Craftsman Blade engagement problems

I have a Craftsman 917.254631 that I started up yesterday and the blade would not engage. The only idea I have as to why it quit working is I had to take the tarp off of it to cover a window that got broken on a car. In that period rain must have got inside some of the electrical wiring. It starts up fine and I've "tried" to get to the wiring for the engagement but you damn near have to put the whole thing apart. Can anyone give me some advice on the best way to go about this? My idea is that water sat in the bottom and messed the switch up because the wires go in somewhat from the bottom. Also would I be better replacing this or is there someway to straight wire it. I will probably need a link to a service manual to get a diagram of all this stuff.

 

Do you have a voltmeter? Is power getting to the pto switch?

 

I don't have one but I can get one and test it. I'm lost from what I would test. It looks like there are three wires that run from the switch.. and I am lost as to what I should test. It starts up fine so which direction should the wire be going that I am testing. I've tried to find the manual but I can't locate it online therefore I'm going by the wiring of the closest model I could find.

 

Ok...wait a minute. I just looked up your mower and the blades are not even electrically operated. Check your blade belt and the tensioner pulley to make sure it is tightening the belt when you turn the blades on.

 

How old is this thing?
What 'wiring' are you referring to?

I would have someone sit on the seat and try to engage the blades while you are observing from the side to see what's not working.
You may have a broken tensioner pulley spring that's not pulling the deck belt tight.
you can enter the model no. at the searspartsdirect site for the diagrams.
hth