Engine wont turn over with spark plugs in.

I hooked jumpers up to my battery terminals with no battery in the holster and I get nothing.. I think it is the solenoid? Anyway I figure well I will take it and ground out the starter. This tractor ran and moved up until I blew the rearend out on it 5 months ago.. I grounded out the starter and it acted like it wanted to spin over but would only turn a little but never make a full rotation... I cut the belt off as I thought maybe it was to tight.. Same thing.. I took the spark plug out and it spins over fine.. What the heck? I hear compression... Oil is still in there and I can hear the piston moving back and fourth... SOO lost...

Could it be something in my muffler is blocking?

i had a tractor do the same but my prob was i pulled the plug out and spun it over a crap loads of oil came out the plug hole must be do to last owners had it on its side.
did u try turning motor ove by hand to see if it feels hard or?

I use my 3/4 breaker bar and impact sockets for things like that. Pulling the plug and seeing if it turns over is a good idea.

Another one is to jump it from a car. Most lawn tractor batteries are like 300 CCA's. My Jeep has a 700 CCA battery. You can see the difference.

even thought your starter can move the engine over without a spark plug doesnt mean its fine. Its probably a worn out starter or a loose wire ground/conection somewhere. Ive had sooo many starters go on me it aint even funny. i hate electricity and wiring. soo frustrating. well good luck and tell use how it goes.

It is still hard to turn over by hand. No oil coming out of the spark plug hole. I doubt the starter is worn out.. That would not explain why it is so hard to turn over by hand with the plug in,.. Turns over loose by hand with the plug out. I am going to try taking the air filter off and spraying some carb cleaner in there then try and fire it up.. I am also going to take and heat the muffler up and see if that works... Then perhaps first take a braker bar and put a socket on the pulley and force it to turn over?

Also, is the starter gear dropping back down?

My one LT1000 that sat outside for a year had that problem. It would attempt to start, but the gear wouldn't drop back down. I sprayed some WD on it and would wack it with a dead blow hammer when it would stick. After about 4 or 5 times, it started working right.

I don't know what I did but I went through the whole engine. Took carb off took muffler off and still nothing. I finally say screw it and took it off of my lift to take it down the road to have these other guys look at it. I took it off and went to turn it over and noticed it turned over. Hit the choke and BOOM fired right up.... I do not know what the heck I did... I burnt out my grinder though cutting an area for the shifter.. lol Maybe the soul of my grinder went in to the mower? lol I feel like Dr. Frankenstein... lol

when stuff sits, it tends to gum up - coudlve been anything from a bad connection to dust settling on the starter internals - the rings mightve been a bit sticky as well - somtimes solenoids stick as well - electric issues are irratating to say the least.

Usually if I have a motor sit for a long time , ill spray a dab of PB blaster in the combustion chamber and a bit of cab cleaner in the starter motor , then check the battery cables for any corrosion.


My 84 dynamark has given me starting issues over the years - i had just had it running the week before , went to fire it up and nothing. I went thru everything to see what was up and turns out the ign switch fuse popped.

Well to make a long story short I took the Foote rearend out of my Dynamark converted the pulley to an 8.5 inch instead of the stock 7.5 inch. I put it in the craftsman... I repacked it full of 90 weight rearend oil.. The rearend makes some funny noises but it feels smooth. So I now have 2 offroaders. The dynamark will be partsed out and the engine will be going in to my john deere 100..

Long video update!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm7M8xPZuaw&feature=youtu.be

Is it an OHV motor? Perhaps the valves are out of adjustment, thus affecting the compression release? Also, put a voltmeter to your battery while it's hooked up and crank over. If you see the voltage drop considerably, when you crank it over, it's probably the battery. Just a thought..

Shawn

I am thinking your startor is going bad, becouse it is hard for the starter to turn the engine, but if there is no compression becouse you took the spark plugs out the starter can turn the engine. So baciclly the starter is getting weak.

one thing overlooked when mowers sit is rodents erecting a dwelling in the shroud. my kohler had a brand new battery and would turn over, pulled the shroud and there was a nest in there. wound around the starter too. but that was ruled out as it turned over freely with no plug. just something often overlooked