I have a Craftsman rider with a 16 HP Briggs and Stratton that barely cranks. The solenoid was replaced late last summer and I jumped the terminals today to see if that was the issue and it still barely cranks.
The battery was a 12 month battery purchased last year so I took it in and replaced it with a fresh one and I still get the same, barely cranks if at all.
It will rotate one or two revolutions and then stop. The mower is about 8 years old. I can generally get it jump started with my car and then the engine runs fine and I can mow like normal. Just as long as I don't shut it off. Then same thing, will hardly crank if at all.
Any suggestions on where to start? When it was barely cranking I took the spark plug out and then it cranked fairly well for about 5 seconds and then started slowing way down right away.
By Dan Schottel from St. Louis
We bought a new riding mower and it quit working after mowing with it a couple of times. Fortunately it was still under warranty and the repairman fixed it.
My husband read your post, and he said the starter might be drawing too much juice, and that the armature might be bad in the starter. Which means you might have to buy a new starter. He also said it could be that the alternator in the engine is not keeping the battery charged. Good luck!
It is sounds like the solenoid. That can be purchased at Advanced Auto ( yea, they carry this part for mowers ). Not very expensive.
You can also be sure that all your connections from the battery to the starter are clean.
My husband said it sounded like the starter needs to be replaced.
Also he said to check the battery terminals.
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I have a 16 HP Briggs and Stratton engine that will not crank on a Craftsman riding mower. The engine model number is 310707-0136-E1.
