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I've got a 2000 Toro ride on and I can't get it going. I'm inexperienced but have done various checks and replaced parts but alas it won't go - it doesn't turn.
The starter and solenoid are new. The battery is showing 12+ V. I'm getting a click (solenoid) on turning the key and the starter engages with the flywheel but nothing more. I've checked the main cables for continuity and cleaned the grounds.

I'm not getting 12+ V at the starter side solenoid post when I turn the key - more like 6+ V and the same at the starter. I'm getting 12+ V at the battery side solenoid post.

Where should I go from here?

Thanks

You cannot test a battery at home. Because of its chemical nature, a battery is rarely Good/ Bad like a light bulb or a fuse. They have about 20 states of relative Goodness/ Badness. What can be done with the battery takes some pro testing to determine.

Hope this helps.

Try turning the engine over by hand.
If it is seized and the starter motor can not urn the engine around it will draw a massive amount of amps as it is almost a direct short when not rotating
This will give you a big voltage drop at the starter side of the solenoid .

If you are only getting 6V at the starter your problem is a bad battery. It is either not charged fully or junk.

Born2Mow said:

You cannot test a battery at home. Because of its chemical nature, a battery is rarely Good/ Bad like a light bulb or a fuse. They have about 20 states of relative Goodness/ Badness and what can be done with the battery takes some pro testing to determine for sure.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that's good to know

bertsmobile1 said:

Try turning the engine over by hand.
If it is seized and the starter motor can not urn the engine around it will draw a massive amount of amps as it is almost a direct short when not rotating
This will give you a big voltage drop at the starter side of the solenoid .

Click to expand...

Ok, how do I turn the engine over by hand? I've had the fly wheel cover off and can get it to turn about 360. I figured it probably wasn't seized in so far as if I could get it round that far then the starter should - but didn't.

Rivets said:

If you are only getting 6V at the starter your problem is a bad battery. It is either not charged fully or junk.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I tried my 12V car battery too and just got a lot more solenoid clicking but no more than that. Uhm?

munro999 said:

Thanks. I tried my 12V car battery too and just got a lot more solenoid clicking but no more than that. Uhm?

Click to expand...

Where did you hook the jumpers to ?
If it was just to the battery then try jumping with the + direct to the starter motor & the - to a good grounding place on the engine.
Let us know what happens.

You need to do voltage drop tests now to pinpoint where the massive voltage is occurring. It can anywhere in the positive or negative side. If the voltage on the battery side of the starter is 12v +- when attempting to crank and the starter side is 6v +- then it is very good chance that the starter solenoid is bad. (otherwords has burned contacts).

I have had 12v to present at the battery side of solenoid until I attempt to crank and seen drop considerable cause of a bad terminal (corroded internally and not visable to the eye). Also other terminals can loose and lose contact once a load is applied.

There's a lot of "back-story" missing here. And your location is not in your profile, so we can't even use our imagination to fill it in.

>> Did you put this mower away for the winter with this issue, or has it just developed it when you rolled it out for the first mow of the season ??
>> If it sat all winter, what steps did you take to prepare it for storage ??
>> And what maintenance steps did you take during storage to insure it would start in April ??

We only know what you tell us.

Remove and clean all Battery and starter Cable connections. Use a file/wire brush etc.
With Car or other 12VDC source OFF, connect + to Starter and - to Clean solid surface on engine like mounting bolts.
Work backwards from there....other side of solenoid etc.
NEVER TRY TO BOOST A SMALL ENGINE FROM A VEHICLE WITH ENGINE RUNNING. YOU MAY DESTROY THE CHARGING STATOR ON THE ITEM.

have you checked your valve adjustment? I've had problems where loose valves make for extremely high engine compression that the battery/starter cannot overcome and it draws the battery down hard. If the battery stays at 12+ volts during the starting attempts, I agree with the previous recommendations to focus on the solenoid and/or cabling.

Bad (new) solenoid?
I once had a starter gear jammed in the flywheel teeth and it reacted as you describe. The starter plunger would not retract so it took some coaxing to free it up then the system worked again. I have no idea why or how it happened.