Bringing MTD back to life-- Electrical problems

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

 A friend of mine is tough on equipment and is also too trusting on repair guys. The guy who messed up the machine is just some guy who owed him money and said he could fix it First he had a bad switch on his MTD and then a bad solenoid. When the solenoid was changed the Magic Smoke appeared around the flywheel. The guy hooked the ground wire to the hot lead on the solenoid and I suppose fried it.  They hooked the solenoid up correctly and then the starter would not stop cranking so they cut the battery cable + side

I did a few tests and found that the engine can be cranked, has a rotten fuel line, and the tractor needs a bath. The muffler sits right between the front wheels with just a [banged up] heat shield. The rear hitch has been abused, so both the front a rear need a beefing up. Battery will not charge past 6 volts. It probably needs a stator, but who knows unitl it fires up?

 

 I know one thing. After all the abuse it has taken, even though i think i can make a few repairs to get it running,, the electrical connections will be with fused jumper wires so no more magic smoke. The beastie is packing a 23 HP Briggs and a 54" deck, so this could be interesting. a TSC store brand, but if not a Wheel Horse who even cares what the actual brand is? the reason I have the machine is a repair service quoted him over 600.00 to repair it and falsely told him it needed a new starter and a bunch of other stuff. I am gonna put a new solenoid on it just in case hooking the old one backwards caused the locked on starter condition. We will see about the rest later. Probably a hundred or so if it needs a new stator.

 

 Working on Horses is accessible and easy compared to this ------thing

2 minutes ago, ohiofarmer said:

 

 

Edited August 11, 2016 by ohiofarmer

[953 nut 55,243]

Good Luck! Are you doing this for your friend or has he given it to you? This sounds like a real can of worms and I would be cautious about spending a lot of money on something that has been abused.

25 minutes ago, ohiofarmer said:

friend of mine is tough on equipment

You know your friend better than we do, but be sure he has realistic expectations about the money he will spend vs. the outcome. Hate to see you work hard and end up with a lost friendship. 

[DougC 2,641]

The old saying  No good deed ever goes unpunished is a possibility with a MTD abused lawn tractor.... I wish you luck, and he must be a good friend.  

 

I just re-read your post and saw the rotten fuel line...... How old is that thing......... Careful spending the $.....    

Edited August 11, 2016 by DougC

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

Well, it will not be quick and easy. Some sort of safety interlock or bad switch somewhere. the only thing I know for now is that a direct feed will spin the starter. I am thinking of re-locating the solenoid in an external electric box just because of how easily the trigger wire is to knock loose and put under stress when trying to mount the thing. Typical MTD to make the important parts hard to get to. We just might put an extra dedicated push button momentary switch to trigger the solenoid if the safety switch problems are hidden in the wiring loom.That way, all the test leads can be used where i can see what's what. Then the fact that the seat must be removed makes it tough to replace components underneath and then test them because of the seat safety switch issue

 Yes, this guy is a friend that i helped to build a log cabin that is one of the best designed vacation homes in Gatlinburg. The mower is for use p here to maintain a wooded lot on occasion.

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

 Well, i got the engine tins [plastic and metal] off the engine today. Mouse nest the size of a loaf of bread.What I saw that I liked is that the spark is made for each cylinder by just a mag on each side. maybe if I can get the safety interlocks figured out, all i will need is a battery to start it and not have the battery charging circuit work for now. The owner did report that when they hooked up the solenoid incorrectly that the Magic Smoke came out from under the flywheel... The carbs [one into 2] came off nicely as a modular unit and will investigate and clean them on the bench. The flywheel nut is off and penetrating oil is soaking in in case i decide to pull it.

 

 I blew the mouse nest out and then coated the engine with Diesel to soften up the crud and then cut the crud off with a Harbor Freight engine cleaning wand using gasoline as the solvent. A little tire shine as a finish cleaner and conditioner can do wonders after it is sprayed on and wiped off [old motorcycle show and shine trick] Life is good working on a cleaned engine. The flywheel and the mags will need the rust sanded off them before any starting attempt is made. The only new parts used to this point are a new solenoid and a new key. If it runs, I will price a new battery charging stator. I wish I had more time to keep working on it, but life and work gets in the way.

[ohiofarmer 3,276]

Progress, so far

 

 I ordered two spark coils for the engine. When someone wired up the solenoid for the owner, he put the extra ground wire on the hot lead. The kill wires to the coils were melted---no spark for sure. I found a good video on servicing carbs for this machine. You-Tube cautioned that the two jets have different sizing right and left and had to have good o-rings to make them perform correctly. The thing is, there were no jets present at all. Someone else had been in there and carelessly let the jets fall out and lost them [because the O-rings were loose. I guess]. So I am gonna go to my local repair shop and order the genuine Briggs jets an a couple O-rings to complete the carb clean and re-assembly. With You-tube and the fact that this is a Briggs, pretty good info and product support out there.

 

 What the big mystery is, the PO said the unit ran fine until the buddy of his changed that solenoid.. Mnnn Hmmmmm ; i just wonder who got inside that carb before me? Wish me luck. It looks like nothing can be taken for granted