I have a Husqvarna YTH 1846 with a Briggs 540 cc 18.5 hp mower that will not start. The last time it was used it started and ran fine. I got off the machine to open up a gate and when I tried to start it back up it would not start. When the key is turned the motor will turn over slightly and then stop. The battery is new, solenoid is good. The motor seems to turn over until it reaches the compression point and then stops. With the spark plug removed the motor will turn over normally. I tried adjusting the valves with no luck. Is it the starter or some other problem ? Thanks.
Did you set them incorrectly? There are 2 top dead center strokes on a four stroke engine.
One valve all the way open or pushed into the head, adjust opposite valve. Rotate engine doing the same for the other valves. If one valve is open, other valves are safe to set.
Thanks. This is most likely the problem.
No, not lowering idle when getting off the mower. Will test the battery. Thanks for the reply.
Thanks for your reply. I believe they were set correctly. It was done by my brother, who is a pretty good mechanic and I believe he checked them twice. I will run this by him and make sure they were done correctly.
What I was getting at was if you lower the revs the battery might not charge proper. Keep her at 3600rpm. Some have a small charging coil of say 3 amps. One engine crank will take a while at topping off the battery at 3 amps.
Turn the engine backward against compression and see if it will start. That way you will have one revelotion with no compression and it will probably start. You can also take the valve cover off and turn the engine over and watch the lower rocker arm to see if it bumps off just before the piston reaches TDC on the compression stroke. If not the compression release is broken.
I do generally keep the revs high when using this machine, not sure if it has a charger though. Thanks.