Discussion Starter · #4 · 5 h ago
No start issue.. Bypassed seat switch so it would crank. Battery one year old and charged up.
Put new solenoid on with wires connected as shown on internet. Turn key to start and solenoid rattles like no tomorrow. Tested battery while doing this and the battery drops to 7 to 8 volts. Wife wasn't happy about holding tester on battery while I cranked engine. Ran ground wire from good engine ground to battery negative, Engine cranked over without key on. Engine started but it shut down as soon as I removed the heavy duty ground wire. Figured I would burn something up by leaving it connected. Driving me nuts. I went over all the wiring to see if I have an exposed wire. Any Ideas? Thanks Terry
Trying to visualize what you have posted .
If you are trying to say the solenoid clacked like a gatteling gun when you turn the key with the mower as normal then it cranked just fine when you made a new ground connection, that says you have a bad ground connection .
What you did is exactly what I do to test the mowers ground circuit
Once started the mower should remain running which is the strange bit as once running the mower is self energizing unless the main fuse is blown and you lost power to the fuel solenoid which is not shown on the wiring diagram .
Running extra ground circuits will not hurt the mower in any way shape or form
Also note that the starter solenoid gets it's ground contact via the body so check for corrosion around the bolts and mounting flange .
I am assuming your mower is a LT 1040 but posting the full model & serial numbers off the ID tag is a great help to those who would help you
I'm trying to visualize as well but having a little trouble.
When the voltage dropped to 7-8 volts were you checking it right at the battery and was the engine actually turning over or was the solenoid rattling the only thing happening at that time? That is actually a huge voltage drop either way.
And are you saying when you connected the extra ground, the engine just started cranking without being asked to?
Yes the engine cranked when ground was hooked up. and the voltage drop was at battery. It now looks like the solenoid is now locked up. Wife says its time to give up. T
Up to you of course but it's looks like you're almost there. If you don't give up, let us know. I have a thing or two that would be very easy to check.
To see for sure if you solenoid is faulty try disconnecting what I will call the small excite wire from the solenoid. Then with the key in the off position reconnect the extra ground and see if the engine still turns over. If so without seeing all the wiring at the solenoid I would have to say the solenoid is bad. If the engine doesn't turn over but does when you again attach the small excite wire back to the solenoid then you are getting voltage to the solenoid quite possibly through a faulty key switch. And we already know you have a bad ground path but that should be easily remedied.
