cod 121 #1 Posted May 23, 2014 If you turn the key and the starter spins but will not engage the flywheel, is that an indication that the starter is bad? The background story goes like this, went out to start the 418, turned the key and the starter cranked very slowly and then quit. I thought it might be the starter circuit acting up so I jumped the solenoid and once again the engine turned very slowly but then it suddenly fired up. I moved the tractor and shut it down and left it sitting for a couple of hours. Went to move it again and this time it completely refused to even turn over. I removed the shroud and checked the starter lead and it was tight but I removed it and made sure it was clean by wirebrushing the post and the cable end. Put the lead back on but no improvement so I took a set of jumper cables and hooked a lead to the post and held the other end to the positive teminal on the battery and saw the starter spin but it did not move out to engage the flywheel. I can move the starter gear but it seemed tight so I removed the starter and tried to clean the shaft that the gear moves on but it still seems like there's crud inside that I can't get to. So if any of you have any experience with starter troubleshooting I'm all ears as I'd prefer not to buy a new starter but I don't have lots of time to fool with this one either as I can almost hear the lawn growing... Thanks - Cod Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldredrider 2,553 #2 Posted May 23, 2014 Use spray brake cleaner to clean up the starter shaft. Once it operates freely, put some graphite on it as a lubricant. It sounds as though you might have a brush problem. There is a thread on the forum that explains how to remove/replace them. To fix it, it will take either time or money...both of which seem to be at a premium right now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chazm 413 #3 Posted May 23, 2014 And another thought ... what condition is the battery ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cod 121 #4 Posted May 25, 2014 Thanks for the tips and it appears that it was more of a battery problem. I did take the starter apart and clean it up and for some reason I decided to check battery voltage which was 12.2V, so I put the battery on the charger overnight. Yesterday morning I put everything back together and as the battery now read 14.4V, I hooked it back up and found that the starter still would not engage. I did hear the solenoid clicking and thought perhaps that might be acting up, so I took the battery out and started cleaning all the connections. Decided to pickup another solenoid just in case this one was bad and when I got back before I put the new one in I checked the battery again and found the voltage was down to 9.3V and while the voltage was low my temper was rather high as once again it was time to hit the road on a battery quest. Needless to say I picked up a new battery, installed it and the beast fired right up. There must have been just enough left in the old battery to spin the starter but not enough to make it engage the flywheel. So your replies certainly helped as Chazm's comment about the battey got me thinking about that and Paul's tip about taking the starter apart allowed me to see that the the cooling fins under the shroud were clean and it was fun playing "how do I keep the brushes in place" when I put the starter back together too! Cod Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
