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chopper395

Rolled my Sears Craftsman LT1000 with 18HP OHV and it wont start

chopper395
10 years ago

Rolled it, and now it wont start (I'm ok, thanks for asking!) Now the battery wont keep a charge and the engine seems to be suffering from some kind of vacuum lock. What I've done so far is charge the battery to 100% (THE BATTERY IS 4 MONTHS OLD) When starting the engine it rotates about 2 revolutions and stops. I then need to use my hands to rotate it past the 'lock up' I pulled the plug, made sure it's getting spark, sure is. Pulled the air filter off and I'm getting a faitn puff of smoke and a gasoline smell, so I'm pretty sure it's getting gas. I pulled the rocker cover off to check and see if the push rods were bent and nope, not bent. Any ideas?

Comments (4)

  • optsyeagle
    10 years ago

    WOW, that type of thing could kill you although I am sure you noticed that. Really glad you survived the ordeal.

    I would remove the spark plug and shine a light in there and see if I can see any oil or gas or something that might create a hydrolock. I would also give it a crank and see if it will rotate more then 2 revolutions when it doesn't have compression (no spark plug) and look for anything shooting out the plug hole.

    I would also put a volt meter on the battery when I am cranking the motor and see how much voltage I drop when it is cranking. I think anything lower then 9 volts will leave you with problem starting the mower. Others might have some more thoughts on it. Perhaps the battery is damaged.

    This post was edited by optsyeagle on Tue, Sep 3, 13 at 20:35

  • rcbe
    10 years ago

    look in the body cavity under the tilting seat - get the full model number - post back here - get the full engine model and type number off the engine decal - post back here. so that experts here can know exactly what machine you have.
    M/W, remove battery. Take to qualified shop that can LOAD test same for you in front of you. Age has nothing to do with condition of small batteries. Start with a known entity. Before re-installing, clean (don't just look) all mating wiring connection surfaces with sandpaper to bright metal. Retest. post back with results. We can go from there.

  • bill_kapaun
    10 years ago

    Pull the spark plug.
    Ground spark plug lead. (You don't want a live spark for this)
    Crank the engine and see if it blows out any oil/gas.

    Inspect air cleaner. It may have become saturated with oil and effectively plugged up.

    IF you are experiencing cranking problems after this, you may have dumped the acid out of the battery.

  • ewalk
    10 years ago

    Yep sounds like a hydro lock issue most likely from oil from the sump entering the combustion chamber. I would follow RCBE and Bills advice , especially within a load test by a competent person . Should be a interesting resolve , happy you were not injured ...All the Best !

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