Hey, the carb. cleaner did the trick and the engine is getting plenty of fuel to remain running. Thanks for the responses and helpful suggestions everyone. Now I have a new situation in the mower will not move when put into forward or reverse. Belts look like they are in place with plenty of tension. It was suppose to be working fine when it was parked. I said earlier it had not been cranked for several months, but it was not driven in probably 18 months. It has been loaded and trucked to 2 different locations. Could something have been knocked out of place or the fluid low. This was my fathers mower so I have no manual.

Better be sure that the problem is in the starter. Have it checked by a mechanic. And make sure you have the battery connected correctly. Red is positiv(plus), black is ground/ negative (-)! + and - signs are usually molded into the battery case somewwhere. Many amateur mechanics have bought new lawn tractor starters, only to find out that the problem is not the starter, but something else. Also, new starters and other electrical equipment is not returnable, once you have hooked it up, tried it, and found the problem was not in the starter! UH-OH. Most batteries as used in lawn tractors, etc. are connected as the minus sign goes to the frame ground, and the plus side goes to the starter solenoid. Did you try jumper cables from the car or truck battery? Might save ya a Century Note! Also, i good cleaning of the minus cable, where it is connected to the tractor frame, is good to do. Check also for any disconnected safety switches, too.

You're welcome. I was as perplexed as you with the "lack of" detail regarding how and when the fuel solenoid became energized. There is only one other circumstance I can liken YOUR situation to (engine acts like it wants to run when cranking, but dies when key is released from START position). Back in the '40s, '50s, and early '60s,, some automotive engine OEMs employed a "ballast resistor" in the ignition coil circuit. This "ballast resistor" was placed in the ignition coil circuit so that the normal system voltage, was cut by 50% before reaching the ignition coil. This meant that on a vehicle with a 12 volt electrical system, only 6 volts was fed to the ignition coil from the RUN position of the ignition switch. 6 volt systems cut the power to 3 volts. The most compelling reason for having to "rig up" the coil feed this way was due to the woefully inadequate batteries, switches, wiring and other things electrical, of that time. Mainly, it was the "weak" automotive batteries of the time that had to be "compensated for". Here's why: All applications that utilize a battery to power a cranking motor, will experience a dramatic "system voltage drop" throughout the entire electrical system during cranking. The "drop" is caused by the very heavy "current draw", or LOAD, of the starter. The voltage drop causes the ignition coil "sparkability" to diminish significantly. Add to that, a good frosty morning where the battery is cold and even weaker. Factor in further that the starter itself has worn brushes and sticky bushings and you will have so much current draw.....you might not even get a spark out of the coil. Enter the wizards of yesteryear (uhh, maybe they were just engineers). They developed a method to assure good sparks from the coil during cranking. The idea was to use a 6 volt rated ignition coil on a 12 volt system instead of the usual 12 volt rated coil (3 volt coil for 6 volt systems). But how can you do that? Wouldn't a 6 volt coil "burn up" if you powered it with 12 volts? Yes, it would........but not if you feed the normal RUN position power through a "ballast resistor" to reduce 12V to 6V before it reaches the coil. HUH? The "key" to how this arrangement assured dependable starting was in adding a SEPARATE circuit that would "BYPASS" the resistor while the starter was engaged. Bypassing the resistor meant that the ignition coil would be fed a "higher voltage" (in spite of system voltage drop) when cranking, than in normal running mode. After the engine "caught on", the starter was disengaged and the bypass circuit disabled. The current feeding the coil once again flowed through the ballast resistor and the 6 volt rated coil was safe from burning up. It was somewhat common in those days to confront a vehicle that acted similar to this Scag. (It wants to start while cranking, but dies when let go of key.) Most of the time, that particular problem would be due to a failed ballast resistor. But those systems had some other shortcomings. Sometimes you would find a vehicle where the owner would complain of "it just cranks and cranks and cranks, but if you turn the key loose, it might start up at that moment. THIS condition was due to the BYPASS circuit being open for some reason. OEMs accomplished "BYPASS" in different ways. Some added an extra post to the ignition switch that would power the bypass circuit during cranking. Other OEMs added an extra wire to the starter solenoid that powered the bypass circuit during cranking. When something became open in the bypass circuit, the coil would only be fed the reduced voltage. Then you were right back to the situation before the ballast resistor systems came into use. Advances in battery, ignition, starters, and conductors in general, made the use of ballast resistor systems disappear in the 1970s (except for some industrial applications). Oh yeah, magneto ignition systems were unaffected by voltage drop in the vehicle electrical system because they are "self contained spark generators".

Read through this before you begin. You will do best if the carb is off the engine and on a work bench or other suitable surface. I like to do the work in a large baking pan, less likely for something to roll off and get lost. Refer to the image below. I have added the item # 40.5 for the nut that secures the bowl to the carb. When you remove item 40.5 the bowl should simply pull straight off, you may need to tap the bowl lightly with a plastic screwdriver handle or similar "persuader" to break it loose. Pay attention to what you are doing, my standard advice is use a digital camera and shoot a lot of photos of the carb before you take things loose. And continue to photograph more as you remove items, this will give you something to refer to later WHEN you forget how something was. Have a sheet of paper (or a whole notepad) and write notes, draw sketches, anything to record the details. After the bowl is off, you need to pull out item # 27 to release the float. (you are taking pictures of this aren't you?) The needle valve (item # 30) should lift out of the seat when you pick up the bowl, but it may come loose, so watch it carefully. Pay close attention to the orientation of item # 31 spring clip (more pictures please). Now, I want you to look at items # 17, and 20. # 17 is the IDLE SPEED screw.....do not touch this screw, it sets the low idle RPM only and it's not necessary to mess with it during the cleaning. But # 20, the idle mixture screw, needs to be removed BUT before you remove it, you need to count the number of turns (and fraction of turns) in the CLOCKWISE direction that are required to just barely seat the screw to the bottom of the threaded hole. Write down the number on your note paper, this will be the number of turns CCW you will use as the initial setting when you assemble the carb after cleaning. After the float is off, the needle valve is out, and the idle mixture screw has been "counted" and removed you will proceed to clean the carb. Eye protection is mandatory when using spray carb cleaner, so use the proper safety goggle or face shield. Solvent proof rubber or vinyl gloves are good too. Do the cleaning outdoors or in good ventilation only. No smoking! Using spary carb cleaner (like Carb Medic, example)and the nozzle straw, spray the carb cleaner into every darn hole you see. Using a very fine piece of wire (the bare kind like used on parts tags) and poke it into all the holes to manually dislodge blockage, be careful not to break the wire off in a passage. Spray more cleaner through all the holes. If you have access to compressed air, blow out all the holes and passages. If you don't have compressed air, just let the carb dry thoroughly before reassembling. All the loose parts (bowl, mixture screw, float) need to be cleaned to remove any gunk or varnish film from them. Be careful not to bend any parts of the float where its pin goes or where the needle touches the float. After all is clean and dry, assembly is the reverse of the tear down. And don't forget to change the engine lube oil and filter before you try to run this engine again. Any gas that has appeared in the air cleaner can be mopped out with paper towels, put them outside with a weight on them so the wind won't get them, after the gas evaporates you can toss them into your OUTSIDE trash can. Smoke? Yeah, good possibility. Have the machine outdoors when you restart it. Fire is unlikely (most of the volatiles will be evaporated by then) but you may see some black specks of oil and carbon emerge from the exhaust outlet. That should clear up in 5 minutes or so. May lady luck be holdin' yer hand!