# battery



## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

*battery help*

I hooked up my battery the wrong way on my kohler engine and now I continue to blow a fuse. I think I might have shorted my ignition module, anybody know?


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

make sure all the fuses are good. oh and negative to ground and positive to the solenoid on to the starter. it wouldn't have killed your ignition, it might have popped the solenoid backwards and it won't pop out, i had this happen one time on a this mans mower, the solenoid was froze. well i popped it good to let it go. you could also make sure you do have the battery on correctly.


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

Crossed over soleniod and it turns. When I disconnect the ignition coil the fuse will not blow.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

hmmmm, well it might be the solenoid is fried, but if it is in fact blown its cheap to replace, 8 bucks at advance auto. oh and make sure no bare wires are touching metal too. thats wierd to me, how old is it.


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

It is about 5 yrs old IT is a sears 15 horse with a Kohlar. Is there a way to check the solinoid to see if it is ok.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

yeah it should work when you have all of the stuff hooked up correctly and you go to turn the key it should work, of course you could have fried the battery. but to check it is have all hooked up right and try to turn it over, if no go then jump accross the solenoid, if it does right with the key on of course and runs, the solenoid just might be fried. there should be a 15 amp fuse inline somewhere, see if thats good.


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## bbnissan (Nov 7, 2004)

You have something shorting out to ground...most likely a loose wire or one with faulty insulation. Even if you hook the battery up backwards it shouldn't do any damage, but your starter will rotate backwards and you won't be able to start the motor because the starter won't be engaging the flywheel (trust me, I've seen it a hundred times). Other than that, all of the accessories and things on the mower should still work if wired backwards.


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## bbnissan (Nov 7, 2004)

One thing to check....

Look at the wiring for the headlights. Both of them run close to the muffler and are easy to burn up if the clips holding the wiring break. You may also want to look at the ignition switch, especially if this mower has spent any time outside. Water has a tendancy to run down the dash, through the switch, and into the wiring harness connector which can corrode.


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## scrench (Dec 8, 2004)

could be a bad key switch , but like bb said there is a dead short somewhere


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

oh crap thats one thing i forgot, and always disconnect, the headlights, on older models they stayed secure but newer ones can crack break and short etc.


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

My fuse blows just when the key is turned to the first position. It never has a chance to engage the solenioid.


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

*update*

I was just working on it and I put it back together and tried it again this time it spun the motor for a few seconds. I then stopped and put the wire back on the ignition coil to try to start it. Then it did not blow the fuse until I tried to engage starter. I and going to go get soleniod now and retry.


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## bbnissan (Nov 7, 2004)

Ahh crap! I forgot to tell you to check something really really important and something I should have told you to begin with! Check the ground wire! Look where the battery grounds to the chassis of the mower and make sure it's not corroded or rusted. If you get a bad ground you will get too much resistance which will pop fuses.


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

The wire the fuse that is blowing comes from the ignition switch to soleniod and then the fuse, and it goes back to the ammeter. I am thinking now it is the switch.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

could be, is the ammeter working, i hate those as well when they don't work when they get too old i take em off or disconnect em. but yeah there should be a graound wire, i think some are green and some yellow but make sure thats good, make sure there is no condensation in the key switch and that its free of water etc. had one one this other mans mower he left it out all the time and it finally got to the key switch just right and fried it.


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## scrench (Dec 8, 2004)

might be the solenoid


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

Finally got it to fire and but I had to jump soleniod to get it to start. I think I will change it out. It only ran for a few minutes and when I tried to give it full throttle it then blew the fuse. It never had full power either. I am also wondering about the soleniod on the carb that stops the fuel from entering the bowl when engine is turned off. That was what I was messing with when I got it to fire up.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

oooh that might be a problem as well, and it sounds like the other one is fried or just stuck, some will get stuck and others just fry.


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## scrench (Dec 8, 2004)

are you getting power to the wire that goes to the solenoid the small one does the solenoid have two small wires ? it could be the fuel shutoff solenoid or the wire going to it might have the short , whats the engine on ? you can eliminate the fuel shutoff solenoid instead of buying a new one by grinding a little off the tip but you might get a small back fire once and a while when you shut it off when its hot ,


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## bbnissan (Nov 7, 2004)

Something to check that I've seen a few times....

If you are not careful putting the starter on, the fuel shutoff solenoid wire can get pinched between the starter and the engine block. It took me forever to find this problem the first time I had to trace it down, but after a while you learn what to look for.


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## bobandtom (Feb 20, 2005)

*found problem*

I found it was a wire coming from the stator ring that was shorted. I rewired the mower bypassing all the safty switches, and i installed a new solenoid and key switch, and removed the stator ring. It will turn over now but no spark, any ideas now.


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## bugman (Aug 12, 2004)

did you get that pesky seat switch??, may be you shorted the coil out.


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