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When I push the key, I hear a whine, and the starter motor is not turning. Could it be the solenoid?

Lets make sure you can turn the engine by hand before continuing. take you hand and turn the flywheel a least one full revolution. May be hydrolocked from a leaking carb.

ILENGINE said:

Lets make sure you can turn the engine by hand before continuing. take you hand and turn the flywheel a least one full revolution. May be hydrolocked from a leaking carb.

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Thanks, I tried that, same thing.
I have a cub cadet xt1 46" 547 efi engine with magnetic key and electric start.
When I push the key, the starter motor does not engage, and all I hear is a constant whine. Lights are on, battery is fully charged. Could it be the solenoid?
Thanks again for the quick response.

raindrop said:

Thanks, I tried that, same thing.
.

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??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
A yes no answer is what is needed
Can you manually turn the engine over for 1 complete revolution.

We need to know if the engine is locked up, siezed, jambed etc.
It COULD be a lot of things which is why you were asked to do a simple test.
From the results of the simple test you will be asked to do other simple tests .
Eventually the results of the simple tests will point to the cause of the no start situation.

The MOST important thing is to take one step at a time.


And as for you solenoid obsession, if the starter motor is making noises and getting hot then the solenoid is passing current to it.
It still might be faulty, but the wires going to it could also be dirty / broken as can th battery wires, the engine main ground or a pile of other things

That whine could be the electric fuel pump running. the problem could be the solenoid, but also could be the brake or pto safety switches. there should be 1 or 2 small terminals on the starter solenoid. Do you have 12 volts at those terminals when you are trying to start.

Yes I can manually turn the engine over for 1 complete revolution.
The starter motor is not making any noise or getting hot. It is not doing anything

bertsmobile1 said:

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
A yes no answer is what is needed
Can you manually turn the engine over for 1 complete revolution.

We need to know if the engine is locked up, siezed, jambed etc.
It COULD be a lot of things which is why you were asked to do a simple test.
From the results of the simple test you will be asked to do other simple tests .
Eventually the results of the simple tests will point to the cause of the no start situation.

The MOST important thing is to take one step at a time.


And as for you solenoid obsession, if the starter motor is making noises and getting hot then the solenoid is passing current to it.
It still might be faulty, but the wires going to it could also be dirty / broken as can th battery wires, the engine main ground or a pile of other things

Click to expand...

So now we do a systematic series of tests to see where the problem lies

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.

On my Cub cadet ltx1040, when ever the solenoid starts to go it creates a loud whine, as you stated,and in my case the starter motor wouldn't turn, but the lights would be on and battery charged.
Replacing the solenoid always fixed it.