Last time I finished mowing, I put the brake on and put the control handles in neutral. The engine should have kept running (I like to run all the gas out of the lines after each use), but it just shut off. Brake being on or off made no difference. I just sat there and ran the engine until the gas ran out.
Today I went to mow, and the PTO wouldn't engage. Made no difference what position the brake or control arms were in. Plus the same issue as above still exists. Any ideas on what I'm looking at here: clutch switch, clutch relay, kill relay, seat lift kill, neutral switch, brake switch, something else?
The common thing to both problems is the seat switch .
The new tamper proof ones are very prone to failure
They have a shorting electrode that shorts out all of the terminals if you remove the plug.
BEcause of that if they get the slightest bit loose they short
If they get wet they short
If they get dirty they short
You can thank all of the brain dead morons on face book & you tube for this
Thanks for the reply. I can't even see the switch. It's up inside the seat cushion (I have the deluxe seat), and I don't see an obvious way to get to it. It's also not shown in the 2006 parts manual. I wonder if its the same switch as the regular seat, but located and attached differently. Anyway, assuming I can figure out how to remove it, is their a way to test it using a multimeter? It seems it's working to some extent because it shuts the engine off when I get off the seat (kind of makes me suspect the kill relay).
OK. Tested the seat switch: 1) unplugged the two connections and would not start; 2) bypassed the switch with a jumper between the two leads and it started and ran whether I was on the seat or not and no matter the position of brake or control arms, but PTO would not engage; 3) reconnected switch and back to original issue, i.e. shuts off when not on seat and PTO will not engage. This tells me the seat switch is good.
It acts as if the clutch is engaged when it really isn't: shuts off when getting off the seat no matter the position of the other controls. I don't think it's the PTO switch because it won't start if the PTO switch is in the ON position. Could it be the kill relay, or clutch relay, or clutch itself? Something else?
Pulled and tested the PTO switch. The set of contacts for the clutch had no continuity and the set for the motor was OK, so I'll replace that tomorrow and see what happens. Hope that's all it is.
