mower wont start

[smartieone]

my mate has just brought a sit on mower,a mountfield,it had just been serviced and he took it to his house in france.i cut his grass with it and all seemed ok.he was the next to use it and it stopped after a short while,i went over and had a look and found it had two switches on the seat and the grass basket on the back.we messed about with these and eventually shorted the one on the basket and it started.i tried it about ten times and it seemed ok,but then it would not start again and has been dead since.we have charged it fully and checked connections,ican only think it may be a broken wire although there are no signs of this,anyone out there have any ideas.

 

[HERTS P&D]

It's broken.

 

[Jackrae]

Fuel tank empty - maybe diesel rather than petrol in fuel tank - spark plug dirty - any number of wiring defects - carb jets blocked - there's switch interlocks all over the place (sometimes on the clutch pedal as well).

Take out spark plug, clean it, reconnect spark lead and and lay plug on chassis in subdued light. Crank engine, can you see spark - if not it's electrical, if you can it's probably fuel.

 

[Burnerman]

If the engine doesn't crank over, it's an interlock fault, more than likely.....if it cranks over but doesn't fire, then it's fuel or spark.
What's actually happening?
John

 

[Nigel_Cro]

Needle valve in the carb.

Sediment in the petrol tank disturbed by being transported across Europe dragged into carb blocked the needle valve.

(something very similar happened to my Mountfield mower - replacement carb sorted it)

 

[Jackrae]

Brit machine relocated to France - what do you expect

 

[smartieone]

If the engine doesn't crank over, it's an interlock fault, more than likely.....if it cranks over but doesn't fire, then it's fuel or spark.
What's actually happening?
Johen

when you turn the key nothing happens think its an interlock fault do know if there are more than the two switches mentioned

 

[smartieone]

It's broken.

ever thought of making a career out of mower repairs with knowledge like that you could go far

 

[Burnerman]

It's an interlock fault right enough, and there are switches all over the place.....they all have to be satisfied for the engine to spin over. Another possibility is the solenoid -more later.
Some of the interlocks actually cut the engine too - a right pain in the ass.
Usually simply unplugging them gets you out of bother.
The seat and grass catcher switches you know about, so head for the foot brake mechanism and the gear lever. There's another on the cutter engage lever too.
Sorry I can't be more specific than that, but follow the wiring from front to back......getting rid of the collected crap as you go!
Hope you get it going soon......if you want to check the solenoid function (again prone to failure) you'll see two heavy duty connections with thick wires. Ignore those, and find the small one. Apply 12v to that and the thing will click loudly if it's working. If it doesn't click, it's goosed.
John

 

[smartieone]

It's an interlock fault right enough, and there are switches all over the place.....they all have to be satisfied for the engine to spin over. Another possibility is the solenoid -more later.
Some of the interlocks actually cut the engine too - a right pain in the ass.
Usually simply unplugging them gets you out of bother.
The seat and grass catcher switches you know about, so head for the foot brake mechanism and the gear lever. There's another on the cutter engage lever too.
Sorry I can't be more specific than that, but follow the wiring from front to back......getting rid of the collected crap as you go!
Hope you get it going soon......if you want to check the solenoid function (again prone to failure) you'll see two heavy duty connections with thick wires. Ignore those, and find the small one. Apply 12v to that and the thing will click loudly if it's working. If it doesn't click, it's goosed.
John

thanks mate will have a play with it i think your right

 

[Burnerman]

I should have said -re the solenoid test- the engine will spin over if the heavy duty cables remain connected so you might want to disconnect one of them.
Solenoids fail without any warning......one time they are fine, the next useless.
Have fun!
John