Troubleshoot Electrical Murray 16.5/42 Wide Body

[GGSlingray]

Picked up this pretty nice Murray about 2 weeks ago for a song. Well, not really a song, it was a barter deal and at first, I thought it was a junker.
I hosed it off took a closer look and it was in really good condition. The dude said the battery and solenoid were toast.
Battery said 06/22 I thought maybe I'll get lucky and sure enough after a charge batt was good!. The dangling 4 post solenoid trigger was disconnected as was the ground to battery.
So, I mounted the solenoid connected the GND to Batt and connected the trigger. I preceded to try and crank er over and got nothing. After a few times of making sure the brake was depressed and the gear lever was in neutral she finely cranked over and started right up. So, after that I started to really clean er up and the briggs 16.5hp was surging so I cleaned the carburetor up also.
When I got er, the wiring loom was draped across the engine shroud, and it was all single wires not tied/taped/zipped together. I moved the wiring , zip tied and taped them up.
In the back of my mind, I'm thinking this could be a mistake, and when I try to start er again she's gonna Not. Unfortunately, the back of my mind thinking was correct. After I got her all cleaned up and tried to start her again I got nothing. After a few times of making sure the brake was depressed and the gear lever was in neutral I still got nothing. Next I made up a wire to go from the key switch S pole to the trigger and I also made up a ground wire to go from the the frame to the small ground pole. I gave her a crank and she started right up. I let it worm up for a minute then, I pulled both the trigger wire and the small ground off the solenoid. I thought that when I pulled those wires off it would kill the engine but nope, she just kept running. So, now I reconnected the original trigger wire and the original ground and she still kept running even though the brake pedal was not depressed and the pto lever was in the engage position. I net move was to lift the seat and then she died. I did test the PTO and brake safety switches for continuity and they both worked. Obviously, I don't know too much about electrical, my thought is that I have a short somewhere, like a chafed wire. So, my question is, what my next step is to try. Sorry, if I'm a little long winded here. I will post more pictures today. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Rivets]

Please provide us with all unit and engine numbers so we have an idea of what you have in front of you. I agree that you probably have a bad wire or connection, but I’m not standing next to you , with a strong drink you provided, to see what you have. There a a thousand different combos of engine and unit setup which we need to narrow dow.

 

[GGSlingray]

Got the numbers. Murray Model # 42544X8E
Briggs & Stratton model # 42A707
Type: 2653E1
Code: 9812085A

 

[bertsmobile1]

General info
1) Murray use the push fit safety switches
Over time they get loose in their holes so the plunger does not move far enough to activate the switch
I overcome this by screwing a self tapper into the end of the plunger to make it longer
2) to check for a bad joint , broken wire at a crimp I use a jumper with 2 male terminals on it to jump B to S on the key switch plug
Then you can poke around , wiggle , push & pull wires to your hearts content
When the culprit is found the engine will crank provided the starter solenoid is good & has a good ground
And because it will suddenly crank be careful where you lean when you go poking around .

 

[GGSlingray]

Thank you Rivets, and bertsmobile1. Can't wait to try this hope it works. I'll be back today with news.

 

[Rivets]

This manual has a wiring diagram which may help you out. https://www.thepowerportal.com/ipls/ipl.htm?md=42544x8E~_IPLURL_LO.pdf

 

[GGSlingray]

Well, I was not able to get to it yesterday something else came up, but I will be working on it today and will update here as soon as I can.

 

[GGSlingray]

So, I extended the safety switches with (great idea) self-tappers, and I tried jumping from the battery to the solenoid on the key switch as Bertsmobile1 suggested. When I do that the starter engages even though the key switch in the off position. Turning the key to all other positions I get nothing. If I pull off the existing ground wire from the solenoid (I think it is normally a ground) left side low voltage pole and then connect a ground from that same pole to the frame, it will crank over when the key is turned to the start position. but the key will not shut it down and all the safeties are bypassed. The key switch has 2 poles marked B. The one I jumped to the solenoid goes to the battery, the other pole marked B, goes to the stator. Just so people know, I don't really care if the seat switch or the brake safety switches work. I would like the PTO safety switch to work, and I really don't want to add a kill switch like some people do.

 

[GGSlingray]

I traced every wire inspected all the jacketing best that I could. I tested every switch, the solenoid, and key switch.
Everything seems to be correct, best that I can tell. I tried to use the wiring schematic diagram to the best of my ability.
Now, I could have made mistake's while doing this especially because it was about 180 degrees out and I'm in direct sun most of the day with sweat running into my eyes and sweet sopping close, and my feet swimming in sweat. LOL I still get the same thing I wrote in my last posting. I will try and go through the whole procedure again maybe tomorrow.