OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions On Ride On Mowers Frames John Deere

Greetings mower folk! Having probs starting my john deere ride on.

The flywheel is only cranking slowly at start up, engine won't fire. The lead to the starter motor and the starter motor heats up, smokes a little. I have checked the battery, replaced the starter solenoid and had a look at the starter motor (brushes, etc seem fine) ???

model: john Deere ride-on-mower L100B
serial: gxl100B016902

Something is pulling a lot of current, it may be possible that your starter has a shorted winding or a short on the commutator causing it to turn slowly and pull too much current through the leads.

Of course unless the wire to the starter is too small, I have seen some connected with house wiring and they were wondering why they kept melting wires....

Thanks for the reply, wire to starter is adequate. I can,t see an earth from the starter apart from a small black lead going to a relay (or something?) Can the faults with the starter motor you mentioned be easily repaired or is a replacement the only option. I am realy only a novice home mechanic but am reluctant to have it repaired at the dealer ($$$$!!!)

Just had it spinning at norm revs when jumped via tractor battery, but it wouldn't fire. Turned off and tried again, back to slow revs at the flywheel.

Does your JD by any chance have an OHV Briggs and Stratton V-twin engine? The problem you have described is typical of what happens if the tappets are out of adjustment: the decompressor then does not work, and the engine is excessively difficult to turn over. This results in a lot of unnecessary replacement of batteries and starter motors, and burned insulation on wiring.

If I recall correctly it is the inlet tappet that is critical - it appears that as little as .001" too much clearance will cause the decompressor not to work.

Thanks grumpy, it is a OHV briggs, but not vtwin. I don't think it has a decompressor

Could the valves need adjustment?

The tappet adjustment is sometimes called the valve clearance or valve lash adjustment.

I think, but am not certain, that the single and twin cylinder OHV engines have the same internal design, which may or may not include a decompressor.

It isn't very likely that the tappet adjustment will be implicated if there is no decompressor.

symon, as far as I can tell from the internet, all of the larger B&S OHV engines (Intek and Vanguard) have the same decompressor, and it operates in much the same way. When people have the problem you are having it seems to be nearly always incorrect tappet clearance (in the few remaining cases it is a defective or failed camshaft or decompressor). I suggest you look at this video, (which happens to show a single cylinder engine) then follow the procedure it shows: