I have a craftsman 26 hp Koehler 52" cut garden tractor. It started having problems starting up two years ago. First I replaced the battery. Worked fine for three or four mowings. Battery dead. Bought another battery. Same result. Realized something draining battery. Was told to replace electric clutch. Did that, bought heavy duty battery, and disconnected battery after each mowing just to be safe that my battery wouldn't drain down and not start. Even after all ithis, battery dead after short period of time. Two questions. How can my battery drain down when disconnected and not in use? What could drain the battery when there is no current flowing while it sets idle as it is disconnected? When I replaced the electric clutch, it would at various times, be hard to start. It would spin and then stop, then I would turn the key key off, and then turn it back on and it would spin and start up. I cannot figure out how something is draining battery when disconnected.
Bet your charging system is not working. Start your engine and run it at 3/4 throttle. Measure the voltage accross the battery. If it is not reading at least 13.4 V your charging system is bad. If you post back, make sure you included you model numbers.
