MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

[Manipulator]

My Solenoid will chatter but starter will not engage. I can bypass everything and take a jumper from positive on battery to positive on the side of the starter and it will crank. Obviously, probably not a good idea to have to do this everytime I mow the grass. any thoughts? Bad solenoid? Is there a relay that might be bad?

Before, I got no juice at all when trying to start. Thought it was all those sensors for safety. I check them and they were fine except the plunger sensor on the mower engage rod. Got that working and like I said, solenoid just clicks (chatters) witout the starter engaging. Brand new battery, bought it yesterday.

 

[JB]

Re: MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

Battery cable or battery. Most likely cable connection to battery or to engine/starter solenoid.

 

[Manipulator]

Re: MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

So if the solenoid is clicking (as opposed to doing nothing) it is functioning correctly?

 

[JB]

Re: MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

Yup. What happens with a low resistance poor connection in the high current circuit is that as soon as the solenoid pulls in the voltage drops too low and it drops out again.

 

[Manipulator]

Re: MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

ok, thanks. What I will do is play around with jumpin from bat to solenoid etc and see what happens.

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

Check the solenoid ground, it's either grounded by a wire, or to the chassie with the mounting bolts. Also what JB said, check battery wire connections at the solenoid.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: MTD (yardman) 1990 14.5 HP....won't start...won't crank...

You might have low voltage and a bad ground. Try to jump it with a cable connected from your truck/car to the tractor battery.

I would remove all the cables and sand them lightly and re-install. It is possible that the 16 year old solinoid is gone too. They are almost universal and pretty cheap.