Export thread

turned it off wile mowing now start wont crank.

if i set the brake, move the arms to idle, and with no one in the seat, turn the key to run, and then jump the battery to the small wire on the starter it will crank and start up, but it will not start up via the key switch. i tested the key switch, it seems to be ok. i think the starter is inhibited or there is a relay to send power to the small wire on the starter that i do not see. how does 12 volts get to the small starter wire, this has a computer on the engine, is the computer sending the 12 volts via the key ?

Check the ground make sure it is good on the engine and make sure pto is off. Pto is part of your safety for starting as well as the others. Pull the pto on and off and few times to make sure it's working. Also check the fuses make sure all is good. Check handles wiring. Might also have a relay as well. Pto switches go bad often but may not be in your case.

checked all of that, is all good.
ground ok
pto off, did on off a lot
checked fuse its good
tested seat and arm switches, all good
need to know where this model gets its 12 volts from to the starter, thats the key

I can jump the main 12 volts to blue wire on starter to get it running, it mows, and while running all interlocks work to turn mower off, it still will not start when key is turned, have to jump it, i think it is being inhibited due to some interlock action, trying to figure out how to test the interlock module, the signal to start seems to come from there.

The power supply to the starter trigger wire ( Blue ) comes from the interlock module.
The power to the interlock module comes from the PTO switch ( light blue wire ).
Thus when the module "sees" grounds on the yellow & green wires it connected the two blue wires together.
All other wires on the interlock module are ground connections and it is the ground connections that do the switching.
Usually it would need to see ground from both the lap bar switches and the brake switch,
SO if you are seeing
Power light blue
Ground green
Ground Yellow
And nothing on the dark blue wire your module is stuffed.
The older versions had an oil level switch which also prevented cranking but did not stop the engine running.
These caused a lot of grief to my customers because a slightly low oil level would allow the engine to crank when cold but once running and the sump oil level dropped they would not crank.
Your schematic shows a warning horn on a pressure switch

The magic module is effectively nothing more than a set of relays inside a box.
Some are in fact relays and thus repairable , others are a solid state circuit board and not repairable.

thanks bert, that was helpful, also, this forum wont send me email to reset my password and i am locked out, had to create new email and profile. i made a you tube video of the problem and fix, for now, will post when it is uploaded. thanks

On my mower I would have done similar.
The no crank lockout is there to protect the mower, in particular the starter from cranking an engine that is under load.
On a customers I would be obliged to either fit a relay or replace the module.

Just tested starting under load with my cut wire mod, turned pto on, starter does not engage, the starter wire routes through the pto switch, makes you wonder why they even routed starter through the safety module in the first place. the only thing that i can see is mower will crank and start while arms are engaged so it may roll off while cranking. i will check.. stand by.

i tested with one arm engaged, then the other, then both and neither, with brake on, off, no one in seat, in all cases engine will crank now, however, i dont know if it will start in those misconfigurations, as the ignition itself may be disabled still by the safety module unless arms are up brake is on or someone in seat, meaning, this fix at worse may allow the mower to move slightly when cranked, but not start, i will confirm this after the sun comes up

of course one could argue that if the module fails further then the mower could start in these misconfigurations, then again, it could always have failed like that

also, i think i will replace this module with plug in relays that are easily accessible testable and replaceable by the user

i had trailered this mower to a remote location, drove it into a remote field, mowed for 5 minutes, and this happened, then we had to get a tractor to tow it back to the trailer, and load it on the trailer, and then unload it off the trailer, then spent a month on and off messing with it when we could, this hidden hard to access and test module failure has been a huge pain the butt.

Usually the cranking circuit has the PTO & Parking brake in it so you can not crank in gear or with the blades on.
On ZTR's generally there is a relay that has the power trigger from the key switch & pto switch and the negative trigger through the parking brake & lap bars.