I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

Sounds like you bought another cheap battery. Failed to do a few
simple things to make it start, routinely. For the record, a starter
with bronze or maybe brass shaft bushings have worn. The starter
begins to "drag", and the battery can't crank it. YMMV.

Oren wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

Sounds like you bought another cheap battery. Failed to do a few
simple things to make it start, routinely. For the record, a starter
with bronze or maybe brass shaft bushings have worn. The starter
begins to "drag", and the battery can't crank it. YMMV.

If starfter has Bendix type contacts, maybe it is pitted from
weak battery. Time to check the starter assembly.

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 16:42:28 -0600, Tony Hwang wrote:

Sounds like you bought another cheap battery. Failed to do a few
simple things to make it start, routinely. For the record, a starter
with bronze or maybe brass shaft bushings have worn. The starter
begins to "drag", and the battery can't crank it. YMMV.

If starfter has Bendix type contacts, maybe it is pitted from
weak battery. Time to check the starter assembly.

A lot of motor repair shops will test a starter for you for free or a
few bucks. They can test the battery too. I'd start there!
If the battery and starter are ok, then you have engine problems.

Arnie,

Check and adjust your valves.

Dave M.

On Fri, 5 Jun 2015 18:30:59 -0400, "David L. Martel"
wrote:

Arnie,

Check and adjust your valves.

Dave M.

Or do a simple thing like check compression.

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

A lot of these engines use the exhaust valve in a compression release
scheme to allow the starter to turn the engine over. The exhaust valve
clearance must be set at the prescribed point in the rotation of the
camshaft to allow this function. Check the manual and verify if the
exhaust valve is gapped correctly.
--
Mr.E

Mr.E wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

A lot of these engines use the exhaust valve in a compression release
scheme to allow the starter to turn the engine over. The exhaust valve
clearance must be set at the prescribed point in the rotation of the
camshaft to allow this function. Check the manual and verify if the
exhaust valve is gapped correctly.

Thanks for the tip on the exhaust valve. Thanks to everyone else for
responding with helpful ideas.

Arnie Goetchius wrote:
Mr.E wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

A lot of these engines use the exhaust valve in a compression release
scheme to allow the starter to turn the engine over. The exhaust valve
clearance must be set at the prescribed point in the rotation of the
camshaft to allow this function. Check the manual and verify if the
exhaust valve is gapped correctly.

Thanks for the tip on the exhaust valve. Thanks to everyone else for
responding with helpful ideas.

I had the valve problem, adjusted both valves. Happened again, then I
tightened a little better !

Greg

On Friday, June 5, 2015 at 8:02:28 PM UTC-4, Mr. E wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

A lot of these engines use the exhaust valve in a compression release
scheme to allow the starter to turn the engine over. The exhaust valve
clearance must be set at the prescribed point in the rotation of the
camshaft to allow this function. Check the manual and verify if the
exhaust valve is gapped correctly.
--
Mr.E

+1

A neighbor was having the same problem with his lawn tractor.
We had it misdiagnosed as a bad starter. Even with a fully
charged battery jumped to the starter, it would engage, but
not turn over. He wound up calling for service and it was
that it needed a valve adjustment. Which didn't seem to make
sense at first, until I thought about the compression release
part.....

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?
I'd be checking for bad power or ground connections both at the
battery and at the engine/starter end.
Do a complete voltage drop test of the system, and go from there.

On 6/6/15 1:42 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 23:15:13 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?
I'd be checking for bad power or ground connections both at the
battery and at the engine/starter end.
Do a complete voltage drop test of the system, and go from there.

This is my bet.

I had the same thing with my Craftsman rider and after I went over all
of the fat wire connections, putting star washers under the screws, it
worked great. I am not sure which one was bad but something was
dropping a few volts.
The other thing might be a bad starter solenoid.


Earlier this year, I checked mine for fun. First the voltage at the
battery terminals under load. Then the voltage across the starter
terminals. IIRC, it was 0.4V lower, but it was adequate.

Then I began to wonder where I was losing the 0.4V. It was across the
solenoid contacts. In view of the current involved, that looked like a
pending disaster. (Not really. I could have started it by bypassing the
solenoid.)

There had been times when the engine would start to turn and stop.
Turning the key again would work. I'd assumed it was too much
compression. Burnt solenoid points could also account for it. Now I'm
trying to remember if the problem has occurred since I replaced the
solenoid.

On Sat, 06 Jun 2015 13:24:43 -0400, J Burns wrote:

On 6/6/15 1:42 AM, wrote:
On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 23:15:13 -0400, wrote:

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over. I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car
battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?
I'd be checking for bad power or ground connections both at the
battery and at the engine/starter end.
Do a complete voltage drop test of the system, and go from there.

This is my bet.

I had the same thing with my Craftsman rider and after I went over all
of the fat wire connections, putting star washers under the screws, it
worked great. I am not sure which one was bad but something was
dropping a few volts.
The other thing might be a bad starter solenoid.


Earlier this year, I checked mine for fun. First the voltage at the
battery terminals under load. Then the voltage across the starter
terminals. IIRC, it was 0.4V lower, but it was adequate.

If this were a car, one could blow the horn while trying to start the
engine. If the horn blows well, there is something wrong with the
starter circuit. If it makes little or no sound, it's likely the
battery is weak.

Then I began to wonder where I was losing the 0.4V. It was across the
solenoid contacts. In view of the current involved, that looked like a
pending disaster. (Not really. I could have started it by bypassing the
solenoid.)

There had been times when the engine would start to turn and stop.
Turning the key again would work. I'd assumed it was too much
compression. Burnt solenoid points could also account for it. Now I'm
trying to remember if the problem has occurred since I replaced the
solenoid.

You'll think of it soon.

On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 18:07:58 -0400, Arnie Goetchius
wrote:

I have a tractor (MTD 1998) with a 14.5 OHV Briggs & Stratton. The
starter has been giving me fits over the last year or so. The starter
would not turn the engine over.

What does this mean? You get no sound at all? You get a click only
(does this have a solenoid that would click?)? You get rrrrgh while it
turns a bit, but it doesn't turn enough to start?

I tried to turn the engine by hand but
could not.

What does that mean? You coudln't pull the rope at all? You could
pull it a little? You could pull it the normal amount but it still
didn't start?

Have brand new battery and some times I can jump start with the car

Why only sometimes? It's inconvenient the other times and you don't do
it for that reason? Or you can try that way but it doesn't start? If
the latter, please answer the first four questions at the top.

battery and will turn over. Once I get it running, there is no problem.
If I turn it off for an hour, it will start right up. Leave it off for a
couple of days and the starter will not crank. Any ideas?

When the starter will not crank, what happens next? It never starts
again? That's probably not it, so what do you do to get it to start
after a couple of days?