BS 17hp won't start

deadeye123 · Aug 17, 2016

A friend has a Scott's lawn tractor with a 17hp B&S engine. He had already put a new battery, switch, & starter on it. He brought it to me and I checked , cleaned and tightened all wires and connections. also replaced the solenoid. Thought I had it. It started 8-10 times in a row, then it would only click. Some days it will start every time then it will act up again by not starting, only a click at the solenoid. I believe he got a bad ignition switch when he replaced it. I will be going back to check it out next week. will jump a wire to the solenoid to eliminate the switch. any other suggestions out there?

Bob · Aug 17, 2016

Check for voltage at the "hot" (battery side) terminal AND the solenoid "engage" terminal AND the output (to the starter) terminal at the solenoid while holding the key in the "start" position and see what you get for numbers.

Often, due to several safety switches in the circuit with their connections as well getting old there's a considerable voltage drop from the START terminal on the ignition switch to the "engage" terminal on the solenoid, that COULD be the issue.

John Deere (and probably others) sells a "starting improvement kit" for certain models that contains a little "ice cube relay" that installs between the wire from the "start" terminal on the ignition switch and the stater solenoid. This can be done, obviously, without buying the $$$ kit, the little relays can be had very reasonably.

Check connections at BOTH ends of the battery cables, also, sometimes due to rust or loose bolts there isn't a good ground between the engine and chassis and battery.

El Hombre · Aug 21, 2016

Here's the Gold Standard to quickly and accurately find what's causing your no crank.

http://www.fluke.com/fluke/uses/comunidad/fluke-news-plus/articlecategories/electrical/diagnosevoltdrop

Once you learn this, you'll never be throwing parts at it; you'll know. If you have access to the parts, less than a minute to test the entire power side and the same for the grounds. It's all based on giving the electricity two paths; thru the wiring. Or some of it going thru the meter. When the meter shows more than .5 volts, it's showing some resistance in the circuit that causes the issues.

I was taught this 40 years ago in trade school. I made up 20+foot long test leads when I was working on something like the rear lights on a truck. 16 gauge cord was the best/cheapest to make your own leads with some alligator clamps.

Only intermittent faults are going to be a joker in the deck; that will never change.

BS 17hp won't start

deadeye123

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Bob

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El Hombre

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