Hello I have a 2008 Super Z (416hrs) and my PTO will not engage. I took it out to mow the other day, pulled the switch, blades engaged for a second and then stopped. I pulled the switch several more times, nothing, I lowered the RPM and pulled the switch and it killed the engine. When I restarted it worked fine, until I had to turn them off to drop over an edge. I backed onto a set of car ramps, pulled the pigtail and verified 12v (13+ when running), visually checked the wires, fuses, everything looked good, battery is 8 months old. Started back up worked fine, on and off several times for the next hour or so with no problems. I turned the off to speak to my wife, when I turned them on and went 5 feet or so and they disengaged, and could not get them to come on again. in the garage I noticed the PTO date was replaced early 2015 just before I bought it from the previous <deleted> I felt it was a little soon for it to have failed again. I forced a wire into the backside of the PTO's red pigtail and touched the battery with a good solid click. Needing to mow I safely routed the wire by my control panel added a switch, fuse and connectors, taped everything up and finished mowing with no issues. I would pull my normal switch then the switch I added, if I raised up from the seat the safety would still kill the engine. I'm thinking a bad relay, under the control panel? any thoughts would be appreciated, Thank you.
#2
cpurvis
Deleted live link from 1bbFord's post.
#3
StarTech
According to the Super Z service manual you have a SIC (Spark Ignited Controller - ECU) controller that most likely has failed. By bypassing it you have a possibility if you forget to disengage the PTO for mower to startup with the blades engaged. It can be wired to safety bypass the section of ECU that has failure but requires breaking the PTO circuit out from the ECU and adding a circuit to the PTO switch so the mower will not start if the switch is on.
But most DIYers should just replace the ECU as most have no idea to even do the electrical work with proper interconnects.
StarTech,
Thank you for the reply, can you tell me were is the SIC located on the mower? Can it be tested to verify this is the problem? I have made a quick search for the SIC with no luck finding the part number or cost.
Model 927889A
SN 08021186
Kawasaki 25hp FH721v
If I had a diagram on how to properly (safely) bypass this circuit I could, would this be a better solution than replacing the SIC?
I agree the safety is bypassed, I am the only one using the mower and I pulled the fuse on my circuit as soon as I finished mowing.
#5
StarTech
Will I need to contact Hustler on this as IPL just shows relays but the service manual electrical diagram say it has a controller board. It may take a few day for a reply from them. They either where the board is or provide me with the correct wiring diagram based on the model and serial posted.
StarTech
Thank You, finally had some time to look at it, the diagram helped narrow it down to the correct relay (noise and feel of the relay activating had me looking at the wrong one), but it looks like it went bad. Verified power, ground and power from the switch, you can hear the relay click but no power to the clutch. I will check locally for the part on Monday or order it. Again I appreciate your help.
you can double check that you have power & ground to the relay trigger wires ( 86 & 85 ) remember when using relays it is common to switch both the + and - side of the relay.
Make a short jumper with a make blade at both ends and use it to bridge the switched terminals ( 30 & 87 ) .
If the clutch works then the rest of the circuit is good, if not there is a problem in the rest of the wiring.
StarTech
Confirmed the relay was bad (internal issue), changed it out today and mowed with zero issues. Appreciate the assistance getting this fixed, the diagram was a great help locating the correct relay, there are 6 of them close together and I could hear/feel the click on all of them, once I matched the wire colors it was easy to solve, thanks again.
bertsmobile1
Thanks for the response, all the wires checked out before I replaced the relay.
Thinking back over the last few years there have been a handful of times that the blades failed to engage or kicked out after a second or two, but never repeated itself. I will update if anything else comes up.
