Husqvarna Model YTH24V48 Tractor pings and stalls intermittently when blade engaged

I have a Husqvarna Model YTH24V48 Tractor that pings and stalls intermittently when blades are engaged. I begin mowing and every so often the mower makes a pinging sound, the hour meter flashes, and the mower begins to shut off. I then push the PTO switch to disengage the blades which keeps the mower from stalling and then I can pull the PTO to start the blades again. If I do not push the PTO when this happens, the mower continues to ping for 5-10 seconds and shuts down completely. It sounds like it’s in between engaging and disengaging the blades.

I have unplugged and cleaned all the connections and replaced the PTO switch with a new OEM part but the problem still happens intermittently. The mower runs great when the blades are not engaged and even with the blades engaged, runs great until out of the blue the pinging starts. I believe it is an electrical issue but do not know if the seat switch or maybe the PTO cluch is bad. I tried to get a video but could not replicate the problem by the time I completed the lawn.

Any direction and help you gurus could provide me would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if I can answer any questions that could help diagnose this problem.

Do you have a V twin engine ????? 1 side is out or the valves are not quite right on one side... That just might be your pinging....

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

Hi Boudreaux. Thanks for the reply. Yes it is 4 years old and has a Briggs and Stratton 24HP V-Twin but it runs great until the blades are ingaged. After reading some of the other threads I am leaning toward the cause being a bad PTO electric cluch that as the mower warms up, begins to disengage the blades. I am wandering if it is electrical versus mechanical because as soon as I push the PTO switch to the off position, the engine sounds great. Anyway to test to confirm the valves on one side are the problem?

SeanS said:

Hi Boudreaux. Thanks for the reply. Yes it is 4 years old and has a Briggs and Stratton 24HP V-Twin but it runs great until the blades are ingaged. After reading some of the other threads I am leaning toward the cause being a bad PTO electric cluch that as the mower warms up, begins to disengage the blades. I am wandering if it is electrical versus mechanical because as soon as I push the PTO switch to the off position, the engine sounds great. Anyway to test to confirm the valves on one side are the problem?

Click to expand...

While the engine is running pull one plug wire off and see what happens..... If the mower dies then the other side has an issue...

Then vice versa.......... Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

Update:

I unplugged each plug wire separately and the engine continued to run fine. I replaced the PTO Switch and PTO Clutch and after 20 minutes of use, the problem was still there. The problem seems to start up after the mower is waremed up. Is it possible that the Ignition Swithch is bad? I have attached two videos to see if it can help diagnose the problem. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Here is the second video

Looks electrical to me also. I would start by using a volt meter and see if you are getting 12v at the pto when it does that. May have to run some temp wiring to do it. I have seen ignition switches fail causing a voltage drop or grounding itself out. Electric problem are a PITA...usually time consuming troubleshooting but normally a simple fix.

So I changed out the seat switch with a new OEM seat switch and voila, problem solved. I have used the mower for the past two weeks without any problem. Thanks to everyone in the forum that replied with suggestions.:smile