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jherbst777

Craftsman Riding Mower 917.270752 Won't Start...

jherbst777
9 years ago

Hello - first post on this site. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I adopted an older riding mower from my wife when we were married and it has done well until last weekend. It is an 18.5 HP Craftsman 917.270752 riding mower. I have been trying to drag along the dying battery until the end of the season but it didn't work. Saturday morning I tried to start it and it barely tried to turn over. Very weak...but it tried to turn over. I threw it on the charger (which works 99% of the time w/this battery) and nothing. Charger said the battery recharged but now the motor will not crank at all. Not even a click. So I went ahead an bought a brand new battery, installed it, and nothing. Any ideas???

15 amp fuse is fine
New battery has charge

Thanks in advance!!!

Josh Herbst

Comments (14)

  • bill_kapaun
    9 years ago

    Check the fuse holder itself. It seems they fail more often then one would expect.
    IF that's good, clean the connecting plug contacts to the key switch.

    You could leave the key ON and wiggle various wires. IF it makes contact, the fuel solenoid should click.

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you Bill! I will give it a shot tonight!

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Fuse holder seems ok. Cleaned the fuse and replaced. Also cleaned connecting pins to ignition switch. Plugged back in and now I am getting a new "click" at the front of the engine that I wasn't getting before. It's not coming from the starter from what I can tell.

    Seems odd I went from a dead battery to electrical problems...no fun.

    Other ideas? Wondering if the switch in the seat is bad? Battery is fully charged.

  • bill_kapaun
    9 years ago

    Seat switch has nothing to do with cranking.
    Crank circuit goes-
    S terminal of key switch through the brake/clutch switch through the attachment switch to the small terminal on the starter solenoid.
    It's a WHITE wire.

    Try jumping 12V directly to the small terminal on the solenoid.
    IF the battery, starter motor and all related connections are good, the engine will crank.
    New batteries are bad way more often then they should be. don't discount that possibility.

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks again...will give that a shot!

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    No luck with that either. I'm still not even getting a click with the power hooked to the solenoid.

  • bill_kapaun
    9 years ago

    Get the battery charged & LOAD TESTED to verify it's good.

  • fireballsocal
    9 years ago

    Check the ground strap bolted to the frame, under the seat maybe. Disconnect it and clean all parts including the frame with sand paper or similar so a good connection is made.

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Cleaned up all connections. Hooked battery charger/engine starter to the mower starter and it fired up. Connected starter to battery and still just a click when I try to start via ignition. Solenoid shot?

  • fireballsocal
    9 years ago

    No, a loose or dirty connection somewhere. Inspect the power and ground leads well for corrosion inside the twists and replace is necessary or clean if possible. Something is causing enough resistance that power isn't getting to the starter from the battery. The charger/starter pushes enough amps to overcome the resistance. Backtrack from that connection you just cleaned and snug all other connections and clean them if necessary. Do this with the battery disconnected of course.

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Replaced solenoid...fired right up!!!

  • fireballsocal
    9 years ago

    Sorry Jherbst on the bad info. Glad you got it running.

  • jherbst777
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    No worries....thanks to both of you for the input!

  • quickrick
    9 years ago

    Try the other switches that have to do with safety (seat+ mower deck engage that is next to the handle on the dash) and there may be others.

    My Sears would do nothing and it turned out that a good shot of WD40 and working the plunger on the switch did the trick and all was well.

    QR

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