2006 JD L111 Lawn Mower Tractor
Mowed 2 weeks ago, all good. Parked it in the shed.
Today, brake pedal would not depress. Moved an inch or 2 but would not go down all the way. Could not start it without depressing the brake pedal fully.
Did a little googleing, found "pop the pedal".
I did just that, and WaLa! The brake pedal freed up.
But now it will not turn over. It's acting like the safety switch is not being depressed, but it is.
Battery is good, charger says 100%. Headlights and running hour display work fine.
No clicking noise, nothing, when I turn the key.
Pressed safety switch by hand many times, no change, and the brake pedal is depressing it correctly now.
All battery terminals look good, no corrosion at all, nothing is loose.
Yesterday afternoon, I got a can of CRC Contact Cleaner. Took out the brake pedal and seat switches. Cleaned them thoroughly. Put them back in, and it's still dead. No go.
I watched some YouTube videos on this. One of them showed a guy jumping across the solenoid with a screw driver to start a mower.
So I tried it! I put the parking brake on, which depressed the brake safety switch. The seat switch only takes effect when the blades are turning. BTW - the blade activation is manual, not electric.
Anyway, with the brake on, arcing the solenoid - it fired right up, and ran. I can get the lawn mowed this way, but I want to get it fixed.
I'm leaning towards the ignition switch, what do you guys think?
This is generic information.
It is not the only way to do it but it is my way
There are other ways and they work just as well so you decide which suggestions to follow then follow them to the letter , post the results to all of the tests and do them in the order listed.
That way people who understand mowers can follow on and give further advice should I not be available
Before you start, pull the spark plug & try to rotate the engine by hand.
No use checking the electrics if you have a hydraulic lock, seized engine or jambed belt overloading the stater motor.
Assuming the engine turns freely.
I like to start from the starter motor and go backwards .
Do the following 5 tests, regardless of the results from an or all of them as there can be more than one problem and you want to isolate where the problem lies.
Elimination of individual parts is important so you know by the end, the battery, solenoid & heavy power circuits are all in good order.
1) try to jump the starter motor directly from your car or truck.
Starter turns = starter good
2) do the same directly from the mowers battery
Starter turns = mower battery good
No turn = duff battery, recharge it & try again.
3) check for voltage ( + 12V ) at the solenoid trigger wire with the key in start position
3a) same with ground trigger wire ( 4 wire solenoid ) or body of solenoid ( 3 wire solenoid)
( I like to test V from the battery hot terminal to ground terminal rather than ohms as they give funny readings )
4) leave ground jumper in place ( from step 2 ) & try key start.
Starter turns = power connection good but ground connection suspect ( most common )
Confirm it by trying again, extra ground removed
I run a secondary ground from the grounding bolt to one of the starter mounting bolts & paint over both with liquid electrical tape.
5) Remove the trigger ( thin ) wire / wires from the solenoid.
Ground one & bridge from the hot terminal to the other.
Starter cranks = solenoid good.
Solenoid is not polarity sensitive, BUT THE WIRING IS so make sure you remove the thin control wires.
Note a thinner wire on the hot terminal is not a control wire. It is the main power feed to the mower.
From here on things become very mower dependant as starting circuits are getting changed all the time.
Basically the power goes in a loop from the hot side of the solenoid ( saves wire, no other reason ) through the fuse to the B terminal on the key switch then to the PTO switch then to the parking brake switch then to the solenoid trigger switch , easy peasy after you grow the 3rd arm. Use a test lamp and follow the power.
However a lot of mowers with a 4 pole solenoid, run a secondary ground control circuit to the ground solenoid wire through the lap bars.
Then to stop this interfearing with the normal safety function of the ground kill, it goes to a relay with the ground as the switched connection.
These are a PIA as the + control wire to the relay comes from the power loop above and the ground side of the control comes via the normal cut out functions of the lap bars.
Be very careful because if you have a system like this and accidentally send 12V down the ground loop you can fry the magnetos on some circuits.
