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SENTINEL RIDING MOWER E3912-000 39" w/ Briggs and Stratton 12hp Model 282707

The mower ran when I bought it, and for half of the next day before it died. Flushed fuel lines and tank, replaced spark plug, replaced fuel filter, replaced air filter, charged battery, wouldn't crank. At the suggestion of a coworker I shot a little starter fluid into the carb while trying to crank it and it fired up and immediately died so I knew I had a carb problem. Rebuilt and cleaned carb, reinstalled - cranked right up.

Mowed for 30 minutes, hit a chunk of wood sticking up from the ground which stopped the blade(s). Engine cut off and small amount of gray smoke came off engine for a minute or so.

Will not make a sound when I turn the key now. Ahhhhhh!

I am grateful for any help!



- Cameron
NW GA

BeardedMowerinGA said:

SENTINEL RIDING MOWER E3912-000 39" w/ Briggs and Stratton 12hp Model 282707

The mower ran when I bought it, and for half of the next day before it died. Flushed fuel lines and tank, replaced spark plug, replaced fuel filter, replaced air filter, charged battery, wouldn't crank. At the suggestion of a coworker I shot a little starter fluid into the carb while trying to crank it and it fired up and immediately died so I knew I had a carb problem. Rebuilt and cleaned carb, reinstalled - cranked right up.

Mowed for 30 minutes, hit a chunk of wood sticking up from the ground which stopped the blade(s). Engine cut off and small amount of gray smoke came off engine for a minute or so.

Will not make a sound when I turn the key now. Ahhhhhh!

I am grateful for any help!

- Cameron
NW GA

Click to expand...

Hi I am all so in west ga.

Can you turn the engine over by hand?
Take the spark plug out and try turning by hand.

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

Forgive my ignorance here - I'm new at this whole small engine thing.

What do you mean by turn the engine over by hand? When I turn the key literally nothing happens.

Do you mean remove the grill from the top of the engine and see if the wheel-like part will spin?




Thanks so much for your help - I look forward to your response, I will be trying to diagnose further when I get home around 5pm today. Really don't know what to check at this point...carb diagnosis was easy, this not so much.


- Cameron

BeardedMowerinGA said:

Forgive my ignorance here - I'm new at this whole small engine thing.

What do you mean by turn the engine over by hand? When I turn the key literally nothing happens.

Do you mean remove the grill from the top of the engine and see if the wheel-like part will spin?

Thanks so much for your help - I look forward to your response, I will be trying to diagnose further when I get home around 5pm today. Really don't know what to check at this point...carb diagnosis was easy, this not so much.

- Cameron

Click to expand...

Just take you hands and put them on top of the engine on the round grill type looking thing and try and turn it.

What town are you in?

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

Will do. If the engine does not turn, does that mean I've locked it up? What exactly am I trying to rule out by doing this?

I am in White, GA - just outside of Cartersville.

You?


Thanks!

- Cameron

BeardedMowerinGA said:

Will do. If the engine does not turn, does that mean I've locked it up? What exactly am I trying to rule out by doing this?

I am in White, GA - just outside of Cartersville.

You?

Thanks!

- Cameron

Click to expand...

If you can not turn it with the sparkplug out then its locked up or a broke rod.

I am working in dalton today. Was going to say if you was close to me today I would come take a look at it.

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

Where are you headed from Dalton? If you are going south I am 2 miles off of I-75 at Exit 293, right on the way.


If for some reason you could stop through I would be grateful! At a loss here.

I am reading that Flywheel key often breaks when the blades hit something, but would that keep the starter from even trying to crank? I get silence when I turn the key.


Please text/call me if you think you could stop by! I'll buy you a six-pack for your troubles. I will send you a private message with my phone number now.


Thanks,

- Cameron

BeardedMowerinGA said:

Where are you headed from Dalton? If you are going south I am 2 miles off of I-75 at Exit 293, right on the way.


If for some reason you could stop through I would be grateful! At a loss here.

I am reading that Flywheel key often breaks when the blades hit something, but would that keep the starter from even trying to crank? I get silence when I turn the key.


Please text/call me if you think you could stop by! I'll buy you a six-pack for your troubles. I will send you a private message with my phone number now.


Thanks,

- Cameron

Click to expand...

Normally on a rider, a flywheel key won't shear because the belts take the shock of hitting something. With a push mower, where the blade is in direct contact with the crankshaft, hitting something puts full stress on the crankshaft and the key will shear like a shock absorber

Chance,

Thanks for that piece of information. Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do next?

Wires seem to all be in place, the impact really wasn't severe by any means.



- Cameron

UPDATE

The mower will turn by hand.

Also, I found a pulley laying in the yard this afternoon. It was a good 20 yards away from the spot where I hit the obstruction and the mower died. So, looks like the mower continued to work after the pulley came off. Here's a pic of the part I found.

Borrowed some ramps today so I will get a look underneath it tomorrow.

False alarm on the pulley. Does not appear it came off of my mower after inspection.


I have attached a picture of the diagram for my mower deck. The picture shows 2 springs, parts #9 and #10. Here is my question - where does spring #10 go??? It's just floating in the picture.

The spring that I found broken was connected on one end at the notch that the dotted line goes to from part #10. It does not however show where the other end should connect.

I have no second spring, so I guess I need to replace both? Could it have functioned with only one spring?


Lastly, the replacement springs I find when I look up the part numbers mentioned in the parts list don't look like the one I found on my mower. They all seem to have a coiled section and a long straight section. The spring on my mower is entirely coiled.


Any help is greatly appreciated!