Deere 3038e won't start, just a click, but not the good click. (2024)

I parked my deere after a mow and a few days later went to crank her up and nothing and I cannot figure out what the issue is. ullinghair:
PTO button is down, in Neutral, and parking brake up, and sitting on seat..
instrument panel only has the lower right icon lit up.. which is the engine oil pressure light i believe..
Total hours is maybe 120 hours... 2008/9 model.

When you turn the key on you hear the fuel pump clicking like normal.. but you never hear the click noise that lets you know it is ready to crank..
when you crank you get one little click from the relays in the fuse box...
When I try cranking with the headlights on the headlights do not dim.

I tried jumping the seat button because I'm not hearing the click that lets me know its okay to crank so i was thinking it was the seat button.. but that didn't help.

I swapped relays in fuse box thinking it was one of those but everything acted the same.
I checked fuses all were good, the two that dealt with starting looked good and were functioning right.

swapped battery with my car battery and same results.

tried jumping from a running car and same stuff.

tried putting in gear and turning the key for 30 seconds then going back to neutral (read on another thread) and still same issue.

banged on the starter lol, nothing..

Two things I've just noticed while typing this:

1. I was searching the forum and ended up on a post from me about a batter for this tractor back in Aug 2014.. so thats when I bought this battery lol..

2. Maybe there should be more lights on the cluster when the key is turned on?

Have you ensured that it is actually in the neutral position?

I ask because my 4105 has a tendency to look & feel like it is but there's a wee difference being in neutral and almost being in neutral.

(I hope that that makes sense)

Wagtail said:

Have you ensured that it is actually in the neutral position?

I ask because my 4105 has a tendency to look & feel like it is but there's a wee difference being in neutral and almost being in neutral.

(I hope that that makes sense)

Click to expand...

yes that makes sense and yes I tried all sorts of positions..

L, N, H

moving from H to N
moving L to N
moving H to L real fast then back to N, and vise versa.. thinking maybe it was just being stingy lol

searcyfarms said:

the click you are normally hearing is possibly the preheater/glow plug relay not sure if they run regardless on the 3038E but they did on my 2210 - it was a timed heat cycle it seemed - its possibly that relay is bad and it controls something else in the line of electricity to the switch/start relay - have you tried leaving the key on and can u jump across the starter to see if it crank and will run, that will tell u if its getting power to everything else and just not the starter relay/switch portion

Click to expand...

I was thinking relay as well, there are three relays and I swapped all three around to see if one would stand out as bad but nothing changed.

K1. Fuel Solenoid Relay
K2. Starter Relay
K3. Glow Plug Relay

I also thought about jumping the starter but when I looked there was only one cable and I'm used to seeing two terminals and hitting it with a large screwdriver.. not really sure how to do it here.?

Here is the starter on my deere 3038e

Try running a jumper between the two leads on your neutral safety switch. It should be a shielded loom on the left side under the floorboards that goes to a sensor on the transmission. On the schematic it is #22. Part # RE12363

My 4310 had similar issues and I just pulled the two wires out of the loom and then pierce the insulation with a test light and jumped it with a paperclip just to see if it would work and it solved my issue but mine is power reverser. The sensor on mine is really buried under the floorboards to the point where I could barely see it.

ericstac said:

Here is the starter on my deere 3038e

View attachment 574206

Click to expand...

pull that red cover back, there's more than one wire in there, try jumping the small red wire to the battery + and see if it cranks.. it could be that the black wire needs to be grounded though, depending on the safety switch arrangement..