All of those potential problems checked okay. Valves are good, cylinder is clear of gas, and the compression release seems to be working alright. I took out the plug to see if it would turn over that way, but it still wont turn over. the starter is only getting 3 V still.

Can you physically turn it over? Put you hand on the screen on top and see if you can spin the engine with the plug out, or grab a pulley or belt to achieve the same. If it spins "relatively" freely, then the starter would be suspect except you said it was new. Battery would also be suspect in this case, except you also said it was new. Was the "new" battery ever charged? Putting it on a charger to assure it's up would be what I did next. Also, I've had "new" batteries DOA. Charge it up and do a load test, Napa, etc. will do it for free.

Assuming you checked for mechanical issues, clutch/brake fully depressed and locked so you're not trying to turn the trans pulley and verify the belt is loose, "Ditto" on the PTO to the deck.

Good luck,

Ev

I'll charge the battery to see what happens.

Forgot, but a set of jumper cables and another battery, like in a vehicle will tell you something very quickly.

Good luck,

Ev

I would use a small jumper wire to jump between the solenoid terminal where the battery cable connects and the small terminal on the solenoid. IF there are two small terminals on the solenoid, one will be ground do not connect to that one. Let us know the results. I always like to know what engine we are talking about, I do not do look ups as that requires leaving the forum to search then return.

Walt Conner

"Reaching" here, you said the solenoid was new and you appear to have a meter. Have you checked across the solenoid terminals? With a new solenoid, measuring from the + battery connection to the cable going to the starter should read 0 when cranking which would indicate no voltage drop across the contacts. As Walt indicated jumpering + directly to the solenoid coil would bypass the ignition switch which would eliminate it's contacts.

To restate: On an older solenoid the contacts which switch + to the starter can become degraded and develop a high resistance causing a voltage drop, "starving" the starter. Degraded contacts in the ignition switch which energize the solenoid could also develop a high restistance resulting in a voltage drop so the solenoid coil doesn't fully energize to hold its contacts firmly to apply+ to the starter.

Again, "reaching."

Good luck,

Ev

It read 0 when cranking, however, with a fully charged battery, the mower starts/runs fine. In order to test it further, I ran the mower for a short period of time twice and attempted a restart. The first time was perfect, the second time hesitated but started, and the third time seems to do what it has been doing all along. I am probably going to set fire to the mower and see if that helps.

Probably hard to imagine, but you're making definite progress! You've eliminated the starter and solenoid and ignition switch. That's what troubleshooting is all about, "eliminate, eliminate, and finally you're there!"

Now, IMHO, you're looking at a weak battery, did you load test it or have it done? Or, the engine isn't charging the battery after starting. Starting it two to three times would definitely draw down one of these little batteries. You have a meter, with the engine running, measure the + and - at the battery, you should have at least 13+ VDC at full throttle. If you're only reading 12VDC, that's battery terminal voltage which indicates no charging voltage. In other words, the battery is sitting there at 12Volts, the engine has to put more than 12Volts in to charge it. Report back on this reading and we can proceed to looking for a "leakage path" which is robbing charging current/ drawing down the battery. If there is no leakage path, then we look into the charging ciruit itself. Diodes or cowling mounted rectifier/chargers are relatively cheap.

Hang in there. :-)

Ev

For anyone interested in my case, here is the status: I have created a separate ground for the solenoid, making sure it's clean and grounded. At the same time, I charged the battery (even though it showed 12V on the multimeter). After doing these things, I cranked it over. It started flawlessly. I shut her down and did it again. The second time there was hesitation while cranking, but it started again. The third time, it would barely turn a full rotation. It is now on the charger again, and I am banging my head on the wall.

cj, still sounds like a weak battery, have you load tested it yet? Did you take a reading across the battery with the engine running at wide open throttle (wot). The fact that you have enough "juice" to start it once or twice pretty much eliminates, starter, solenoid, valve adjustment, etc. What's left? The battery as the source of "juice," and the charging system which replenishes the "juice" to the battery.

Hang in there, look how much you're learning about small engine starting systems, chargers, batteries, etc. :-)

Ev

I have not gotten the battery load tested. I will do this and inform you of the results.

Hmm, all my 12V batteries show over 12V, 12.29 - 12.49V

Walt Conner