Had a fire. Made new connections for ground and connection to Electric clutch. Thought I had solenoid problem due to being able to jump terminals to crank. New solenoid did not work. Re-installed old one. It worked again for 3 starts, then nothing. Checked all safety switches. Checked key switch. Relay. All good. Order and install a whole new starter with new solenoid attached. Worked great. For 3 starts. First 2 were for checking starter. 3rd was for mowing grass. Stopped, trimmed yard. Go to restart. Same old crap. No crank. Hear click. Can't jump start this one either. Hear spinning, but no crank. Gets hot too. I am at a complete loss. What could cause the starter to work sometimes, and not others? My only other question would be, that when I had the fire, I had to cut the connection plug to electric clutch. Did away with snap connection and installed crimped plug style. Now, on schematic of electric system, there is a diode somewhere. Could that have been in that connection and causing these problems? Please, I am at my wits end. I'm tired of laying in bed at night trying to remedy this situation. Is there a way to test the connection box with all the wires going into it that has a gel looking substance? It's about the only thing I haven't tested. And suggestions will be greatly appreciated. My wife would love that too!
Starting Problems driving me nuts. Help!!
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cpurvis
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You can use a DC voltmeter to tell if electricity is going where it should.
Test to see if electricity is getting to the solenoid when you turn the ignition switch to 'start.' If it is, test to see is the starter itself is getting voltage. If it is, and the starter doesn't spin, you probably have a bad starter. If it isn't receiving voltage, then you've go to find the other end of that wire at the ignition switch and find out why it isn't sending voltage to the solenoid. Keep in mind there are safety switched, such as seat, PTO, neutral and maybe others that are part of the starting circuit and all of them have to be working unless they've been bypassed.
Test to see if electricity is getting to the solenoid when you turn the ignition switch to 'start.' If it is, test to see is the starter itself is getting voltage. If it is, and the starter doesn't spin, you probably have a bad starter. If it isn't receiving voltage, then you've go to find the other end of that wire at the ignition switch and find out why it isn't sending voltage to the solenoid. Keep in mind there are safety switched, such as seat, PTO, neutral and maybe others that are part of the starting circuit and all of them have to be working unless they've been bypassed.
jworkman415
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i had kinda the same issue, would start fine run get real hot and either shut down or if i shut it down to cleanup it would not start back just roll over, but only if it got real hot and it was hit and miss. i ended up changing out spark plugs and put new coils on.
My version of this Scag model SM-WC-61A. had a coil problem. It recommended a conversion kit, which I replaced about 3 or 4 years ago. I had an epiphany laying in bed last night, that this thing always started after the battery was disconnected. I have done this several times while working on it in the past. Could this " recycle " a relay or some other switch? I will keep you posted this afternoon when I reattach battery cable.
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If you have the solenoid shift starter you might voltage drop in the solenoid causing the solenoid to only partially pull in. IF this is the case a helper relay might need to be added to the solenoid trigger circuit at the starter so trigger electrical circuit wiring resistance is greatly reduce allowing full battery voltage to be applied. I have this relay setup to several JD and one Cub Cadet with solenoid shifter starters that have voltage due long runs of small gauge wire in the trigger circuit.
PTO clutch has nothing to do with starting unless it is active or has a bearing failure. Also the diode in the PTO circuit is for reducing inductive kickback voltage as the clutch is turned off which is known problem when magnetic fields collapse.
PTO clutch has nothing to do with starting unless it is active or has a bearing failure. Also the diode in the PTO circuit is for reducing inductive kickback voltage as the clutch is turned off which is known problem when magnetic fields collapse.
OK. Scoop is that when I reconnected the battery terminal, the thing kicked right over. So, what could be the cause of it not starting after 3 or 4 uses, and then disconnect the battery terminal , reconnect the terminal , and it works fine again? Relay maybe?