Starting Problems Scott's 2554 / Sabre 2554

[Dusty Road]

Hey all,

I have a junker Scott's 2554 that I use to pull the cart around the yard. No deck installed and the Kohler CV25 burns and leaks oil pretty good. (I need to change those head gaskets one of these days). Here's the problem:

I went to start it a while ago and found it with a dead battery. I think I left the key in the run position somehow. So, I tried to jump it with the mower and could barely get it to turn over. Then I tried to jump it with my truck, got it to turn over a little, and then the starter just started making a "click". I figured the battery was too dead to do anything so I pulled it and put it on the charger. Reinstall and same thing. I then tried to jump the starter terminals with straight 12v from the battery and got very little rotation. At this point I figured the starter was going bad so I pulled it and bench tested it with 12v and it appeared to be working, i.e. nose piece pops up and spins. But, after talking to a few guys at work we came to the conclusion that the starter must be bad because if it couldn't spin the motor with 12v directly to the terminals then the bench test didn't prove anything because it wasn't under load. So off to ebay for an aftermarket (china) $70 starter.

As you can probably guess the new starter does the same thing. One clicky, no starty... The engine is not frozen. With the plugs removed and 12v directly to the starter the engine spins like crazy. The only saftey switch remaining on the tractor is the foot brake/starter interlock and that appears to be working. There is a four pole solenoid on the 'firewall' and that is of course the most obvious place to look and I didn't think to jump those terminals last night but will do so after work. If that's not it any other advice or experience is always appreciated.

TIA,

Mitch

 

[Dusty Road]

It's the solenoid. Charged battery + brake + key turned to start + screwdriver over two terminals = start right up. Giant cloud of Kohler Blue, but start nonetheless.

 

[rjkobbeman]

I did the head gasket change on my Scotts 2554 a month or so ago. After tearing it down I could not see any visible damage on the head gasket, but sure enough... the new one worked. (I only changed the bad head gasket. Figured I wouldn't "fix" the other one since it wasn't leaking... yet.)

When torquing the head, one of the studs must have been pulling out of the block because it would not take the torque. I got almost to the torque value but would not get "tighter". I left it before I made things worse.

It has been running fine ever since. Doesn't use oil any more. If it lasts me another season or two I will be happy.

 

[Dusty Road]

I was the one that sent you the scans of the instruction sheet. Glad the repair worked out. Between the heat and the rain I haven't much felt like tearing down the tractor but the weather is getting nicer now.

I do have a question though-

what sealers did you use on the various gaskets?

 

[rjkobbeman]

I was the one that sent you the scans of the instruction sheet. Glad the repair worked out. Between the heat and the rain I haven't much felt like tearing down the tractor but the weather is getting nicer now.

I do have a question though-

what sealers did you use on the various gaskets?

I didn't use any sealer anywhere.

The head gasket didn't call for any. The exhaust gasket was your run-of-the-mill metal compression type that doesn't use any. I think the intake was a paper gasket, but I could be wrong. I don't recall if the directions called for any.

I haven't had any leaks yet. It has been 20 hours or so since I did the repair and all is well.

Anyway, it was hot. The mower was leaking too bad to run any longer. (I was just dumping oil in it and changing the bad spark plug every four hours! LOL!) The grass was getting tall. My mower isn't going to last much longer anyway. I have beat the heck out of it the past few years on my property. I just wanted to get the job done and get back to mowing. If it lasts me the rest of the season I will be happy.

When one of my head studs wouldn't take a full torque, I gave up all hope of running this thing much longer.

Funny thing is, it has run like a champ ever since!

I only replace the bad head gasket. Again, the heat kept me from doing the other one when it wasn't broke yet. Even if the other one goes out now, I probably have a full season before I have to fix it... if it lasts like the first one. And all I really need is a couple more months anyway.

 

[evladi7654]

I was the one that sent you the scans of the instruction sheet. Glad the repair worked out. Between the heat and the rain I haven't much felt like tearing down the tractor but the weather is getting nicer now.

I do have a question though-

what sealers did you use on the various gaskets?

Hi ! I have the same problem but your Links I saw here does not work. Could you email me your 'instructions ' for S 2554 / or whatever you have . Thanks in advance evladi7654@aol.com
Eugene

 

[beenthere]

evladi
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Dusty Road was last active in June 2011, according to his profile.

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