matt monte 132 #1 Posted July 19, 2022 have not had good luck lately with any of my wheel horses. for whatever reason it keeps burning out solenoid. i had a no start condition 4weeks ago. i replaced the solenoid with a known good one (was a spare for i think my 312) lasted thru the lawn cut and died. being scavenged from an old parts 308, i assummed it was just old and ordered a new one online. i replaced, cut lawn and was back at my no start issue. i noticed the plug to starter switch was in horrible shape, so i cut it off and replaced all the leads. A previous owner hacked out all safety feature's and removed some relays and did "custom" wiring at some point. however it was running problem free other than belt and blade spindle issues for a few years now. I used it a few times by jumping the soleniod with a screwdriver. It smoked the soleniod to the point it blew a fuse. i bought a generic one close to what was originally on it from TSC yesterday. It started up and i cut the lawn. When i put it away it had that distinct smell of burning i noticed with other solenoid failures, (only took 3 of them). what the heck is causing this? not gonna mess with it until i can figure out what is doing this. someone please help! I would like to put it out there that the current state or wiring you see is not my style or how i operate. i have a 312-8 and a 308-8 im building. im not into rigging things and plan on unloading this one as soon as i find a decent spare deck, local for the 308 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Achto 28,194 #2 Posted July 19, 2022 21 minutes ago, matt monte said: what the heck is causing this? Is there any possibility that the solenoid is staying engaged while the engine is running? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pfrederi 18,188 #3 Posted July 19, 2022 It looks like there are two small wires hooked onto the solenoid. Older WHs didn't use both terminals the body was the ground. Where do your two wires go? One should go to ignition switch S terminal. The other if needed to a ground. Test... remove the heavy wire to starter. the with igniton in run see if you have continuity between the two heavy terminals. I think Achto is on to something. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,177 #4 Posted July 19, 2022 Some of these control both the solenoid (+) and solenoid (-) as part of the safety system. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt monte 132 #5 Posted July 19, 2022 can the ignition switch itself be the culprit? causing hot leg to be on all the time, burning out solenoid? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt monte 132 #6 Posted July 19, 2022 one of the legs is a ground, if i remove that yellow wire i believe it messes with the circuit. what compounds the problem is all the hacks to keep her going over the years instead of just replacing safety switches that broke over time, really annoying fxing others shortcuts that really aren't Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
953 nut 56,767 #7 Posted July 19, 2022 4 hours ago, Achto said: Is there any possibility that the solenoid is staying engaged while the engine is running? Your solenoid should have one small terminal going to ground and one small terminal going to the "S" terminal on your ignition switch. If the safety switches hadn't been removed half of the PTO switch and the clutch switch would be between the solenoid and the ignition switch. Since they are not there the "switching relay" is not needed and may be part of the problem. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt monte 132 #8 Posted July 25, 2022 thank you everyone.for taking the time to respond i ordered a new solenoid and starter switch, waiting patiently by the mailbox 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
