I've got a busy day ahead so I may not get to this for another day
or two. I did think that the spark plugs looked questionable, so I
will go ahead and replace them.
I would comment that since that battery was recharged, the engine
is cranking better. Again, it is weak cranking, but it is much better
than what I previously described as "barely cranking" at all.
One thing that I had not mentioned before that may be relevant.
Before all this occurred, I occasionally had the following happen. I
would turn on the engine and it would not crank. I waited a few
seconds and tried again. The engine started, no problem. This was
very intermittent
Ether Jones wrote:
PaulD wrote:
Ok. Here is some more information:

1) Model 427707; Type 1522 01 Code: 9301235B

Your engine was manufactured January 23, 1993 in the same facility
where mine was made.

Judging from the Type number, I think you have electronic ignition, not
breaker points (this is a Good Thing).

2) I cranked the engine with the multimeter touching the positive and
negative battery posts. The volts dropped to a little above 10 volts.

Well, the battery appears to be OK.

3) With the spark plugs removed, the engine turned rapidly.

The rapid cranking would seem to rule out a friction problem in the
engine.

It's still possible that you have a bad valve but let's set that aside
for the moment.

The most likely cause of the slow cranking would seem to be either:

- a bad starter motor, or

- bad connections in the cables between the battery and the starter
motor.

By the way, when you removed the plugs, what did the tips look like?
Were they a light tan and/or gray color with no evidence of cracking or
corrosion, or were they black and/or cruddy and/or corroded? It's
worth the small expense to go ahead and replace them with new ones if
there's any question.

I appreciate your expertise. What's next? Thanks

I'd suggest checking for bad cable connections first. To do this,
re-install the spark plugs before proceeding.

You want to check the circuit going from the battery to the starter
motor (and back) looking for a bad connection. You can detect a bad
connection without taking anything apart by using your voltmeter. A
bad connection will have a voltage drop across it when the engine is
cranking. A good connection will have very little or no voltage drop
across it. The voltage drop is caused by the current pushing through
the resistance in the bad connection (V=IR).

Proceed as follows: The starter motor on this engine has only one
electrical terminal - the positive terminal. On my tractor (White
equipment), it is easily accessed without removing anything. Put one
voltmeter lead on this terminal. Touch the other voltmeter lead to
engine ground (cooling fins would be a good choice). Make sure the
voltmeter leads are making good contact. Have a helper crank the
engine, and check the voltage reading. It should be the same as the
reading you got when you had the voltmeter across the battery with the
engine cranking:

- If the voltage IS the same (and 10 volts or greater), it would
normally indicate that your starter motor has a problem since it's
getting the proper voltage but isn't cranking properly. But... this
wouldn't explain your original problem why your engine stalled. So...
was your engine happily cranking just fine until this stalling problem
occurred? If so, it's probably not the starter motor - you may have a
bad valve. This can be tested but requires compression gage. Post
again when you get this far.

- If the voltage is NOT the same, then you have a bad cable connection
somewhere. Hopefully this is all it is. Post your results when you
get this far and we'll go from there.

If you can't access the starter motor terminal, you can at least
easily check the ground half of the circuit. Re-post and I'll tell you
how.