Small engine (mower) issue.

[TRITC]

OK, here's the deal...riding lawn mower with about 14.5 horse engine, circa '98-'99 (I'm going off memory here). Before storing it last fall I sea-foamed the gas and ran it for a while. This spring threw the battery charger on it for a couple minutes and then fired it up and it ran just fine. Then I transported back to my house and now it won't turn over.

It seems like the starter doesn't have the strength to turn over the motor. Well I got a brand new starter for it and same thing; it will spin the motor part way around but once the piston gets near the top of the cylinder at the highest compression point it won't keep turning over. Oil level is fine.

Any ideas? Should I pull the plug and spray some sort of lube in the cylinder?

Thanks,

TRITC

[Macgyver55]

Pull the plug and try to turn it over. Be careful you may have raw fuel spray out. It could be, (depending on the design of the motor) that while transporting it the bouncing around caused the float to allow raw gas to bypass it and run into the cylinder causing it to hydro lock.

[theoilman]

How old is your battery? The first time with the charger you may have had enough surface charge to start it, but later the charge goes away.

Another possibility, the solenoid. I have a 7 year old 19hp MTD/Briggs & Stratton that I have had to replace the solenoid 3 times - that acted as you describe. This doesn't make sense that it would be the fix, but it has been 3 times for me.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Good suggestions by both!!

[TRITC]

OK, I pulled the plug and turned it over; nothing appeared to spray out. I put the plug back in and same thing; the starter doesn’t seem to have the "strength" to rotate the motor past the highest compression. I pulled the plug again and connected the plug to the wire and turned it over; no spark! Not sure what the deal is there but it doesn’t make sense to me (not that I know what the heII I am doing) that that would affect the starter’s ability to fully turn over the engine.

Do I have an issue with the ignition coil (or is it called a magneto?)? Would that affect the starter’s ability to crank the engine???

Ideas???

PS. This is a 15.5 HP I/C OHV Briggs

[DinkADunk]

Try a known, good battery like your car/truck battery or boat starting battery. If it starts right up then you know it's battery related.

[eurolarva]

A lot of riding mowers have a safty switch in the seat so if you are not sitting on it you wont get a spark. I would take the starter apart and see if it is gummed up or one of the brushes is shot. Also remove all wires and clean with sand paper and make sure all connections are tight.

[TRITC]

Thanks for all the help guys!

Can anyone point me to a place in the Roseville area that would have a solenoid in stock?

Would this cause the no-spark issue as well?

[Fish On! Guide Service]

possible coil pack issue.

[theoilman]

If your solenoid is mounted on the tractor somewhere (under the floorboard in front of the seat is where mine is) - I didn't use their expensive one. I used an old style Ford automotive solenoid available at any auto parts store, and it works great - managed to mount it without changing anything.