge enough, and I ran it down again very quickly. Then I let it charge a long time, and it wouldn't turn over at all. Then I tried to jump start it off my pickup, but it wouldn't even turn over. The battery shows 12 volts. The lights don't work.

Any ideas?

 

Probably a cable connection. See what the voltage is from the positive post on the battery to a good ground on the frame.

 

I agree with removing, inspecting, and cleaning all of the battery connections, including the one to the frame that marbobj mentioned. How old is the battery? Although it doesn't necessarily matter because even newer ones can fail. But, regardless, my suggestion is to take it to your nearest auto parts store or lawn care shop. They should have a battery tester, which will actually tell you if the battery is good or not. Simply having 12 volts on a meter is not conclusive. Nor is jumping it. I mentioned battery cables in a recent post, and said that we still carry them in our vehicles, so I do believe they have there place, but there is too much opportunity for error so to speak, i.e. less than tight connection, corrosion on the clamps, etc. to use them as part of the diagnostic indicator.

 

I'm worried that it was at least turning over until you tried to jump start it. Then after attempting the jump start now nothing works. Any chance the jumper cables were hooked up backwards? Did the jumper cables touch something on the tractor when they were energized?

 

Thanks a ton for all the responses.

I checked the voltage between the positive post on the battery and the frame right where the negative cable is attached to it and a few other places. That was Zero everywhere. From the positive post on the battery and the negative cable where it is attached to the frame is 12 volts.

So, I removed the negative cable and I'm going to try and make a better connection to the frame in particular. It has had 11 years to get rusty inside the hole.. I'm not sure how to best do that. A little brass brush probably.

As for other items:

Before the jump start attempt, it was not turning over before that, and I am always extremely careful when I jump anything.

 

Looks like a bad ground connection.

 

Well, I made a better connection between the negative cable and the frame, and now I get 12 volts between the positive battery post and almost anywhere on the frame, but nothing happens when I turn the key.Tomorrow I'll try to jump start again.

 

There's a small wire on the starter solenoid. It should show 12 volts when you turn the key.

 

Check the fuse.

I'm adding these letters to make the post long enough because even moderators are restricted to minimum character limits

 

; )

 

Do you have all of the safety switches activated?