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I've had some very strange issues with a customers mower. Here's some info Its a john deere lx279 with a liquid cooled 17Hp Kawasaki twin cylinder engine. About 2 years ago he was having starter issues the starter tested bad. I replaced the starter. Every 8-10 times you'd go to start it you'd get a partial engagement of the Bendix so it would hang up.... No problem. We've left it alone. Its very tough to trouble shoot an intermittent part. It was here about a week ago for other maintenance and I was warming it up, I went to drive it around and it got on the seat pressed full forward.... about 15 feet later it completely went dead like the key was turned off. No warning, or anything. It won't crank, it won't make any noises, the battery has 13 volts. And I noticed it popped a fuse. I replaced that fuse. It popped immediately again as soon as the key was turned on.... We did some trouble shooting and found the ignition control module to be the culprit. I replaced that this morning. It has the exact same symptoms as before. As soon as you turn the key to on it pops the fuse. Please help me to get this issue sorted out. Thanks

First check all wiring, hot wires for touching ground, ground cables and straps tight & secure, finally check for failed carburetor solenoid diode, in harness.

"K&T Parts House Lawn Mower Parts and Chain Saw & Trimmer Parts" locate engine model, download & see wiring schematic.

Thank you sir. I will look at it wire by wire. Can i just unplug the carb solenoid to test and see if it pops the fuse?

mechanic mark said:

First check all wiring, hot wires for touching ground, ground cables and straps tight & secure, finally check for failed carburetor solenoid diode, in harness.

"K&T Parts House Lawn Mower Parts and Chain Saw & Trimmer Parts" locate engine model, download & see wiring schematic.

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Mower Doctor 78006 said:

Thank you sir. I will look at it wire by wire. Can i just unplug the carb solenoid to test and see if it pops the fuse?

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Absolutely.

Back in the "old days" that was exactly how you did it.
Just keep taking one part/ switch out of circuit at a time till it stopped popping fuses.
However now days when there are 56,000 electrical parts you might do better to buy a circuit breaker and put a pair of fly leads on it to plug into the fuse holder.
it gets a bit hard to charge the customer for 18 fuses when you are supposed to know what is wrong by osmosis through you back side when you sit on the seat.

And on that subject, as it started happening just after moving the seat, every wire & switch under the seat will be No 1 on the suspect list.

We found the problem. The fuel solenoid on the carb has 12 volts going to it when the key is turned on. That wire was pitched under a valve cover bolt, and worn bare causing the dead short. Once we found that all was well. Thanks for your help.

I agree completely.

bertsmobile1 said:

Back in the "old days" that was exactly how you did it.
Just keep taking one part/ switch out of circuit at a time till it stopped popping fuses.
However now days when there are 56,000 electrical parts you might do better to buy a circuit breaker and put a pair of fly leads on it to plug into the fuse holder.
it gets a bit hard to charge the customer for 18 fuses when you are supposed to know what is wrong by osmosis through you back side when you sit on the seat.

And on that subject, as it started happening just after moving the seat, every wire & switch under the seat will be No 1 on the suspect list.

Click to expand...