This is just a weird one, so I thought I'd share it.
I went to start my Deere x495 mower yesterday. This is one with a cute little 3-cyl diesel. Hit the starter and....all power went away.
Well, that was easy, I thought. Terminal Corrosion. Pulled the hood and looked,.and there some was on the positive terminal. Pulled battery and cleaned everything good. Put back and...here comes the weird part...the dash lights flash on and off.
Hmmm. Looks like an error message of some sort. This thing has a bit of electronic control. Not a computer, but simpler logic. So, off to the manual and...no mention of flashing errors. Hmmm.
Out comes the multimeter. Battery at 12.5 volts. Good. Hit key and...the meter is flashing on and off in time with the dash lights. What? Oh. Wait. Meter is trying to autorange. Turn off key. Set meter into manual range. Hit key. Now I see 12.5 volts drop to 2.7 volts when the dash lights go off. Then back up to 12.5 volts when the lights come back on.
There is a clicking sound here, too. Ah ha! (y'all knew an Ah Ha! Moment was coming) It is the glow plug relay! This thing fires the GPs every time you go to start it. It is an EPA thing. Like they really cut down the junk a cold diesel spits out. But, I digress.
Anyway, I am losing power when the GP load kicks on. When the power goes, the GP relay drops out. When that happens, the power returns. So...click, click, click...flash, flash, flash....
The stupid battery had popped an internal connection between cells. My cleaning of the terminals and the handling of the battery apparantly pushed the ends of the popped connection together enough for full voltage with no loqd. But, it cannot pass any real current, so down drops the voltage.
Needed to go get a new battery.
Anyway, it was an odd action, so I thought I would share.
Stan