OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Cox Ride On Mower Frames Cox compact tractor starter?

Thanks Steve, if you can relate a series of photos to the corresponding items on the circuit diagram, we should be able to both speak in the same language. If the previous owner disabled the safety system, more likely than not he/she adulterated the whole wiring system. That seems to have happened to most of the ride-ons with problems we hear about at Outdoorking. The traditional tenant's motto: "If it still works a bit, I obviously haven't done any harm, and I'm probably making it better. I'd better reef out a few more wires."

You may turn out to have to do a fair amount of re-wiring to make it exactly like the Cox circuit diagram shows. Note that they give the wire colours in the parts list I posted. Returning the machine exactly to specification will make it much easier for you to trace faults in the future, as well as now. However please don't make undisclosed changes while we are discussing it, or we will inevitably go around in circles and work at cross-purposes.

Your description of the wires to and from the solenoid is approximately the way it should be. The right side terminal on the solenoid is its main input point - its high current positive terminal. It is being used as a junction point for positive leads, so it connects to the battery, the alternator output lead (after the diode in that lead or at the alternator) and it provides the low current positive feed to the starter switch, where it connects to the B (Battery) terminal. The starter switch only handles low current, to pull in the solenoid, which provides the high current switching for the starter motor. Cox's circuit diagram does not show a fuse in the feed to the starter switch, so its inclusion is probably a tenant's improvement. You said you had 12 V at the starter switch - presumably the B terminal. If there is still 12 V at B when the switch is in the start position, the fuse does not seem to be causing your current problem.

The left side terminal on the solenoid is its high-current output terminal which feeds the starter motor: from there a heavy wire runs directly to the starter motor's positive terminal. That wire is only "hot" when the solenoid is activated and the starter should be cranking.

The bottom wire to the solenoid is the one that activates it (makes it close its main contacts). That wire comes from the S (Starter) terminal of the starter switch. It passes through a couple of safety microswitches on its way.

When the starter switch is activated the bottom terminal of the solenoid should be at battery voltage, which will be a bit less than 12 Volts when the starter is cranking. If you only have 0.5 V there, that is not nearly enough to activate the solenoid. Check the voltage at the other end of that wire (the S terminal on the starter switch). If you have full voltage there, you have a problem in the connecting wire between the two points, most likely at one of the two microswitches it runs through on the way. On the other hand if you have 12 Volts at terminal B but only 0.5 V at terminal S, the starter switch has failed.

Of course with insufficient voltage applied to the solenoid's activating coil it does not close its contacts, and there is no voltage on its output (left side) terminal.