Repairs JD LX188 - 1993

Hello All,

I am new to this site and new to my mower since February 2015. I inherited this great mower as part of the house deal. It has been really good for its age. I was raking and blowing leaves, while my wife was cutting the grass. I know first mistake. The mower just completely stopped running in the middle of cutting and won't start. We thought she ran out of gas, but I put at least a half a tank in and still wouldn't start. We had to put it in neutral and push it to the garage. The duracell 300cca battery was checked and it is good at 12.58 volts. The clutch (yellow start blades pull knob) clicks sometimes with key on and other times it doesn't. In the dash it lights up and the headlights light up. The brake pedal that is pushed to start it feels easier to push, but I do hear the spring when I depress it. There is oil in it as I change it twice a year. The belts look good and are connected fine. What else could it be? Thanks in advance.:confused2:

Does the engine crank ?
If not, then one of the safety switches has gone bad.
IF it does crank is there a spark ?
No spark is a safety switch gone bad or the module gone bad.

Lastly there might be a solenoid on the bottom of the carb.
These go bad and the wire to them breaks which cuts off the fuel supply,'Remove it and check it retracts when you turn on the ignition.
If it has a single wire the body is ground.

And again , consider the JD technical manual.
Worth 3 times what they ask for it and pays for itself the first time you don't have to go to a repair shop or pay some one to mow your grass.

On a different tack, I have never found a woman who did not enjoy mowing on a ride on.
A lot of the widows on my run joke "If I knew this was so much fun, I would have been mowing and HE would have been cleaning the house ":laughing:

No crank at all.

When you turn key does it sound normal in trying to start like before, and also when it shut off any bad sounds or smoke when it stopped ?

well if you got a test light, see if you got power going down to the big cable on the starter, and to the one wire plugged into the lead. (That's the wire that engages the solenoid when you turn the key to start). The brake switch is the master- it overrides everything, so if the brake switch is working when you have the brake locked down, the motor should turn over. It may not start or might start then die due to another safety, but you got to start at that point. If the test light is lighting up when you go to start it, you could have a bad starter, bad solenoid, very bad PTO clutch which is stopping the engine, or engine is just locked up.
first do whats easiest, see if the fuse is blown. pull it out and look at it. then see if power is going all the way in and out. then look at your starter cables. The LX series are good machines, so hopefully its just something simple for you