Lawnmower starting problem
 

Hello all,

I a novice at this, so bear with me. I have a problem starting my lawn
tractor. A Craftsman 917.270824. Earlier today, it was trying to turn
over, but wouldn't. Now, it will not even attempt to turn over. The
battery gauge drops when turning the key. I would suspect the battery
to be dead, but I could not even jumpstart the tractor, nor would the
headlights turn on. Could it still be the battery even though it
wouldn't jumpstart, or is it possible that the switch went bad? Any
other ideas?

On 2 Aug 2005 18:00:15 -0700, "rekabm" wrote:

Hello all,

I a novice at this, so bear with me. I have a problem starting my lawn
tractor. A Craftsman 917.270824. Earlier today, it was trying to turn
over, but wouldn't. Now, it will not even attempt to turn over. The
battery gauge drops when turning the key. I would suspect the battery
to be dead, but I could not even jumpstart the tractor, nor would the
headlights turn on. Could it still be the battery even though it
wouldn't jumpstart, or is it possible that the switch went bad? Any
other ideas?

I'd be suspicious of your jumping technique. Could be the battery
is pulling down whatever you're jumping with.

Thunder

Rolling Thunder wrote:
On 2 Aug 2005 18:00:15 -0700, "rekabm" wrote:


Hello all,

I a novice at this, so bear with me. I have a problem starting my lawn
tractor. A Craftsman 917.270824. Earlier today, it was trying to turn
over, but wouldn't. Now, it will not even attempt to turn over. The
battery gauge drops when turning the key. I would suspect the battery
to be dead, but I could not even jumpstart the tractor, nor would the
headlights turn on. Could it still be the battery even though it
wouldn't jumpstart, or is it possible that the switch went bad? Any
other ideas?


I'd be suspicious of your jumping technique. Could be the battery
is pulling down whatever you're jumping with.


Mowers are typically 3-cell, 6 volt batteries. Cars are twice that, 12
volts. You can't jump them!

It sounds to me like you have high resistance in the connections to the
batteries. You can NOT tell by looking. Take off the connectors and
use a battery brush with both inside- and outside- bristles to clean
both. Put the connectors back on the battery and coat with an air
sealant. I use Vaseline but any grease will do. WD40 is no good, however.

If you still can't get it to crank, check other connections including
grounds. Again, take them apart and brush them.

FWIW, I see a lot of this sort of thing with cars in the Fall. The
temperature change seems to affect the connectors. People can run the
radio and lights, but can't crank. It generates many unneeded battery
sales!