I had a problem with the engine starting intermittently on our 465 Challenger (MF 4355 painted yellow) tractor. Here is a link to the original post . We got the problem resolved some time ago and just realized I had never gave an update on what we found.

What I tell our bunch around the shop is "always check the simple stuff first". Well after me looking at it, one independent mechanic looking at it, and a couple of my employees looking at it, we finally hauled it to the dealer and they looked at it.

Of course it started first time every time for a while till he was about to give up then it decided not to start. Spent some time troubleshooting wiring harness and electrical connections. Was getting low voltage to the electric solenoid that shuts the fuel off. Kind of by accident moved a wire on the alternator ground and it was loose. Tightened it up and fixed the problem. The ground wire was making enough connection some times to get 12 volts to the fuel solenoid and sometimes not enough voltage to engage it fully.

So a loose ground wire caused us to loose the use of the tractor for a couple weeks, one mechanics service call, several hours of my and employees time, and the dealership mechanics troubleshooting time........all for a loose ground wire.

Well I was pretty sure the pump had an internal problem and needed taken apart. Have to give the mechanic credit for troubleshooting the problem effectively enough that he knew he didn't have to take the pump off.

Glad it is fixed. It is a pretty handy tractor with loader.

John