Starter will turn motor only one rev.

[Ryan03]

If I had to guess, I would say you have a broken decompresion spring on your camshaft, somewhat common problem on many late model overhead valve briggs engines. Most times, you can carefuly place your hand on the screen on top of the flywheel and give the engine a little extra help turning over and it will pop right off. This is probably not the safest thing to do, but I have done it myself and still have all 9 7/8 fingers I started with.

 

[TedLaRue]

If I had to guess, I would say you have a broken decompresion spring on your camshaft, somewhat common problem on many late model overhead valve briggs engines. Most times, you can carefuly place your hand on the screen on top of the flywheel and give the engine a little extra help turning over and it will pop right off. This is probably not the safest thing to do, but I have done it myself and still have all 9 7/8 fingers I started with.

Good idea, but...

Iplayfarmer started to suggest this in post #12, but then realized that Kruzer said (in post #11) it cranked the same whether the spark plug was installed or not. It also doesn't explain what caused the tractor to bog down and quit when he was mowing (although that could be a separate problem).

 

[RWolf]

If your engine is bogging down while working under "normal" conditions or starts to act the same when doing nothing but idle to me it sounds like it's siezing up. To clarify "if" when it bogs down and/or dies try starting it again, if it doesn't want to turn over then let it cool off. Try again if it wants to turn over faster then the motor is on the verge of siezing. It can be fixed but will require a total rebuild with a new piston rings bearings etc.

This may not address all issues but what got me thinking is on the first comment about cutting "normally" and the engine started to bog/lug down as if it was under strain. I had a similiar situation with a sub-cut. A 14hp Kohler engine with FEL and MMM. Cutting pasture last year for about a solid day and the engine started to lose power. I immediately shut the blades off and got the tractor back in the shade. Let it cool down and it worked ok. In may case I was overworking the motor. Since then I've added a temp gauge so I can monitor it.

Good luck.

 

[dqdave1]

Take battery to auto parts store and have it tested; their equipment will determine a good or bad battery. Check both positive and negative cables for corrrosion and dood connections at starter and ground. New battery and two cables will not kill your check book.
If it is solid state ignition, engine will die as battery dies.

 

[BotaBigot]

I'm going to line up with those posters who are saying it's an electrical problem. Sounds like bad cell, ground, wire, etc... Of course, that's with the caveat that we're doing our diagnosis over the internet...