battery shorting out

Ed BBB · Jun 8, 2009

I have a Troy Bilt 42" riding mower. I started my mower last night, ran it a few minutes and when I went to restart it, I heard a shorting sound and now the battery is dead and the mower won"t crank at all. The same thing happened last week and I recharged the battery and it was used a few times in between without issue.

El Toro · Jun 8, 2009

You need to have that battery load tested. You can get an idea of what shape the battery is in by using a hydrometer it should read 1.260 on all cells if it isn't a sealed battery. Hal

joe csuti · Jun 8, 2009

Charge battery or jump with another to start eng,connect a voltmeter to battery,run eng at 3/4-full throttle,voltage at battery should rise to 14.5 volts,if voltage doesn't change when eng running,check for a blown fuse for alt output in wiring harness,if no fuse found,either you have a problem in rect/regulator,alt stator or wiring harness,also check for loose connectors/connections where wires connect to eng from tractor wiring harness & at ign sw.Right now it sounds like battery not being charged.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 8, 2009

Hi:

What do you mean by "I heard a shorting sound"? Is it like a spark when two bare wires come into contact? Is it like a hiss or pop like if you have a poor connection between two contacts?

I am going to assume that when it runs it runs fine and it does not die on it own.

If there is a shorting then that is the first problem to resolve since grounding the battery is a good way to quickly lose a charge.

Check the battery connections. Corroded? Loose? Are the posts coated?

Look at the wires from the key switch back to the battery for broken insulation paying attention to the frame for black spots indicating a short.

There is lots of possibles that your problem can be so let us know what you find.

PaMnd

Ed BBB · Jun 9, 2009

Thanks everyone. Busy week on my end so may be a few days until I can check on these ideas.

To PaMnd - the sound was more like the hiss pop you describe. There is a little corrosion on one terminal and yes it runs fine. The two times this happened were at start up.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 9, 2009

Hi:

Hiss Pop usually means a poor connection or contact, and if that is the case it would also account for a no/or intermittent charge situation. I would start by looking at the battery terminals and connectors. Use a wire brush to clean them. I have found they form a hard shell on the terminal or connector which prevented proper contact even when they connections looked good. If after cleaning the problem persists then I would trace the wire back to the ignition switch and clean any place where there is contacts.

PaMnd

battery shorting out

Ed BBB

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El Toro

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joe csuti

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Anonymous-0

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Ed BBB

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Anonymous-0

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