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I have a TCII with under 100 hours (bought new) and in the past couple weeks it has developed the following issue. Initial startup is fine, but after cutting for an hour or so, if I turn the mower off for any reason it will not restart. Gas is full, oil is good, all safeties are in place (sticks, e-brake, seat).........so I am at a loss here. Battery has a full charge too. It won't even crank, just turn the key and nothing. I assume it has to be some electrical gremlin because mechanical failures usually do not come and go. As I said, when it starts it runs great, zero issues.

I tried Google (which is ultimately how I got here) and it seems like the TCII and TTII have issues with the relays and/or fuses, is this true? Any way I can narrow down what to check before going through the entire wiring harness? Are their common relays or switches that tend to fail?

EDIT.......it's a 61" with 23hp Kawasaki 730FX engine.

Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

--Joe

If it's still in warranty get a hold of your dealer

John,

Thanks for the reply. It is within the warranty but I'd rather just do it myself, I have no way of getting it to the dealer anyway.

--Joe

I had what turned out to be a dead fuel pump while under warranty last summer. Rented a U-Haul truck, not a very big one either. Got it on a hill, used some ramps I made from a couple of 2 x 12s and a kit from Lowes and my wife and I pushed the mower (Tiger Cat II, 61" deck) in. When we got it to the dealer, one of the guys said that if we'd have called, they'd have picked it up. Oh. They did trailer it back home. So, you never know.

Sweats said:

I had what turned out to be a dead fuel pump while under warranty last summer. Rented a U-Haul truck, not a very big one either. Got it on a hill, used some ramps I made from a couple of 2 x 12s and a kit from Lowes and my wife and I pushed the mower (Tiger Cat II, 61" deck) in. When we got it to the dealer, one of the guys said that if we'd have called, they'd have picked it up. Oh. They did trailer it back home. So, you never know.

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Yes you have an electrical problem.
When it does this next time, pull the dip stick and check the oil level.
If the oil level is low the mower will not crank ( safety feature ) so if the level is marginal, oil gets flung all around the engine so the oil level drops just enough to trigger the switch till it has all drained back again.
Multi grades that are old can also exhibit this as when the oil thins it does not float the valve in the switch.
Then the switch itself could be bad.

Pto switch is prob the cause on your issue. Do u have a test light? Buy the way does yours have the tiger eye?

soapii said:

John,

Thanks for the reply. It is within the warranty but I'd rather just do it myself, I have no way of getting it to the dealer anyway.

--Joe

Click to expand...

If you mess with it, it may void the warranty you do have.

I also have lived this no start problem with my Cheetah 27 hp Kawasaki. When cold or warm, all was well. However when hot, the starter may not crank. My mower has about 150 hours.

I finally decided my issue must be electric module related. While installing the new module, I discovered the module wiring plug had a bad damaged connection. I fixed the factory defect connection and left old module on the mower. All has been fine the past several uses.

Be advised my Cheetah has 12 volts to the OSHA switches. I used a wooden shim to trick seat switch so I could raise the seat and the key switch still work. That was easier than a jumper wire.

bertsmobile1 said:

Yes you have an electrical problem.
When it does this next time, pull the dip stick and check the oil level.
If the oil level is low the mower will not crank ( safety feature ) so if the level is marginal, oil gets flung all around the engine so the oil level drops just enough to trigger the switch till it has all drained back again.
Multi grades that are old can also exhibit this as when the oil thins it does not float the valve in the switch.
Then the switch itself could be bad.

Click to expand...

Good idea, I thought the same thing and checked right then but knew I was not getting a 100% accurate reading because it would have oil pumped up in engine.

I'll check tonight when I get home.

--Joe

Luffydog said:

Pto switch is prob the cause on your issue. Do u have a test light? Buy the way does yours have the tiger eye?

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Ya know, this could very well be it. Yes I have Tiger Eye and noticed the PTO switch was not illuminated while it was off........which when the light is off means the deck is engaged. Well obviously it was not engaged because it was not running and the button was down.

However yesterday after I got home from work when I got on and turned the key the PTO light was illuminated and it fired right up.

I think you are onto something here. Yes I do have a test light. I'll check the wiring diagram in the manual and try to test the switch tonight.

--Joe

The pto is loosing ground and will let not allow it to start. They fail often

Luffydog said:

The pto is loosing ground and will let not allow it to start. They fail often

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Any idea why it looses ground and fails to start only after it's been running for a while?

--Joe

I can only say what I think but I think it is the weakest part of the system that has voltage. Turn pto on current to clutch switch is plastic and current causing heat and heat causes failure in the switch and after cooling allows switch to go back to its normal state at times it does not. Sometimes you can turn the key on and then turn the pto on and off a few times and most times it will start after making good connection and ground Thur the switch. There is other ways of starting the machine when it fails. Also need to make sure ground is good at the battery and on the block and motor is tight making sure all ground points are good bad ground will cause a lot of failures.

soapii said:

John,

Thanks for the reply. It is within the warranty but I'd rather just do it myself, I have no way of getting it to the dealer anyway.

--Joe

Click to expand...

That just might be the worst mistake you make in a while. If you work on it and then it is something expensive warranty might now fix the mower. Voided warranty is not a good thing. I run Tiger Cats and warranty has saved me a wholllleeee lot of money.

Wanted to follow up on this in case others Google this stuff like I do.

I picked on an PTO switch from Scag Parts online (PN 483597) for $23. I replaced it last night, took less than 5 minutes to swap. All seems well for now but the real test will be this weekend after I mow for a couple hours in the heat. Fingers crossed.

--Joe