MDJ48

What is a selenoid on a lawn tractor

When does one need a new selenoid????Does it affect the battery...Tractor starts fine but after a few weeks battery goes dead or weakens...Someone mentioned i may need a new selenoid and others say no???Can a selenoid make a battery go dead??? or weaken?????

cheese

There's pretty much no way for a solenoid to drain the battery. All it does is make connection from the battery cable to the starter cable. You might just have a bad battery. Lawn mower batteries seldom last much more than 2 years. To check to see if you have a drain on the battery, disconnect the positive cable and connect a test light between the pos. battery post and the cable. If it lights or even glows a little, you have a draw. If it doesn't, you don't. Let us know what you find.

MDJ48

solenoid

If i had a bad selenoid what would happen????? Also i do have a brand new battery. Did have it tested guy said it was good that to replace the selenoid???Tractor runs fine for a couple cuts , then i have trouble getting it to turnover even when battery is good??

twelvepole

Solenoid problems?

Troubleshooting:

http://www.nevadawalrus.com/tips/tip6g.html

http://www.m-and-d.com/help.html

cheese

A bad solenoid will cause no cranking, or intermittent cranking. We need to start from square one to determine your problem. I will help you find the culprit. What HP and make of engine do you have? Some engines with overhead valves cause hard and slow starting when the valves aren't right.

Let me know what mower you have so that I can give you the location of the items to be checked, and tell you how to check them.

MDJ48

type

12.hp Briggs and Stratton.. 10years old...Just had a complete tune-up..I may put a new selenoid in anyhow. Its works fine for a couple weeks then has a problem turning over ??? Thanks for your advice will take more if you have it

cheese

When it has trouble turning over, does it turn slowly as if it had a low battery, or does it do nothing at all? A bad solenoid will keep the engine from turning at all. If it turns slowly, then your solenoid is working.

MDJ48

Turns over slowly as if the battery is loosing juice...I had a brand new battery which seemed to lose juice and would not turn over.Put a new one in and it was fine...I have a noma/ dynamark. Could be something in the harrness?? So you don't think its the selenoid??? I guess it won't hurt to put one in???
If i disconnect the battery each time after use i'm sure i'll have no problems but that is a pain..

cheese

No, I guess it wouldn't hurt to change the solenoid, but that is not the problem and will not correct anything. You seem to have either a drain on the battery, or your engine is not charging the battery. If it is not charging, it will start the engine as many times as it can until it runs low. To check this, you will need a voltmeter. Check for a drain on the battery in the manner instructed above on one of my previous posts.

do you have a voltmeter, or have access to one?

MDJ48

I had it checked last year everything was fine..No drain or anything..It could be in the wiring harness..I think i'll try to get thru the summer with it and then get rid of it..

cheese

There is a simple explanation to your problem. It may just be a bad wire, or a .50 cent diode. I will tell you what the problem is, if you can do a couple little tests to help me diagnose it. (unless you just WANT to get rid of it).

MDJ48

Where is the diode???Is it easy to find and look at? If its electrical i may just leave it alone?? I will cut i the lawn later this week and leave battery attached to see what happens...The battery they gave me could have been bad.. If not i feel the problem is in the harness and its not recharging battery properly or its drawing juice for some reason..I'll keep you posted..Thanks alot for your help