Sluggish Starter Rotation. New Bat. No Start

[fgr33n]

Hi all, I'm a learning-as-I-go mechanic. Since buying my 154 several years ago it has alwasy been a very sluggish "turner" but a great starter. Meaning the starter turns over very slowly. This was usually not a problem, as the machine would fire and start very quickly even though the starter was turning very slowly. However, it is now turning so slowly that it will not fire. (slow rotation, pause 1 sec, slow rotation, pause 1 sec...). Since the battery is pretty old, I just replaced it with a new one-- same problem.

As far as I can see the wiring all looks good with no corrosion. I couldn't really check the wiring at the dash, as it looks like the gas tank has to come out to see it. (is this true?) Anyway, I'm guessing that the starter generator needs to be replaced (or rebuilt). Is this a good guess and where can I buy one? Thanks in advance for your help

[beaconlight]

Check all your electrical connections and if they are all clean and good your starter needs cleaning and or repair.

[Eugene]

Concur on cleaning up all (and there are a bunch of them) of the electrical connections - including the grounds. Check the cables for interior corrosion. Might just want to replace the ground cable first because it's inexpensive.

If not that, then the starter/generator probably needs servicing.

[BigBill]

Clean those replacement terminals were the two 1/4" bolts clamp the cable to the battery terminal. These seem to corrode more in this area. If you have those which most of these older tractors do. As mentioned above too clean the connections at the cables ends were they attach to the tractor too.

You could remove the fan belt and let the starter/generator spin by itself so it will clean the armature on its own by free wheeling it. Then reconnect it and give that a shot. then you know its working too if it doesn't make any funny or weird noises.

Go to ebay and get the replacement bearings/brushes to rebuild your S/G or napa will have the parts too. Bill

[danovercash]

Jumping directly from a known good battery directly to the starter will tell you if the wireing is faulty.