Gravely Will not start

[chevydropped]

I recently purchased a Gravely 160 commercial with a Kawasaki engine. I had to replaced the key switch when I bought it. The mower one day stopped starting. I jumped key, PTO, brake, seat switches. I also swapped relays around. Still nothing. Then I noticed that the starter solenoid was jumped with an extra relay to make work. I removed all extra wiring and jump solenoid on starter nothing, would not engage starter. I purchase new starter and installed and mower started right up. I used for a weekend and was getting to last yard drove out of the trailer and turned off to close door then started back(reason for turning off is since starter replacement, unit kills when I get off the seat, possible brake switch). Got on unit tried to start, it started for a second then killed and no clicking noise at all, Thoughts?

 

[mechanic mark]

Check by hand fuses, all connections & ground cables making sure everything is tight & secure. By disabling safety switches you are not only creating electrical problems to come, also Safety Hazard for yourself & others.

 

[Mike88se]

Also don't forget the obvious things... brake on etc.

 

[bertsmobile1]

1) Why did you have to replace the key switch ?
2) Jumped the key switch ? like to explain what you mean & did
3) did you bother to get a wiring diagram ?
4) did you Test the starter out of the mower ?
5) starter solenoid jumped with a relay ? that is nonsense . The starter solenoid IS a relay, a 300A relay to be precise.

Some switches are normally open and need to be closed to allow the mower to work. Thesee get jumped
Others are normally closed and need to be open for the mower to work. these get bypassed
Some that are open need to be closed to allow others to open to keep the mower running ( they call it interlocks ) these are done to stop idiots mucking around with stuff they do not understand and making the mower dangerous for them to use and the public to be around.

Jumping switches is always a bad idea except in an emergency situation to finish a job or to get the mower to the shop for repair.
Prolonged jumping of switchs can burn out relays or even burn out the switch itself.

So we will have to go back to square 1 and get your mower back to par.
This is really hard because no each & every part of the mowers electrical system must now be considered suspect.

Before we can do anything.
We need to know the model and possibly serial number of the mower and the same for the engine. So we can get a wiring diagram
We also need to know what tools you have on hand and a rough idea of your compentacy which will determine the level of the instructions.