Kawasaki Mule neutral start switch

F

Fedup

Active member
A friend has this old 600 Mule he uses almost daily to haul hay bales out to feed horses. It has recently developed a "no start" issue that might (or might not) be related to the neutral switch. No real proof of that yet. Could be a number of things I guess, but I thought that would be a good place to begin with. I was out there today and it did nothing when the key was turned to start. After he hit it with a leaf blower, knocked of a few pounds of dust, cobwebs, and hay scraps off the engine/transmission it started right up. Without touching anything. I may have wiggled a few wires a bit just looking to see what wires went where, but nothing was really disturbed. It started first time every time for at least a dozen tries. He did mention that it had done the "no start" thing a time or two over the past few months and once moving the shift lever got it cranking again.

Question for today is where did they put the neutral switch? Would it be somewhere around the shift linkage or maybe on the transmission? I noticed a sensor (or possibly a switch) on the transmission threaded into the case in the neighborhood of the vertical shaft the shift cable attaches to. It's a single wire item, so if that's the switch it must be a ground for a relay coil I would assume. That would mean it has a start relay somewhere?

Anyone have any experience on these machines they might care to share?
 
If I remember correctly it is on the passenger side of transmission on low or bottom. It should have a green wire which is ai ground.

Locate the switch on the transmission housing and pull off the single green wire. Ground the wire to bare metal on engine or frame. Try to start it. If the Mule immediately starts up, your neutral safety switch is faulty and needs to be cleaned or replaced.
 
Okay, that would probably be what I saw today, That means there is a relay somewhere. Where did they hide that?
 
I'd be tempted to do a little more poking before buying a switch. Since blowing the debris out and moving around the wiring made it start repeatedly, I'd check the connector and wire at that switch really closely too. A loose terminal or corroded connection could probably imitate a bad switch pretty well. Also curious whether there is any adjustment in the shift linkage. The fact that moving the lever got it to crank once before makes me wonder if it's sometimes just barely missing the neutral position.
 
We're not ordering or replacing anything yet. As far as I know it hasn't acted up since then. I'm just not all that familiar with this machine (or others like it) so I start looking at the various possibilities. Now I know what and where the switch is, I know it has a relay somewhere (possibly under the seat) so if it acts up again I have a bit more to work with. I'm not a fan of changing parts simply because they're available. We're in a "wait and see what happens" mode at the moment.
 
That single-wire switch you found near the shift shaft on the transmission is very likely the neutral position switch. The Mule 600 also has a separate neutral starter-circuit relay.


Since moving the shifter has gotten it cranking before, I’d start by checking the neutral switch connector/wire, the shift linkage adjustment, and the neutral relay/socket for dirt, corrosion or a loose connection. The fact that it started after blowing the area clean and moving a few wires makes an intermittent connection pretty believable.


I’d verify the switch operation and wiring before replacing anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top