# Kubota M9540



## AncientIron (Jul 28, 2019)

Have a m9540 Kubota. Feeding cows this morning I lost all dash gauges. Speedo, tach, temp and fuel. I have signal and hazard ights still.
No battery or glow plug lights, or fwa light either.
Thinking a ground. 
Any ideas?
Thank you


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I would bet a fuse...
Most tractors have "common" ground points....ie. they have a bolt where a lot of grounds go, unless the wire broke from the dash display, other things would probably be non functioning. It certainly could be but my first guess would be a fuse or a relay, I don't know if Kubota uses a relay for the dash but I would think they would. HTH


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## AncientIron (Jul 28, 2019)

Thank you. I check fuses visually and all seemed ok. I will break out the tester and re check fuses


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Good thing it’s not a John Deere....they use those stupid German fuses with no contacts on top of the fuse...it’s impossible to check without removing and the sob is hard to get out, need needlenose pliers to remove them. But they do give you a handy-dandy audible continuity checker after you’ve removed the fuse and dropped it behind the seat once or twice or lost it all together . Never understood why the Germans, as smart as they are, used that type of fuse...


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## AncientIron (Jul 28, 2019)

I checked all the grounds, and all the fuses. Talked to my cousin the heavy duty mechanic. He figures the instrument cluster itself is pooches.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I would go a few steps further....I don't know the layout of Kubota very intimately but on most, it will be a common plug that controls all of the functions of the instrument cluster. I believe there are some relays behind the cluster...idk, like I said, not too familiar with Kubota wiring. The relay will be fused so if there are no blown fuses I would take the bezel off the dash and find the harness and see if you have any 12+ at the plug. Then try to find the common ground for the plug....a volt ohm meter (set to diode/continuity ) would be best for that application. Ensure you have both 12+- at the dash....if no then look for relays. 
Think of a relay as a switch that is electrically operated, in this case probably by the key switch. If the relay is bad the dash will not have power, but if the relay is good and the dash still doesnt have power then you could check the relay for power coming from the switch to see if it is indeed being energized by the key switch. On most relays that would be terminals 86 and 85. One will be 12v- (going to the same ground as the dash) and one will be 12v+, not sure which one is which but it doesn't matter for proper operation. The whole purpose of the relay in this instance and most instances is to take the amperage draw off of the switch and place it on the terminals of the relay which are usually rated at 20amps (sometimes more) relays do fail and I would suspect a bad relay. The probability that the whole instrument panel has failed is much less likely. If the relay has no power on the terminals I would jump a wire to verify proper dash operation before looking for the source of the problem, it could very easily be the key switch.....good luck hth


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

There are some relays under the hood. 
I lost my smaller digital readout many years ago (mph, pto, etc) on the right side console along with a few other switchable functions and it was a relay or a fuse not in the main cluster.


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## dvcochran (Oct 1, 2017)

AncientIron said:


> I checked all the grounds, and all the fuses. Talked to my cousin the heavy duty mechanic. He figures the instrument cluster itself is pooches.


Do you have a Word Shop Manual? Go to Manuals.lib if not. It is not the easiest to navigate but it has worked for me in the past. If everything went out in the cluster it may be that it is in fact bad but there is likely a reason for this that needs to be chased down. But that would be at the End of my troubleshooting. I imagine that is expensive part to swap just to see if it is the problem. Make sure everything going To the cluster if functioning properly first. The schematics on the WSM will likely be spread over several pages so it may take time to really understand what it is saying (does for me) but it will do a good job of understanding the circuit(s).


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