QuestionHey China Dave
Wrote last week about clutch safety switch. Replaced as you suggested but now have new problem.
Murray riding mower 12.5 hp/40” cut, model 40631A, purchased 2/92. B & S engine, model 286707. I replaced the clutch safety switch because I kept having to search for the “engage point” with the clutch in order for mower to start. I could always find it and mower always started; I just got tired of searching for it. Mower(engine) is completely dead. No noises, no clicking. Battery & spark plug only 1 month old. Battery posts are clean. Assumed it wouldn’t start because the clutch needed adjusting but before I did that I jumped across the solenoid and it started OK but when I engaged the blades, the mower died. I checked the 15amp fuse under the seat and it was broken; I replaced it with a new 15, started the mower from the solenoid, engaged blades, died again. When I checked the fuse I just put in, it was broken. I checked belts and they’re all inside guides. Mower worked fine last weekend. I don’t know how to check the safety switch under the seat or on the blade engage(assuming they can be checked). I haven’t adjusted the clutch because now I’m wondering if the problem is just the fuse. Any ideas besides a short in the wires and having to trace the wiring, and if that’s the likely cause, how do you do it? I’ve never traced wiring before. Where do you start, what am I looking for, need special tools? And maybe the clutch & fuse are coincidental, not related problems. Thanks so much, Don
AnswerDon
It sounds like you have a safety switch problem. I would begin looking at the seat switch. you only have three switches.
All you need to test the switches are a simple SELF POWERED test light aka continuity tester sold at your local hardware store. You simply check for continuity. take each switch and hook your test light to it and then activate the switch by pushing on the plunger/
In one position you will have light, in the other you will not. Does this all make sense I hope?
