X304 electrical problem

dbdartman · Apr 30, 2007

One year old, around 13.6 hours on it. Worked perfectly last year. Parked it for the winter & all was normal. Last week, I pulled the deck off, greased the bearings, cleaned the bottom of the deck & sharpened the blades. The problem started (pun intended) when I switched the ignition "on": The starter spins the engine, not in the start position, but in RUN! Push the choke & the engine starts normally, but the starter is still spinning. Obviously, it can't be used with the starter motor running all the time. I will call the dealer we bought it from tomorrow. Just wanted to see if anyone else has run into this problem. If it's a simple fix, I'd prefer to do the repair myself rather than have the dealer pick it up & take who-knows-how-long to repair it (the grass is actually starting to grow now).

dbdartman · May 1, 2007

Well... it's in the hands of the dealer. We shall see if it's the starter relay, or something else in the wiring.

Fordlords · May 1, 2007

Sticking starter relay or bad ignition switch, most likely.

-Fordlords-

dbdartman · May 8, 2007

~UPDATE~

Dealer called Friday & said, "It runs!" so I went & picked it up & paid the bill. Seems the starter problem was my own (along with a computerized lawn mower's) fault. I'll explain...

We bought the mower so my mother, who's 73, could cut the lawn around the house. She had trouble getting the brake pedal pushed down far enough to start the mower. I figured it would be a simple matter to simply jump out the switch on the brake pedal, & it was, so she didn't have to hurt herself to get it started. My jumper worked just fine all last season. Parked the mower in the late fall & it was still just fine. Went to start it this spring, & that's when the starter problem, as described in my first post, began. So in the end it cost me $75 to find out my jumper made the computerized lawn mower STUPID!

Why a lawn mower needs a computer is beyond me

but I guess since they CAN use one in a lawn mower, they will.