Lawn mower help

"zeontestpilot" (zeontestpilot) 04/13/2015 at 07:06 • Filed to: Craftsman, lt1000

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The truth is, this guy won't start, I'm trying to figure out why. Yesterday I reconnected the battery (new bolts and nuts, lost the originals), and when I pressed the clutch in and turned the key, it didn't turn over. It's a Craftsman LT1000.

Now I think the battery had power, because it kept sparking when my wrench hit the metal when tightening the nut on the positive side. And before winter hit, I added oil to it, and there was gas in the tank too. Not sure if I should redo that stuff though.

When I turn the key, I can't hear anything at all, no sound. I have very little experience with mechanical stuff, but maybe its the starter? Thoughts? Ideas? Anything will be helpful.

Jobjoris > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:10

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That battery can spark your wrench but still have to little power to crank that starter-motor. Check it's voltage.

random001 > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:11

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Did you try turning it off and turning it back on?

Kidding! If you didn't hear anything, I'd check the starter. Could be it's gone bad, or you have a bad ground. I'm assuming these have a starter, of course. But not hearing anything at all, no click or whatnot seems to saw power wasn't getting somewhere it needed to get.

. . > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:17

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By the sound of it either your starter is dead or some pests had a nibble on the electrics.

zeontestpilot > random001 04/13/2015 at 07:23

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That's what my thought was too, power isn't getting where it needs to. Now I need to figure what the starter looks like, and it's location on it.

zeontestpilot > Jobjoris 04/13/2015 at 07:25

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I could hook up a trickle charger to it. Do you think it would be safe to keep the battery connected to the lawn mower while it's charging? It was a pain to connect it.

zeontestpilot > . . 04/13/2015 at 07:25

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I really hope it's not pests.

random001 > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:27

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Google image search. Upside is that it should be pretty evident, as they are usually sticking out the side of the motor. That also makes them easy to replace. They go bad. It's a high torque motor, so it happens.

CB > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:31

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It should be fine.

Jobjoris > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:31

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As long as the room is good ventilated it should be no problem. Does this 'trickle charger' have a voltage read-out?

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:36

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It could just be a saftey lock out? Did you go through the proper start process? Assuming the saftey switches are all in place and functioning, if your not on the seat and not in the park position/handbrake on etc... It won't get power to start. Also make sure the blades aren't engaged, that will also stop it from starting. If all that is right and it still won't start you may have a faulty saftey switch somewhere. This is assuming the battery is good and connected the correct way! Do you have a multimeter or access to one? It will help massively diagnosing the issue. Hope that made sense?

thebigbossyboss > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:39

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http://pull-start-my-heart.kinja.com/

zeontestpilot > random001 04/13/2015 at 07:44

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21 hp would be considers a high torque motor?

zeontestpilot > Jobjoris 04/13/2015 at 07:45

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Umm, I believe it does. And I'd charge it outside, I don't have a garage.

RacinBob > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:48

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Probably dead battery and yes, you can charge it with the battery connected. Do the lights work? Does any auxiliary work?

JGrabowMSt > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:50

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Safety switch under the seat?

Does it have a pull starter? Some do some dont.

If it makes no noise then youre missing current to the starter, its either the safety switch (you have to sit on it), or the wiring to the starter.

zeontestpilot > Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast 04/13/2015 at 07:51

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Well, I have no idea what a few of the switches do, lol. It was left behind by the previous owner, but on our 2nd visit to review the house, the lawn was cut by this mower. So it does work.

If memory serves me right; the throttle was on full, the choke on, the blades were off (at least the icons looked like blades), it was in neutral, clutched engaged, I was sitting in the seat, and I turned the key.

Multimeter tests for electrical current, right?

XJDano > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 07:56

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Did you try to jump start it with your car? That will answer if it has enough power, but with your car crapping out recently you may not want to.

Cool story:

I was working at a demo house and a beat up old lawn tractor like that, no gas, no battery. Put some gas in it, twisted wires together, started & ran for about 5 seconds. Then would only crank. I was looking forward to making a racing mower, but it was crappy so I left it.

zeontestpilot > JGrabowMSt 04/13/2015 at 07:57

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I believe there might be one under the seat. I sat on it, but I suppose the switch itself could be broken.

zeontestpilot > RacinBob 04/13/2015 at 07:58

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Everything is dead on it. I get no response at all.

zeontestpilot > XJDano 04/13/2015 at 08:01

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I haven't tried jumping it, as, to my understanding, there is a difference in voltage ( or something like that). I should do something like that with the mowers. My uncle-in-law (is that a thing?) has a plethora of dead or dying lawn mowers scattered on the property. That would be cool to make a race mower, :).

random001 > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 08:03

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Nah, the starter motor has to be high torque. The whole point is that it has to turn the engine against the compression of the cylinder. It compresses the cylinder to allow the fuel-air-spark to ignite. When the engine is running, the explosion is what compresses the next cylinder. If you think about it, the starter motor has to be representative of a small bomb in it's power delivery, so yeah, high torque.

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 08:04

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Was the footbrake all the way down? Sorry to ask the obvious stuff but it's easy to over look these things especially if you haven't ever started it before. The ride on I used to have needed the brake and clutch pushed in as well as the other saftey stuff. The one before that was basically a motor on a pipe frame that you sat on with your feet using the top of the cutting deck as a floor! Only saftey switch that had was the kill switch, which required you to get off the mower and walk around to the rear and turn it off.

Yeah the multi meter is for measuring various electrical stuffs, voltage, current, ohms, polarity etc. lots of stuff I know little about but I use mine a lot for voltage and polarity things.

zeontestpilot > Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast 04/13/2015 at 08:09

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Then I have a multimeter....sonewhere.

And it's ok asking for the obvious stuff. I'm know for missing it, just ask my wife, :). The clutch and the brake are one and the same. So it goes 1st gear, brake/clutch, 2nd gear, brake/clutch, etc.

zeontestpilot > random001 04/13/2015 at 08:10

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Oh yeah, that's right, :p.

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 08:17

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Have you tried turning the motor by hand to make sure it's free? You can test the stater with a car battery that you know is good. If you have jumper cables and you can get close enough to the mower with the car you don't need to remove it. You can connect the negative lead to the chassis of the mower and touch the terminal on the starter with the positive lead. If that doesn't spin it over the starter will be shot. If it spins over another thing to check is the ignition switch. They can cause issues as well. Best to pull the spark plug lead off while testing incase it fires up and goes postal on you. Good luck

zeontestpilot > Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast 04/13/2015 at 08:37

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For turning the engine, do I just physically turn it?

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 08:44

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Yes, if it hasn't got a pull start?(that was the dumbest question) You should be able see some pulleys directly under the engine. Just behind the front axle. If you give them a turn by hand you'll find out if the motors stuck or not. I doubt this is it but you need to check. If you can turn it it should have some resistance It gets to the compression stroke.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 08:55

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Is the PTO engaged? That would be the switch or lever that turns on the blades. A lot of the time they won't even turn over if that's engaged.

You probably have a seat safety switch, but I forget how Craftsman handles theirs...I've had tractors that will let you start them and hop on and off while running, and the safety switch is only an issue when the PTO is engaged.

Also, you can jump it with a car, since they're both 12 volt systems...so that's worth a shot.

Oh, and it could also be your ignition switch. Tractors are just a barrel of laughs.

zeontestpilot > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 04/13/2015 at 08:58

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What does PTO stand for?

Cé hé sin > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 09:05

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Power take off. It's what the name suggests, it provides power for driving other things.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 09:10

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It will have a starter solenoid, and I *have* seen those go bad - sometimes the solenoid is on the starter, sometimes it's elsewhere. On models with a Kohler, usually elsewhere. Wherever the solenoid is, it will be a little can looking thing with two relatively small wires and two relatively big ones. Like so:

If you bridge the two big contacts with a wire after turning the key on and it runs the starter, it's a bad solenoid. Others are correct that there's a seat safety switch, and some other things that can prevent it from running, but a seat safety switch at least will be easy to bypass with a jumper if you suspect it.

zeontestpilot > Cé hé sin 04/13/2015 at 09:15

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It may be, I'll need to take another look.

zeontestpilot > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 04/13/2015 at 09:25

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What are the other things that might go wrong? It won't hurt to have them in the back of my mind.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 09:32

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Mostly three switches you see in a modern mower: the blade safety, the trans safety, and the seat safety. Sometimes there are others, and with a Kohler I dealt with once on a John Deere rider, the electronic ignition had a wire running in front of the engine doing something that had crap in it and prevented starting. Outside that, good battery level, good oil level (oil alert switches rarely go bad), and it should crank. If not, solenoid and/or starter, with an outside chance on filthy ignition switch or the control board (i.e. what manages the safety switches).

If it cranks and doesn't start, that opens another list of checks...

RacinBob > zeontestpilot 04/13/2015 at 19:25

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Well, its either the battery or either end if the cables attaced to it. Last possibility is the switch that turns power on off.