Wont Fire : 1990 Craftsman II 14hp B&S V-twin lawn tractor

[dibsen]

Hi Forum members,

I inherited this mower. It doesn't run. It has a more detailed service record than any car I've ever owned. Its been sitting out side uncovered for a couple months. I charged the battery and got it to turn over. Pulled the plugs and they looked ugly so I hit the parts store and got a new set, plus a new fuel filter. Fitted both, cranked her a few times (as per the owners manual) and still doesn't want to come to life.

I was told before it sat for a while it was running.


What should I do next?

 

[motoman]

Hi Forum members,

I inherited this mower. It doesn't run. It has a more detailed service record than any car I've ever owned. Its been sitting out side uncovered for a couple months. I charged the battery and got it to turn over. Pulled the plugs and they looked ugly so I hit the parts store and got a new set, plus a new fuel filter. Fitted both, cranked her a few times (as per the owners manual) and still doesn't want to come to life.

I was told before it sat for a while it was running.


What should I do next?

Seek out the standard trouble shooting guides in this forum.

 

[dibsen]

Wow! Thanks motoman. Wish I thought of that sooner.

OK, so I spent an hour or so cleaning up the tractor. Hit it with some greaser and its looking pretty good. One of my plugs wasnt firing. I was thinking I could replace the wire but once I got the main engine cover off, I saw it was a one piece job from the coil. But I was able to remove the boot at the end, and re bend the connector to get better contact and that solved that.

So now the engine will start with starting spray but as soon as it burns that up it quits. I used some carb cleaner (however the carb looked really clean before I ever sprayed it) and gave it a good blasting. After that I tryed starting it and it fired up, blew some dark smoke but shortly died.

and that has been that closest I have had it to running. I going to take a break for a few and than get back on it.

 

[EngineMan]

If you are sure that the carb is clean, make sure that the choke working "dark smoke " is a sign of over choking, so check to see that the choke goes off when the engine starts.

 

[066]

get the old/stale fuel out of the fuel system, try to drain the float bowl on the the carb of old fuel, if the mower has been sitting for a while, the fuel may have gone off/stale & won't ignite as easy as it should.
hope this helps.

 

[dibsen]

The last couple hours have been frustrating ones. Pulled the carb (actually very easy), disassembled and blew out every hole with cleaner a small wire ans some air. I tried a couple stores to try to find a new rubber o-ring for the bowl without any luck. A kid at Ace cut and glued 2 o-rings together for me and for now it seems to be working.

I got back and bolted to carb up. She fired right up! YES! Pushed the choke in, eased the throttle back and it was a thing of beauty. It sounded great. I drove it down the block and back, no problems. Get it back to the house and start bolting on the rest of the covers and the carb plate/filter housing. Oncte I had it all put back together I tried to start it to see how well it cut the grass. But it wouldn't start. You gotta be kidding me!

Call a friend and he said to pull the plugs to see if they are wet with fuel. But the plugs were fine.

I think what I am suffering from now is a bad ground. The positive battery cable doesnt look very good and could prob be replaced. Sometimes when I crank it, it will spark or burn at the terminal. And I still dont have a very consistent spark on one of the plugs.

Any thoughts?

 

[066]

yes making sure the terminals are nice & shiney with sandpaper & also where they are bolted on to both battery posts aswell & are done up tight will help, also trace the black/negative cable to where it bolts on to the chassis, unbolt & clean it up with the sandpaper on both surfaces, reassemble, check that the battery has a good charge (12.6 volts or more), check the saftey switch plugs - under the seat, on the end of the brake/clutch pedal, blade engagement lever ect,
hope this helps

 

[dibsen]

How can I tell if one of the coils are bad?

 

[066]

o.k. 1 thing to try is pull off the blower housing, unbolt the coil you suspect is'nt firing or firing unevenly, clean up the surface where the coil came off, also on the coil mount points, if both surfaces are nice & clean & shiney - refit the coil & regap with a business card or .010 - .012 gap,
do the same to the other coil, check the gap on the plugs - .030, refit blower housing ect...
test run or if you get the coils off, take them in to your local mower shop - they should have a tester they can put the coils on to test, which won't cost much.

 

[EngineMan]

If you have a Multimeter you don't need to take to shop to test, you can do it at home by yourself.

So my question is do you have a Multimeter..?