Ive got a fully charged battery, the starter just chugs a little,
Not enough to start it up, and the red connection at the starter
Heats up and smokes. Is the starter bad, or do I have electrical problem elsewhere? I think I just replaced the starter last summer.
Help?

How old is the battery? 2-3 years for a lawn and garden battery is about as useful as they will be.

If its new, is it charged? Have you put a battery charger on it to make sure of such? How are the battery connections? Good and free of corrosion?

IS there any oil on the wire at the starter? THIS will make the connection bad and of course smoke.

What brand engine? Is it a over head valve engine or what? By chugging... does it turn good until it hits a certain point, or just barely moves to start with?

Hey, thanks for responding so quick.
I just had the battery tested, its fine and fully charged. 9 months old.
The connections are good and clean. The starter motor turns a few
Revs and stops, there's a five second pause then it does it again,
After several of these thoings start heating up. The positive battery terminal
Will be hot from the post to the starter. The connection at the starter
Starts smoking. I tried crossing the terminals of the sloenoid to see
What happens but it does the same thing.?

Is it a over head valve engine? When the valves get a little out of adjustment, they will try to stick, or will stick on the compression stroke.

It's a type 0-225-1, OHV 14.5 hp.
The funny thing about it is, I have been able to start it in the recent past
With a fully charged battery, but this time it isn't working, and I know the battery is fully packed.
?

http://faqs.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/faqs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3441&p_created=1101860144


See if adjusting the valves help.

:D hey dude, I started to investigate the valves , but before I did,
I decided to take every electrical connection apart from the battery
To the starter, clean them real good and tighten everything up,
And get all the crud out of the way. Damned if it didn't fire right up.
Oh yeah I took the plug out and cleaned it too.
So I started mowing the lawn and smelled gas and looked under
The carb and Id sprung a leak in the float pot! Luckily I know how to
Fix that. Thanks a lot for your advice.

Exactly where was it coming from, from the fuel bowl? A tiny carb gasket kit, if it's a gasket... for any briggs engine is very cheap. Might find them separate sometimes. Napa has started to carry some briggs parts, Lowe's carrys the regular stuff like starter gears, oil filters or oil.. etc. Napa is heads, head gaskets, coils, and various other tiny things. For any corrosion... mix a little baking soda and water and clean the connections with it, it'll get rid of the acid.

Is the fuel bowl is leaking itself from a hole in it?

Guess I forgot the usual wiggle the connections thing... I've had the fuses pop out from normal bumping around even!

:o the float pot corroded from rust or whatever and developed a little pin hole. Ezy replacement. (famous last words)