In article , wrote:
On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 21:20:41 -0400, Rocinante wrote:

After recharging the battery for the electric starter for my Toro mower,
the 40 amp fuse keeps blowing whenever I turn the key. The 12 volt rated
battery is currently at 12.74 volts. Is the electric starter bad, or is the
battery overcharged?

12.74 volts is perfectly fine. There's nothing wrong with your battery.

I should mention that the manual pull will start the engine easily.

That's good. That eliminates really ugly problems like a seized engine.

There probably isn't anything wrong with your starter, either - most likely,
IMO, is that something in the wiring harness is shorted to ground.

There's an easy way to tell, though: remove the starter and lay it on the
ground. Then connect a set of jumper cables from the battery to the starter:
from the negative battery terminal to the frame of the starter, and from the
positive battery terminal to the terminal(s) on the starter. (Some starters
have one terminal, some have two - if yours has two, make sure you hit them
both at once.)

If the starter motor spins, it's good, and your problem is in the ignition
switch or the wiring harness. Finding the problem could take several hours'
work with a voltmeter.

If it doesn't spin, well, you just found the problem. :-)

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?