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My name is Mick and I'm in the far north of Queensland Australia. A very dry tropical environment most of the year, until our wet season comes round usually December to March.
I've always been interested in mechanical things and enjoy learning how to maintain and fix up the things I use.
Recently I've been moved from Road work to equipment maintenance, mostly small to medium scale mowing equipment, think the kinds of things used on the grass at the sides of roads in small towns and out on the hi way.
One ZTR I have to work on is a Toro 5000 Series Zmaster professional, to say it's been hard used is an understatement.
The key switch is completely junked and the starter solenoid has no cover and is open to the elements. The park brake cables on both sides are loose to the point they almost trip the safety switch.
It like a few others will be a case of fix one thing to find something else is busted, but they will keep me busy as a return to work process.
Looking forward to sharing and learning from these fixes.
New solenoid will get fitted in the morning, and I will have to order the key switch before I can test further I think.

Welcome to the forum. I did not see a question in your post.

:welcome:

What do you want to know ?
Your service manual is a free download from the TORO USA web site but not the Aust web site.
Gripskies do all the parts you need after market .
Get some Liquid Electrical Tape, Super Cheap ( & nasty ) keep it as electrical parts stores ( type that sell resistors ).
paint over all the terminals.
I am down is Sydney and it makes a big difference to corrosion down here.

Thank you for the tip about covering all the terminals, what I have found so far has had a lot of dirt but also bad corrosion.
The question faded out as I was typing. I was going to ask about by passing the starter switch to check each electrical safety, but a switch may be available in town without the usual wait for freight. So I will hang on till
I can start from one known working point.

Locate the wire that goes to the magneto, it is a earth wire.
open circuit = runs , earthed = stop.
Use a patch chord to bridge from the hot solenoid wire to the fuel solenoid under the carb, or replace it with a bolt
Flash from the hot terminal on the starter solenoid to the solenoid trigger wire, or bridge the two heavy terminals to start.

Had some good luck, the local dealer had the switch on the shelf, and only needed a few days wait for the ignition relay. Then I found the 5 pin relay at an auto store for a third of the price, winner!
So I replaced switch and relay then found a broken wire in the connector for the ignition switch.

It ran for about 10 minutes, in the corner of the outside shed so no issue with fumes. I shut it down and now the Toro won't start. The starter seems unable to engage the fly wheel. I took the starter off and it throws out and spins strongly on the bench. I can hear it strike the flywheel but it is not engaging or spinning the engine most of the time.
After several attempts the engine did spin over quite strongly but it was noisy, like a clatter and it would not fire.
This machine was in very regular use until about 1 month ago.
I have some pics but they will not load at the moment, computer keeps timing out.

bertsmobile1 said:

Locate the wire that goes to the magneto, it is a earth wire.
open circuit = runs , earthed = stop.
Use a patch chord to bridge from the hot solenoid wire to the fuel solenoid under the carb, or replace it with a bolt
Flash from the hot terminal on the starter solenoid to the solenoid trigger wire, or bridge the two heavy terminals to start.

Click to expand...

Hey, thank you for that, as you can see I didn't need to go that way, but I will print and save your test. Much appreciated

Trying the pictures again.

Not quite right yet, but I finally relented and got a professional opinion on the starter, it working but not producing the torque that it should, an after market one is on the way. One I have it starting reliably, I will chase the clattering noise.

I will in future, preview my posts to fix up my poor typing.
I fitted the new starter this morning, the engine now spins strongly again.
The noisy clatter was the plastic coating from the wiring loom and a single 20amp fuse housing being struck by the plastic fan blades directly below the driver's seat. Got that cleaned up and cable tied out of the way.
The engine did fire but still will not run.
So I changed out the plugs after checking that I was getting fuel, when I remove the plugs they seem damp and smell of fuel.
I spun the engine with one of the plugs out but earthed to the frame and I can see a nice bright spark, hard to photograph but that is what the picture is supposed to show, and I believe I can see the puff of fuel air mix being driven out of the plug hole.
I am going to have to drain the fuel tank or hook up an alternative tank with "known good" fuel in it. As I'm running out of ideas.
I did check to see if the Safety system was somehow preventing the engine from running but if I engage the blades the engine will not even spin, so I don't believe it's a fault in the safety circuit.
It feels so much like I'm missing something obvious.

I tried fresh fuel today and rechecked that I'm defnately getting fuel and spark to the chamber. So I think the timing must be off. I suppose that means that the flywheel has moved around the crank shaft.
Remove and check the flywheel is next.

Well it's not the flywheel or the flywheel key, pulled it apart this morning, looked rusted and abused so I had big hopes of a fix, but you look at the pictures. I think it's still nice and straight and true, no slipping here. Next stop was the valve clearances.

Non adjustable hydraulic lifters.

Get a couple of new plugs.
Replace just one of them and see if the engine starts to fire.
The possum piss we get served up down here is all the rubbish that can not be sold anywhere else in the world.
You can thank Mr Keating for that.
A lot of modern fuel ( which is nothing like petrol ) becomes conductive at cylinder compressions.
NGK no longer glaze the insulators inside the plug so once it gets wet the plug is junk unless you burn it clean.
Wire brushing leaves streaks on the insulators which aids the spark running down the nose & not across the gap

Sorry I've been so long away from this thread. Days off work and then a run of night shifts. I will admit the night shifts are much more pleasant than the hot days. It's been 36 deg in the shade so I think that is 97 or 98 for you, and humid. But we get that here in the wet season so it's not like this is a surprise.
The Toro that would not start. Now runs.
I did not fix it I gave up, when I realised that with the days off and nights it would be more that a week before I got hands on it again I decided that was too long for it to be off line.
Called the dealer in town and 3 days later they sent a trailer out to pick up the Toro.
I wasn't there but the scene has been described to me several times. The man picking it up said he would try and start it to get it onto the trailer as the winch was not working.
The engine spun over well as it's been doing and he looked at it and immediately said that smells a really rich fuel mix.
He checked the carb and someone had undone the 8mm bolt on the choke cable applied full choke and retightened the bolt.
The engine was drowning, yep looks like it was deliberate, looks that way.
So 1 fast adjustment and it started right up.
Apparently it ran just perfect for the next 4 days, in fact till yesterday when it died again.

Possum piss fuel, love it!!
I didn't get to check the latest problem till this afternoon, and it only seems to be electrical looks like the battery went flat. Once I jump started it the battery light stayed on so it's not charging. But It Is Running!!
Thank you all for your help and suggestions. I'm sure I will be asking again in the near future.