Any mechanics out there? Lawn tractor question.

[Syrinx]

My Poulan mower won't start. When I turn the key, the engine will click, but won't go any further. It seems that it's not getting enough power. The battery is in fine shape, and there's no corrosion on the terminals or anything. It seems to me (but I'm no mechanic) that either the starter or the solenoid is bad. Can you tell me how to test those two components? Thanks for any help you can give.

[Drifter]

1. Your battery is dead ...

Jump start it with the car.

Same thing happened to me 2 weeks ago, when I inadvertently left the key in the lights on position.

The secret to jump starting it (assuming your battery is under the seat, and your ass must be on the seat to start it), is to put the emergency break on (this overrides the need to have your ass on the seat).

Cheers
Drifter

[Don_G]

2. Clean The Battery Terminals And The Clamps First

Corrosion often builds up and it can be practially invisible. Reconnect and see if you can start it. If the problem persists, take a couple of wires from the battery and try to jump the starter (making sure its out of gear.)

If it starts, then its the solenoid. If not, its either the battery or the starter. Take your battery into someplace like Pep Boys or Autozone to have it checked out. They can tell you if its good, bad or just needs a charge.

If the battery checks out then you've isolated the problem to the starter.

Hope this helps.

[elfin]

3. When this happened to me and the battery was fine....

I fooled around with engage, then disengage the cutter control, and put in and out of neutral before tring to start. For some reason, that works every time -- for me, anyway. Don't have a clue as to why it works - just does. Messing around with the gears didn't help until I combined it with engage/disengage feature.

Give it a try - vroom vroom

[Syrinx]

4. Thanks guys!

I'm gonna get this sucker started, one way or another. :evilgrin:

[OneBlueSky]

5. try rapping the solenoid a few times with a hammer . . .

sometimes these things just freeze up and need a little persuading . . .