L130 - Sudden no crank, no headlights

[bertsmobile1]

FWIW
when I fit new cables I coat the ends liberally with liquid electrical tape to seal between the cable , the lug & the insulation
No water = no corrosion
Same story when I fit the battery
I use a long bolt so it pokes out anout 3/4 " past the nut then coat everything other than the end of the bolt with liquid electrical tape
Same story, no misture where different metals touch = no corrosion

 

[StarTech]

Simply crimping (mashing) the end on simply doesn't hold up in the real world of lawnmowers.

That is why I used a hydraulic crimper for cable lugs and a ratchet open barrel crimper for most other electrical terminal crimps

 

[CLStout]

Dude, why are you yelling at me?

NO

 

[bertsmobile1]

To get your attention
Because you are not listening to what those who actually know are trying to tell you and paying atention to blithering idiots regurgitating trash they got off Face Book

 

[SamB]

Yes. very common on older mowers.
Water wicks into the batery cables and eatsthe copper.
Ohm meters will read good , volt meters will read good but no current will pass down the cable .

It doesn't need to be an older mower, it can be one that gets hosed down after every mow.

 

[CLStout]

To get your attention
Because you are not listening to what those who actually know are trying to tell you and paying atention to blithering idiots regurgitating trash they got off Face Book

Hey, I just made a suggestion. I may not be a mechanic, but I don't even have a Facebook account.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Hey, I just made a suggestion. I may not be a mechanic, but I don't even have a Facebook account.

Trying to help people is a good & noble thing to do
lots of suggestions to help people is also good and very welcome
Bad advice from people who have no idea about mower wiring is not appreciated as it confuses the original help seeker and is very counter productive then those who do know have to explain why the bad advice is wrong which makes fixing problems even more difficult.
For some strange reason urban myths circulate that the seat switch is the cause of every electrical problem and must be bypassed .
Not a single mower that has ever been made runs the battery recharge wire through the seat switch
The seat switch's sole function is to prove that there is an operator present so it is safe for the blades to turn on or the parking brake to turn off
So it is only in 2 circuits , the PTO circuit & the ignition circuit .
On a very few mowers that use ignition relays it may also prevent engine cranking but to date I have only come across one wired like that .

Sorry if you found offense but what gets uploaded to the web lasts forever and gets accessed an unlimited amount of time so it has to be correct .
We all make mistakes & have brain farts, I definately do but I admit mine then go back & correct them
And if I do not know or am ot sure then I either do not post or make it clear that I am not 100% certain.
In the case of this thread, there were plenty of people who seemed to be giving good advice so originally I bypassed it till it got to 3 pages when because it should have been solved in 1 page or less I jumped in to see what was going wrong when I came across you bad incorrect post that needed to be countered swiftly & forceably lest others see it and get lead astray.

 

[CLStout]

Trying to help people is a good & noble thing to do
lots of suggestions to help people is also good and very welcome
Bad advice from people who have no idea about mower wiring is not appreciated as it confuses the original help seeker and is very counter productive then those who do know have to explain why the bad advice is wrong which makes fixing problems even more difficult.
For some strange reason urban myths circulate that the seat switch is the cause of every electrical problem and must be bypassed .
Not a single mower that has ever been made runs the battery recharge wire through the seat switch
The seat switch's sole function is to prove that there is an operator present so it is safe for the blades to turn on or the parking brake to turn off
So it is only in 2 circuits , the PTO circuit & the ignition circuit .
On a very few mowers that use ignition relays it may also prevent engine cranking but to date I have only come across one wired like that .

Sorry if you found offense but what gets uploaded to the web lasts forever and gets accessed an unlimited amount of time so it has to be correct .
We all make mistakes & have brain farts, I definately do but I admit mine then go back & correct them
And if I do not know or am ot sure then I either do not post or make it clear that I am not 100% certain.
In the case of this thread, there were plenty of people who seemed to be giving good advice so originally I bypassed it till it got to 3 pages when because it should have been solved in 1 page or less I jumped in to see what was going wrong when I came across you bad incorrect post that needed to be countered swiftly & forceably lest others see it and get lead astray.

Bert, I'm not going to argue with you about this. I merely made a suggestion on what might be wrong. In fact, I didn't mention the seat switch. I did mention a safety switch, but (at least on my mower) there's a few switches. If there's no power to the ignition switch, there's no power to the lights. That's apparently the way mine is wired. Hence why I made the suggestion. And, that's all it was. And if you didn't notice, I put it in the form of a question, leaving it open to those who are the experts. It certainly wasn't meant to provoke anyone, just trying to give the OP something to think about.
I don't know if someone peed on your Vegemite or you're just having a bad day. I do most of the repairs on my vehicles, including my mower. I consider myself mechanically inclined, and if I don't know how to make the repair, I either study on it, or it goes to somewhere that has the expertise to do the repair. I am intelligent enough to recognize what's over my head. With hourly labor rates what they are these days, and me being on a fixed income, I have to learn how to do a lot of repairs myself.
Have a good evening.

 

[bertsmobile1]

You might like to double check that
No safety switches AFAIK do anything other than turn off the engine or blades or prevent the engine cranking.
None of them interupt the light circuit as all of the wiring dagram posted clearly showed.
In fact there is nothing betwwen the battery & the key switch other than a fuse and goes for every mower .
The OP said "not even lights " which suggests that he has battery powered lights which again the wiring diagram confirms .
Again no safety switches between the battery & the lights
In the bulk of mowers all of the safety switches are ground switches ( yes there are a few exceptions )
The cranking circuit on some does have power running through them but again not connected to the lights .
SO even without having the actual mower diagram in front of me I know there has to be a problem between the battery and the mower so it is either the power feed to the key switch or no ground .
Mark posted a wiring diagram in post # 2
Star followed up with another in post # 4
So either you did not read them or did not understand them
Spectre's posts were a bit off the mark, but double checking for a hydro lock would not hurt and in a lot of cases , a "no crank" is because of a hydro lock or ACR failure
SGKENT , Senior, Freddie & Zedo all made good posts
Then your post , solenoid , possible safetys absolutely not
TMG followed up and Zedo refuted the safetys as he should have done
Followed by esemilio who again brought up safety switches and added the seat switch to the totally wrong information
I refuted that post,
Gord made a good suggstion
Then you followed up again with garbage about safety switches on your mower which is not the OP's mower & I would like to know what that is just in case there is an exception that I am unaware of .
So in dire frustration with all of the trash being posted I dug up the exact correct wiring diagram ( almost idential to the previous 2 ) and again refuted both you and esemilio

Do you understand why we get a little cranky when people chime in with totally incorrect information that contradicts the previously posted correct information now ?
Regardless of weather it is posted as a question, suggestion or fact it muddies the warters and generates confusion
No body here cares what any bodies back story is.
You could be a pro, back yard mechanic, home mechanic or just a well informed reader no one care just so long as what is posted is correct .
Nothing against you in person .

And FWIW I hate vegemite with a passion it is vile stuff, totally unnecessary in OZ where we get more than enough sunlight but very powerful advertising from Kraft convinced the idiot population that it was good ( it is not good at all ) just like every one seems to think that Coke tastes great ( again it is vile and the excess CO2 hides most of the vile taste ) but the advertising brain washes the bulk of the population to make Coke the largest selling drink on the planet .

 

[CLStout]

You might like to double check that
No safety switches AFAIK do anything other than turn off the engine or blades or prevent the engine cranking.
None of them interupt the light circuit as all of the wiring dagram posted clearly showed.
In fact there is nothing betwwen the battery & the key switch other than a fuse and goes for every mower .
The OP said "not even lights " which suggests that he has battery powered lights which again the wiring diagram confirms .
Again no safety switches between the battery & the lights
In the bulk of mowers all of the safety switches are ground switches ( yes there are a few exceptions )
The cranking circuit on some does have power running through them but again not connected to the lights .
SO even without having the actual mower diagram in front of me I know there has to be a problem between the battery and the mower so it is either the power feed to the key switch or no ground .
Mark posted a wiring diagram in post # 2
Star followed up with another in post # 4
So either you did not read them or did not understand them
Spectre's posts were a bit off the mark, but double checking for a hydro lock would not hurt and in a lot of cases , a "no crank" is because of a hydro lock or ACR failure
SGKENT , Senior, Freddie & Zedo all made good posts
Then your post , solenoid , possible safetys absolutely not
TMG followed up and Zedo refuted the safetys as he should have done
Followed by esemilio who again brought up safety switches and added the seat switch to the totally wrong information
I refuted that post,
Gord made a good suggstion
Then you followed up again with garbage about safety switches on your mower which is not the OP's mower & I would like to know what that is just in case there is an exception that I am unaware of .
So in dire frustration with all of the trash being posted I dug up the exact correct wiring diagram ( almost idential to the previous 2 ) and again refuted both you and esemilio

Do you understand why we get a little cranky when people chime in with totally incorrect information that contradicts the previously posted correct information now ?
Regardless of weather it is posted as a question, suggestion or fact it muddies the warters and generates confusion
No body here cares what any bodies back story is.
You could be a pro, back yard mechanic, home mechanic or just a well informed reader no one care just so long as what is posted is correct .
Nothing against you in person .

And FWIW I hate vegemite with a passion it is vile stuff, totally unnecessary in OZ where we get more than enough sunlight but very powerful advertising from Kraft convinced the idiot population that it was good ( it is not good at all ) just like every one seems to think that Coke tastes great ( again it is vile and the excess CO2 hides most of the vile taste ) but the advertising brain washes the bulk of the population to make Coke the largest selling drink on the planet .

Well, I don't post "garbage", but I guess from this point on I should offer no suggestions for anything, and just hand off any questions to the experts here.
For the record, I don't like Coke either.
I don't know why you suddenly developed this attitude, but you should check yourself.
We've had discussions in the past, always civil. But it's your choice to cop an attitude.
I hope you have a good day.