Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Mower won't turn over........
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grantiman
05-28-07, 08:41 AM
I have a Craftsman lawn tractor. Everything worked fine when I was mowing the lawn last week. I went to start the mower today, it has an electric start, turn the key and nothing, no sound or anything. I checked the little fuse next to the battery and it's good. I get no click or anything, any ideas?
mango man
05-28-07, 08:46 AM
dead battery ?.................
dirty terminals /bad connection
dirty terminals /bad connection
grantiman
05-28-07, 09:03 AM
OK, I put a battery charger on it to jump it over, now all I get is a lot of clicking at the selinoid
grantiman
05-28-07, 09:29 AM
I jumped it with cables from my truck, mower started up. The charging needle is on the discharge side, battery not charging. Still can't mow lawn, it has an electric deck PTO, no juice in battery to start up the mower deck. Does this mower have a alternator?
duigoose
05-28-07, 12:02 PM
Based on what I read I would say yes it does, espicially if there is a 'charging needle'. I'm sure someone soon is gonna ask you to post your mower and engine model numbers to better help with diagnosis and parts so please do that.
grantiman
05-28-07, 04:29 PM
I have a Craftsman 917.252711 18 hp riding mower. I just put a brand new battery in it, the old battery wouldn't take a charge. When the mower is running the volt needle reads zero, it use to read charging before. Is there some kind of an alternator on this mower. What keeps the battery charged?
30yearTech
05-28-07, 06:49 PM
Yes, your engine will have an alternator on it. You can check voltage at the battery and when running should be around 13.8 - 14.7 volts then it should be charging and it may just be that your gauge is not working.
The alternator may not have enough output to engage your electric pto, but would be sufficient to keep it engaged once working.
You can check the output from your alternator at the rectifier with a multimeter. On the side of the blower housing locate a small square box with three wires plugged into it. This should be your rectifier/regulator. With the engine running at 3600 rpm's check the the ac out put from the 2 wires coming from the engine to rectifier they should read about 28 volts or more, the single wire coming out from the rectifier B+ should read around 14.7 volts dc current.
You can download an engine manual from www.kohlerplus.com Your engine should be a Kohler model MV18-58560 based on your Craftsman model number.
Good Luck....
The alternator may not have enough output to engage your electric pto, but would be sufficient to keep it engaged once working.
You can check the output from your alternator at the rectifier with a multimeter. On the side of the blower housing locate a small square box with three wires plugged into it. This should be your rectifier/regulator. With the engine running at 3600 rpm's check the the ac out put from the 2 wires coming from the engine to rectifier they should read about 28 volts or more, the single wire coming out from the rectifier B+ should read around 14.7 volts dc current.
You can download an engine manual from www.kohlerplus.com Your engine should be a Kohler model MV18-58560 based on your Craftsman model number.
Good Luck....