Posting this on a lawn tractor forum as well but you guys are so awesome I figured I would ask here also.
2009ish John Deere x300 with Kawasaki engine, worked fine five weeks ago but last week went to start and nothing.
Pushed it to the garage and got the battery charged and now when I try to start it I get a buzzing/vibrating noise from the starter solenoid.
I can swap parts fine but diagnosing problems.....not so much.
I think its the starter solenoid even though the battery was dead but don't want to throw money at a problem without knowing for sure.
I did check that all the wires were tight and clean in case it was a bad ground or something.
Any input would be most welcome.
Video of the noise should be below.
Tap the solenoid with a hammer as you turn the key
The battery may still be low. If it doesn't have enough capacity, the solenoid won't stay engaged.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Had it on the charger overnight, should be full.
This is the second battery if that makes any difference.
Never assume. check the voltage.
In reply to iceracer :
K, will have to dig around tomorrow for my multimeter and see what the battery is doing.
In reply to dean1484 :
That won't fix the problem.
Thought I'd bring in yet another vehicle type to the discussion...... on my Aprilia (and others' too apparently) a low battery will make short work of the starter relay.
so the relay (if it has one) or the solenoid might have gone south when the battery was low.
I have a same-ish age JD Z225 with a kawasaki. When I had intermittent starter issues it turned out to be a loose ground where the cable bolted through the engine mounting ear. No problems since. My uncle who used to work in a JD dealership said that the starter solenoids weren't very good on these, and he said when they do fail it is best to replace it with a Ford fender mounted starter solenoid as they are heavier duty than the John Deere piece.
Found my multimeter Monday night and it had a dead battery......the multimeter that is.
New 23A battery installed I escaped my wife for a bit tonight while she was making 15lbs of mashed potatoes and snuck off to the garage.
Battery is returning 11.1v, putting the leads on the solenoid gave me 8.8v, keeping the leads of the meter on the solenoid when I try to start it shows it jump to between 50v and 100v for half a second before dropping back down to just under 10v.
Don't know if this means anything to anyone or helps verify if its the solenoid or not but getting a reading off things is a step in the right direction.
right........?
