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Craftsman 14.5 HP just quit running

14 years ago

I have a Craftsman 14.5 HP rider. I have been jumping it for the past couple months, thought battery was bad. I had tested yesterday and the battery is good. I was mowing for about 30 minutes and it all the sudden just died. Right as it was quiting I heard a pop. Any ideas? I am thinking it is the solenoid but I do not see anything that would explain the pop.

I am not very mechanically inclined. Just wanted to check on here for some opinions before I buy anything.

Thanks in advance.

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Comments (9)

tomplum
14 years ago
If you needed to jump this than likely the terminals were loose/ corroded or the engine was cranking so hard that it needed a bigger battery to physically do it. Guessing it is a Briggs OHV, tehre are several threads that cover excessive valve lash not allowing the compression release to operate. Still want to go further? Describe the pop a bit better and list the engine #s IE 287777 and 1234-e1
piper21770
Original Author
14 years ago
The battery was a little caroded. I scraped it off with a wire brush before running. I have since cleaned it completely with coke. The pop was like a hand clap, not real loud. The engine is a B&S 287707 1259-e1
I am not very good with mechanical stuff but I am learning.
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"Starter gear is turning ccw." This indicates the battery is hooked up correctly. Perhaps the new battery is not fully charged so not enough current to spin the starter fast enough to throw the starter gear up to engage OR perhaps the starter Bendix is dirty and gear is sticking. Strange it would happen at the same time battery is changed though. "The wires that disappear under the flywheel are red/black. When I tested them, the red wire reads ~13V," This should be OK provided it is DC. I may have misunderstood your term "wires were hot" I am talking temperature, you may have meant they had current to them. The black one should not have any current when the engine is not running, depends on where tested if the red one would. There should be a "fat" place in the red one just above the duplex plug on the wires as they come from under the flywheel. This is the diode for changing AC to half wave DC for charging the battery. There may be current PAST the duplex plug in the red wire when grounded as this is the wire to the battery for charging. On some systems, this wire terminates on the starter solenoid post with the battery cable coming directly from the battery and would show current. On some systems, it goes back thru the switch in which case it would not when switch is off. Walt Conner
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piper21770
Original Author
14 years ago
Update. Reattached battery and it tries to start but will not fire. I think I have a more serious problem. Looked at spark plug and it has gunk on it. It is a new plug just changed in the spring. By gunk I mean sludge and actually it appeared to have some rust on it?
piper21770
Original Author
14 years ago
I changed the spark plug and it ran like normal. The spark plug was only 3 months old, perhaps 12-14 yard cuttings on 1 1/4 acres, is there some thing else that I should look for that may be a future problem? Or should I think that maybe I got a bad plug? Thank you
rosemallow
14 years ago
Maybe the spark plug was not in tight and the spark plug popped out. Is the spark plug still there?

Does it crank?
piper21770
Original Author
14 years ago
The plug was in snug enough that it would not come out by hand, i took it out and looked at it. As I said it had sludge on it and a little rust. It looked ok after it was wiped off. Just trying to think if there is something else that I should be keeping an eye out for.
tomplum
14 years ago
So the pop was likely a backfire. A plug fowling after so many cuttings maybe a sign of some oil consumption. Any blue smoke? I would cover your bases and ensure you are using straight 30 oil, the oil level is correct and the air filter is clean. Have another spark plug on hand just in case.
piper21770
Original Author
14 years ago
It does smoke a little when it first starts but nothing after that. I did buy a new air filter. The oil that I use is 30 sae. Thank you
tomplum
14 years ago
I had a customer with one of these 28" Briggs that would get build up on the plug and eventially fowl it. I never did find the cause and frankly the chassis wasn't something you would want to put $$ in anyways. I'd pop by and pop in a new plug and away it would go. The 3rd time I put an E3 plug in and discovered it would run the season with that plug in it.

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