T-boss 410

The starter is out, but if I can get it checked at a different location, please let me know. I don't want any sparks! It's just a real PITA to get to the solenoid, as well as the ignition switch.

So would hooking up a multimeter to the cable at the starter show me the voltage?

Yeah, I kinda want to rule out the starter solenoid, but it looks like a very detailed job to get to that, as well as the ignition switch. But if I manage to get to both of them, how do I go about testing them?

That's what mine looks like. PITA to get to. I can't see how to get to the ignition switch without removing the entire front body. The starter solenoid is behind the battery, facing rearward. Looks like that will require a removal of the front body, also.

Well, I had to be a contortionist, but I got the starter off. Put it in a vise and hooked up the car battery. Spun right up. I know you had the same issue with your old one. How did you discover that it was bad?

I'm leaning that way also. Can the starter be cross referenced with other starters? Not too sure I feel very comfortable with an OEM starter.

I just hooked up a good 750cca battery with jumper cables to the buggy battery, and it did the same thing. Wouldn't crank over until I hit the key a few times. What does that sound like?

I've checked all the connections and grounds that I could get to. I haven't checked the ignition switch yet. All the connections that I could locate were clean and tight. As soon as I can figure out how to get to the ignition switch, I'll check that.

It is the same battery, but it's always been hard to start. I got the UTV in an auction. It was a floor model, so it has been started numerous times. But it's definitely not the OEM battery. It reached a point where the battery wouldn't even turn over the engine without a battery charger hooked up. This battery will turn the engine over, but it is marginal at best. I have to keep hitting the key to get it past the compression stroke. Even then it's a slow crank.

I don't want to use a deep cycle battery. From what I understand, a standard cranking battery is what is needed. Dimension-wise, I can't use anything other than a U1 or something of similar size. From the information that I have gathered, a 300cca battery is marginal for an engine such as this one. The OEM battery is a 12v 35ah unit (according to the manual), so I tried to search for a cca rating to go along with those numbers. Virtually impossible. For this application, I would think a cranking battery is more in line for what I need. Do you think that the battery is good, and I have an issue elsewhere?

I guess my big mistake was purchasing a new battery that had the same rating as the old one. The old battery had a bad cell and wouldn't hold a charge for very long. I assumed that the OEM battery was enough to start it with, and with the bad cell, I just replaced it with one with the same rating. I guess I should have followed my instincts and went up with the CCA's. I have been trying to find some sort of conversion formula for the batteries that have an amp hour rating instead of the cca rating. There are some formulas out there, but none seem plausible to me. So I will use the cca rating to make my next purchase, if that is where my problem is. I appreciate the help, folks!

I have been reading up on this, and what I have found was that the vehicle should not be running, since the UTV battery and starting system isn't designed for that kind of power. With that in mind, I will just throw the charger on the car battery and try starting it. If it starts properly, I can assume that the battery is at fault, correct?

The higher amperage won't burn up the starter or any of the wiring? I have a good car battery that would probably just need a recharge.

No such luck on an automatic decompressor. I have a load tester here, and I tested it yesterday. It drops to about 10v, and holds it. It just seems to not be enough to easily spin the engine over.

I've checked all the connections. Everything looks like new. I put a new charge on the battery, reinstalled it, and tried to start it again. Same thing. It will turn over, but it has to get past the compression stroke first. I see that the OEM battery is a 35ah rating. Since I don't know how (or if) that can be converted to cca, shouldn't I be more concerned about the cca of a battery in this case? Thanks!

I can see it on a small displacement push mower, but on a larger engine that was designed for off-road use, I would assume that there should be more filter than a foam piece.

I thought so, as well. I can see that as a pre-filter, but not as the whole filter element itself. My Ariens mower has a foam pre-filter around a paper element. When I first saw the picture that you posted, I thought maybe somehow the paper element was omitted. I stand corrected.

My bad, I wasn't aware that you had the 550.

Here's what I found:

I thought that was just a pre-filter, and there was a paper element inside.

How do I test the starter's amp draw?

That was an excellent explanation! The OEM battery is rated at 35ah's, and the one I just purchased is 32ah. I would think that it should be able to start it, since I don't have any aftermarket devices. It will start, but it takes a few hits on the switch to get it to spin past the compression stroke, then it will fire right up. That's the part that has me so confused. I guess I could trace the wiring for the starter and check the connections for tightness and clean them if necessary.

Is there possibly a correlation between the rated amp hours and the cca's? I ask because some batteries don't give a cca rating, but do give an amp hour rating.

Yeah, it's a lawn tractor battery. I was going on what was in it when I got it. As for the measurements, the battery tray is only big enough for the U1 size battery. And with the slope of the hood, I doubt I could go any taller. I could use the dimensions of the U1, but those seem to be limited to no more than 350cca. But if that's enough to turn yours over easily, I can assume that I have some other issues to deal with.

My battery is a U1. I can use either a U1 or a U1R. I haven't found a battery in this group so far that is rated any higher than 350cca's.