Curious behavior in my 414-8

[dsholler 54]

My tractor is running nicely, and I am figuring out the fastest way to get my (oddly shaped and somewhat uneven) lawn cut. However, I do have one strange behavior that I hope is not the harbinger of impending doom. The engine does burn a bit of oil (needed a top up after about 12 hours of run time), so I check the oil every day that I use the tractor. Often, I just push down the hood and pull the rubber tabs on without paying too much attention. I noticed that on some occasions, when I did this, the tractor would not turn over, as though some safety interlock was on. This happened when the hood was down, but the end was not properly seated on the console tower. If I shift the hood to seat it on the console, it starts right up.

Anyone seen this before? I clearly need to investigate a bit more, but I was curious of there is some obvious thing that everyone knows that I needed to do...

[Foozerush 40]

Will it start with the hood open?.....sorta sounds like the seating of the hood effects a short somewhere in the electrical.....I'm not an expert but maybe it might point to the problem....

[1maidenfan 201]

check the pto safety switch, right side of dash (back side) Could also be the little "brain box" on the left.

[dsholler 54]

the PTO safety switch was my first suspect, because one time I jiggled the PTO handle and it started.. but the jiggling could have also cause the hood to shift because I was flexing the console. The reason I am not sure is that last time it happened I tried jiggling the PTO handle (and engaging and disengaging) and this did not help.. that was when I shifted the hood and got it to start..

I agree there appears to be a short someplace...

I guess this is not something obvious that has happened to lots of people before.. so I will have to investigate.. unfortunately I am swamped with work stuff, so I probably will not get to it for a few weeks.

(as long as I can get it to start, of course, since I do need to do the lawn again this weekend.. )

[Wheel-N-It 2,967]

Probably the best thing to do for now is check and clean and tighten all the electrical connections. When the problem appears, check the voltmeter with the ignition switch in the run position. If the voltmeter shows zero volts then your may have a problem with the positive wire feeding the ignition switch. If it shows 13 or 14 volts then you probably have an issue with something in the start circuit. Either way it should be an easy fix, just take your time with it.