Strange coincidence?

jakesnake66

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I've got a RZ-5424 mower. A couple weeks ago it was making a loud click when I tried to start it. Turned out to be bad solenoid. Replaced it with one I got from O'Reilly's and it fired right up. The mower ran great for 3 mowing sessions. Then today my son went to cut the grass, and while it started great, when he went to pull up the blade switch the blades did not engage and the mower went dead. Now when we turn the key we get NOTHING. No click, no nothing. I put my meter on the battery, and the voltage is good. I put meter on battery side of solenoid, voltage is good. On the starter side of solenoid, no voltage when key in any position. So I thought maybe my new solenoid went bad. I took a large screwdriver and bridged my solenoid lugs, and the motor turns over beautifully... but it WILL NOT start. It just turns over and over.

So....did I have two things go bad at once? If only the solenoid blew, shouldn't I be able to start the motor by bridging the lugs? What role might the ignition switch play? If it's bad would that prevent the motor from starting even if it's turning over?

thank you.
 

bertsmobile1

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Sit in the seat and turn all of the controls on and off a few times.Better than average chance the PTO switch is still on or brake is off.
Regularly happens when mowers run out of fuel or stop unexpectently.

Bridge the hot wire on the top of the solenoid to the trigger wire at the bottom and see if the solenoid is working,
 

jakesnake66

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I tried 20+ times - everything...brake, steering levers, blade switch...I'm getting nothing when I turn the key. So I'll check the ignition switch and solenoid tomorrow. But shouldn't the mower crank when I bridge the solenoid and it turns over perfectly? It just seems weird that ignition AND fire/spark would break at the same time.
 

bertsmobile1

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I tried 20+ times - everything...brake, steering levers, blade switch...I'm getting nothing when I turn the key. So I'll check the ignition switch and solenoid tomorrow. But shouldn't the mower crank when I bridge the solenoid and it turns over perfectly? It just seems weird that ignition AND fire/spark would break at the same time.

jake,
Please be careful with our terminology.
Remember that you have the mower in front of you and all we have is words on the screen
Crank = turns over or rotates if you like
Fire = charge in the cylinder explodes or spark bridges the plug gap if talking about ignition.
Start = fires a few times as if it would run.
I don't mean to be pedantic but it just makes it hard to work out what you mean.

As previously mentioned, if the fuse blew when the heavy load from the blade clutch was applied, then you will get nothing from the mower.
The default position is everything turns off.
Thanks to all the idiot moron bastards who seem to think defeating manditory safety devices is a sign of higher intelligence and too smart lawers geting massive pay outs for the said same retards, safety circuits have become progressively more complicated.
On most ZTR's and I don't have a copy of your circuit diagrams to check, relays are used for the magneto kill switch and for the cranking circuit so if the fuse ( fuses ) blow, everything comes to a sickening grinding halt.

Now if turning the PTO on blows the fuse, you have a short in the clutch , clutch switch or clutch wiring.
 

jakesnake66

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The fuse is a good suggestion; I'll certainly try that today.

To clarify my earlier comments: The mower went dead when the blades were engaged. [I'm sure the deck was too low, and the resistance in the grass was high]. After that everything is just dead. I hear nothing when I turn the key - no click, nothing. Also, there is no voltage on the starter side of the solenoid when I turn the key. Since I'd just replaced the solenoid the week before, I thought perhaps it had malfunctioned, that maybe I'd gotten a lemon. So I tried to start the engine by bridging the lugs of the solenoid. I've started motors with bad solenoid that way before as a way of testing. When I bridge the lugs, the engine cranks ("turns over" is how it's always referred to by non-professionals I know), but will not start. It sounds as if it's not getting any gas - that consistent turning over and over without starting.

Does that help clarify? I very much appreciate everyone's input.
 

jakesnake66

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I wanted to report back:

The problem was the fuse. There are two on my wiring harnesses - a 7.5a and a 20a. The 20a was blown. I replaced it, and the mower fired right up.

Thank you, guys. I really appreciate the input.

jake
 
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