Will not turn over with key will strat f unplug and bypass

[66goat]

I am usually very good at figuring these out. I picked up a 50'' 0 turn Troy bilt with a 25 Kohler courage eng for a great price .Eng would not start so got it home and did some trouble shooting. Battery dead installed new nothing at the key bypassed key can jump from starter solenoid orange wire. Carb flooding needle stuck open rr carb cleaned and adj float level bench test fine. I changed the oil and plugs and started right up with bypassing the electrical harness. Back traced power from key I have ignition signal at the hour meter but nothing from there the park brake light stays illuminated when key turned to start position. Tested switch function after eng started I can plug it back in and eng will stay running until I shut it off and try to restart.
I have power at the orange wire from the ignition switch to the hour meter but nothing from there. Anyone have any ideas where to go next.

Both steering arm safety's work. Engage switches both side eng will die.
Seat safety works blades will not engage until pressure on seat.

There are 2 switched for the parking brake the top one doesn't seem to do anything.
The PTO will engage and disengage when running.

To make it run I unplug the main harness and jump it at the starter.
To shut it down I plug the harness back in and turn the key off.
The weird part is after it starts I can plug the harness back in and everything seems to work as it should no flashing park light all systems are a go.

Will the hour meter cause it not to start and run ?

Thanks guy hope someone can help.

 

[Mikel1]

I'm guessing this is the Mustang. Is their voltage coming from ignition switch on the start circuit, labeled A? That's if I have the correct diagram.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Not as weird as it sounds.
Two seperate safety circuits.One kills the spark and the other prevents the engine cranking.
The latter is wha is giving you greif.
If it is an MTD made model, go the the web page & download the owners manual & parts manual.
One of them will have a wiring diagram.
If the solenoid only has one control wire, the orange one then that halves your job, just trace it back ti the ignition switch.
In this circuit all the switches are in series ie the power passes through them to the next one.
Somewhere along the line there is a dud switch or a broken wire

 

[66goat]

Not as weird as it sounds.
Two seperate safety circuits.One kills the spark and the other prevents the engine cranking.
The latter is wha is giving you greif.
If it is an MTD made model, go the the web page & download the owners manual & parts manual.
One of them will have a wiring diagram.
If the solenoid only has one control wire, the orange one then that halves your job, just trace it back ti the ignition switch.
In this circuit all the switches are in series ie the power passes through them to the next one.
Somewhere along the line there is a dud switch or a broken wire

I have ign signal to the hour meter with key then nothing the yellow black tracer wire has constant ground signal to kill the eng traced back to the parking brake switch I can unplug the brake switch and manually start the motor . The starter solenoid has 2 orange wires I get no key signal to the solenoid thinking I may have two issues. What's odd is with the key on and test light probe at the hour meter I can probe the orange wires and it will activate the starter so it tells me the system is looking for a ground. Thanks for the response.

 

[66goat]

I'm guessing this is the Mustang. Is their voltage coming from ignition switch on the start circuit, labeled A? That's if I have the correct diagram.

It is a Mustang 50'' with 25 hp kholer I have ign signal to the hour meter from there nothing there are 2 orange wires at the solenoid that should light up nothing. I can manually start the eng by disconnecting the yellow wire with blk tracer at the eng harness it is getting constant ground signal I think that may be my parking brake switch issue but no clue why no ign signal from the meter.

 

[bertsmobile1]

It will depend upon the solenoid.
If it has 2 small control wires then there is a better than average chance both the power and earth control wires are wired into the safety circuits.
If it only has a single control ( thin ) wire and that wire is showing 12V at the solenoid then the solenoid is not grounding.
Remove it and clean the contact surfaces so it can earth to the frame , usually via one or both of the mounting bolts.
All of the wires going into the PTO switch are earths with the exception of a single pair.
Very shortly the seat switch will be going from a direct contact to a pieso electric cell so the mower will know if it has been bypassed or if a child is in the drivers seat & will not switch on.
These types of switches are currently being fitted to small earth moving equipment to prevent kids stealing them on weekends.
A lot of the relays fitted do not switch the posative but switch the negative instead and that also confuses those who would hot wire or bypass safety switches.
Shortly to be sold in Aust all wires must be plain black wire. This is to prevent snotty nosed brats who deserve a swift boot up the backside hurting themselves when they steal your gear.

 

[66goat]

It will depend upon the solenoid.
If it has 2 small control wires then there is a better than average chance both the power and earth control wires are wired into the safety circuits.
If it only has a single control ( thin ) wire and that wire is showing 12V at the solenoid then the solenoid is not grounding.
Remove it and clean the contact surfaces so it can earth to the frame , usually via one or both of the mounting bolts.
All of the wires going into the PTO switch are earths with the exception of a single pair.
Very shortly the seat switch will be going from a direct contact to a pieso electric cell so the mower will know if it has been bypassed or if a child is in the drivers seat & will not switch on.
These types of switches are currently being fitted to small earth moving equipment to prevent kids stealing them on weekends.
A lot of the relays fitted do not switch the posative but switch the negative instead and that also confuses those who would hot wire or bypass safety switches.
Shortly to be sold in Aust all wires must be plain black wire. This is to prevent snotty nosed brats who deserve a swift boot up the backside hurting themselves when they steal your gear.

I have 2 orange wires on a single post and one green wire on the solenoid the orange wires should be getting an ign signal nut it stops at the hour meter I have a signal from the key to the meter orange wire then nothing from the meter my yellow black wire at the eng harness has continuous ground if I pull the yellow and man start the eng it's all good as soon as I plug the yellow back in it dies.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Well you have come to the limit of what I can do for you without a wiring diagram.
IT sounds like the power wire from the hour meter to the solenoid has an internal break, but the hour meter should not be connected to the starting circuit so it does not make sense to me as you are describing it.
The seat switch and the parking brake switch work together to kill the engine so you can get off with the parking brake applied and the engine continues to run.
But if you get off without the brake oapplied the engine dies.
The parking brake and the motion control levers ( both of them ) are connected together as well so if you try to move the mower with the brake still applied it will kill the engine.
All of the above are earth ciricuts so you are checking for continuity or open circuits at these switches, not power.

Sounds very much like the parking brake switch is faulty but as stated above I have no wiring diagram

 

[BlazNT]

What is the model number of the mower?

 

[66goat]

What is the model number of the mower?

17wfzacp011 z could be a 2 I believe it's a 2004 Mustang.