Hello Everyone,

I have a Craftsman 42" riding mower with 17 HP Briggs & Stratton engine. It won't start. When I turn the ignition it makes a clicking sound, but it will not crank. The battery tested out fine, fully charged. New spark plug. I replaced the ignition switch and solenoid. It started up once after I had replaced the ignition & solenoid, but not again. When I jump across the solenoid terminals it does nothing. If I jump from battery directly to starter the engine moves a little bit. A voltage test at the solenoid shows 12V power on the ignition side, but none on the starter side while trying to start it. I really hope someone can help me out here. This is very frustrating.

Thanks,
sherbjo

Oh, and I also tried turning the flywheel by hand and it did not help. And I checked all the wiring and it looks fine. Battery connections are clean too. What does that clicking sound mean? Why am I not getting power to the starter?

Sounds like the solenoid making the clicking sound, or it could be the anti fire solenoie, (fuel bowl solenoid), which is located on the bottom of the carb. Bowl. See if there is either one or two wires running to the bottom side of the carb. The clicking could be coming from there.

There are 2 wires to the carburetor. I tried it today and just a couple of clicks then nothing. I hooked jump cables from my car to the mower battery, ran the car, and the mower started up! I charged it this way for 1/2 hour, then mowed my lawn. I let the mower cool off for an hour, tried to start it, and nothing again! I don't understand, I had Sears check the battery, they ran a test and said it is good. Is the battery the problem here? What else could cause this? Maybe the alternator is not charging the battery? Where is the alternator located anyway? Can the alternator be replaced somehow?

I have the battery on a small charger now, I will try it again tomorrow. If just clicking or nothing at all then do you think the battery needs to be replaced? Its only 2 years old.

sherbjo

I have the same engine and had the same problem. Battery tested fine, just a clicking noise when I tried to start. Ended up cleaning the battery terminals with baking soda and water. Starts up just fine now.

Yeah, cleaning the battery terminals is one of the first things I did, so its not that. OK, I left it on a trickle charger for about 12+ hours, and it started right up today. I turned it off and on several times without a problem. First I don't understand why its not starting, now I don't understand why it is starting. The booklet says the headlights run off the alternator, and the lights work fine when it is running. So I am going to assume that means the alternator is working OK. I am going to charge it some more and then try to start it up everyday. Lets see what happens next with this crazy thing.

Hi sherbjo.
If I remember right there are two leads coming from the alterator. One is alternating current for the lights. The other is direct current for charging the battery. There is a diode on it which some times fails. Have it checked. Hope this helps you.
Northern Mike

Craftsman riding lawnmover replaced battery and I just get a clicking nosie and the starter seems to be hot. I noticed that the key was left on would that cause the starter to burn out. It seem to be getting power to the starter. Thank you

OK, I had written a nice very detailed long explanation as to what happened and how this has been resolved, but the website logged me off and lost the reply message. So here is the not so detailed version:

I charged battery, still nothing happening. I replaced the ignition switch because no current to relay and switch turned too much to the left. Got current at relay but no sounds, even when jumping relay terminals with pliers. Replaced relay and got a clicking sound from relay, but no movement in starter. I jumped mower battery from car and mower started right up! After removing jumper cables mower would not start again. I put the mower battery on a trickle charger for 24 hours and it has been starting up fine ever since.

Thanks for everyone's help & suggestions!

Hook up your jumper cables again but this time hook the ground jumper cable to the frame of the mower instead of the battery. If the mower cranks then your problem may be the ground cable connection to the frame.

I have a 20HP/46 cut Huskee mower that had what I thought was either battery or starter problems, much like what is listed here and other places on the web. The battery read 12.5 volts on the meter, yet all I got when I turned the key was "click-click-click" and the battery indicator would flash. I tried jumping it but got the same results. I even tried applying the red/positive jumper cable direct to the starter but got nothing. I finally took the plastic cover off the engine (in this case four simple bolts) just to take a look at the starter and what I found was this: the small cog on the started had jammed up underneath the engine flywheel (or whatever you call it) and that had basically jammed up the system. I took a flat head screw driver and a hammer and gently tapped the engine flywheel until it unjammed. It started fine after that. A simple 10 minute fix. Hope that helps someone!

PS -The positive cable was also getting very hot at the starter.

I have the same problem as sherbjo , only that jumping from a car battery works intermittently. I have gone over and over all the connections. The only safety switch I can't seem to find is for the accelerator, and am suspicious it may be that?
I have a Murray Sentinal 42inch 17Hp Intex. Any more hints on this frustrating problem?. I now have grass up to 6ft tall! qqq