I am blowing the 20 amp fuse in my mower. Son was mowing and it just died on him. I found the fuse blown and replace the fuse. Started mowing and everything was fine, then it died again as I was rolling along mowing. My son had a problem a couple days earlier that the blade just quit spinning. I came out, started the mower, and everything was fine. So here is what I think. I ran the mower for an extended period with a 15 amp fuse, but I did not engage the blade. The other times the blade was engaged and I blew both a 20 amp and a 25 amp fuse (was out of 20's) My theory is that there is a short in the switch that engages the mower blade. Once the mower is running, and I am mowing, about 2 to 4 minutes into mowing the fuse blows and the mower dies. Am I on the right track? My plan is to replace that switch.
I hav a 18hp ohv eng. back fires and gas is coming out of muffler.
Sounds as though you are on the right track
but be sure to check the wiring directly from the electric clutch on the front of the motor back to the switch
a wire could be pinched in the frame and shorting out intermittingly
look around and find those wires and move them around and look for chaffing and tightness
and what you could also do is to unhook the clutch at the connection to it at the front of the motor and engage switch and ride around and see if fuse blows and if not you may have an electric clutch issue
check that all grounding points are tight to frame IE battery ground and around engine
check red engage switch physically look at the wires on the switch itself to be sure none are lose or have gotten hot and starting to melt the plastic?
Undo belt from clutch and try energizing the clutch with no belt attatched to it and see what happens
you should hear a distinctive click when it is energized.
see how long it takes to pop a fuse with no load on the clutch in this position.
also you could run two wires directly to the clutch from your battery and hook directly to the clutch connector with an inline fuse holder and just energize it only with nothing else running but the clutch being engaged and see what takes place if you feel you need to attempt this.
if you do this be sure to unhook the connector to the clutch and tie in there right at the clutch connector.
Basically put 12 volts dc. to the clutch and the clutch only
any 12 volt source with a fuse inline .
keep me posted we will get it narrowed down with both our help if you would like.
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The mystery continues.
I checked the wires thoroughly and could find no wear points on the wires going to the clutch. My son ran the mower in circles for a few minute with the clutch wiring disconnected. Never had any problems.
Next, with the wires to the clutch still disconnected, he turned on the switch to engage the blades. Again, he rode around for a while. The blades did not spin, as the wiring was disconnected, but he did have the switch on. He drove around and bounced around, but still no problems.
Finally, we connected the wiring back to the underside of the mower blade clutch, and he began mowing the yard. In a couple more minutes, the fuse blew once again.
I was thinking that if the switch to engage the blades was the problem, then the fuse would have blown while he was riding around with the switch in the on position, but disengaged from the clutch.
So, does that mean that the problem is the part under the mower that the wiring connects to? Or, is the switch still a possibility?
I will pull the gas tank, and inspect more of the wiring to look for other shorts, but I am still leaning towards something to do with the blade. Perhaps another run test, once I get some more fuses, and I can make this happen without the blade engaged. For whatever reason, that is the scenario that seems to blow the fuse currently.
I go back to the blade, because before the mower ever blew a fuse, my son had quit mowing because the blade quit spinning. Engine was running, and the belt was fine. Originally I thought the belt had broken. When the belt was fine, I just started the mower to have him show me the problem, and everything was fine. This was all before fuses were being blown. That is why I am focused on the blade engaging elements. Like I say, I'll look for other possibilities on closer inspection. The wiring to the headlights looked to be in good condition as well.
Thanks for your help. Good start, but still have a problem thus far.
Lawson
Have you tried removing the deck and belt? Try spinning each blade one at a time and see if one is harder to spin than others. Sounds like too much load on pto clutch.
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