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Okay, this will take a minute or so. I started having trouble with my 15 year old CC 2518 a little over a week ago. It started cutting out while mowing and would die. It backfired as it died and also when I tried to restart. Eventually it would not restart at all and I had to push it back to my garage. Next day, I put in two new spark plugs, new gas and air filters, checked gas line for blockage, drained the tank, did all that I could that was practical. Added gas, tried to start, it would not. I was suspecting that one or both of the coils could be failing. That's more than I wanted to try repairing myself, so I took it to the dealer where I bought it 15 years ago. I explained the problem to the technician, he was also suspecting bad coils.

He called back today to say that he hadn't done anything to the mower yet, but that it was running fine and that he had even mowed the dealership lawn with it. He stated that he was unable to duplicate the problems I had described and didn't want to do unnecessary repairs.

I was puzzled, but said thanks and headed over to pick up the mower. There it sat with the side hood panels removed - running perfectly! I paid a small fee for their time involved, they reinstalled the hood panels, and I headed home with the mower in the back of my truck. At home, I started it to drive it off the truck and barely made it off when it started cutting out and died. I got it restarted, tried to move it - same thing! It ran sporadic as I tried to engage the pto. It would miss, shutter, revive itself for a few seconds, and died again. Very frustrated, I got off and removed the metal side panels to look inside the engine compartment for hopefully something obvious.

That's when it occurred to me - at the repair shop it was running fine with the panels removed. I jumped on the mower, turned the key, and it started and ran perfectly. Since the grass was high, I mowed the entire lawn (about an acre) with absolutely no problems. My question is - is one of the metal panels causing a short circuit by pressing against some of the wiring/cables? I can't see anything that is bare, pinched, or exposed. Puzzled!

Is it possible that the side covers are coming in contact with the spark plug wires or boots, and they are arcing through the boot or insulation on the wires.

ILENGINE said:

Is it possible that the side covers are coming in contact with the spark plug wires or boots, and they are arcing through the boot or insulation on the wires.

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Thanks for reading and responding. I'm not savvy on electrical issues, but I did find out that the left panel is not the culprit. The mower runs fine with it attached. I held the right panel up to the engine to see where it might be touching. There is a small worn spot of bare metal on the inside of the panel at the exact place where it may come in contact with the red wire to the starter. Could that be it? If so, can I just put something non-conductive over that spot?

Unless the starter solenoid in mounted on the starter, the only time that wire would be hot at the starter would be went cranking to start the engine. You may be able to put a boot over the starter wire, or cover them with something to prevent arcing.