Mexican dude that works part time for the B&B I do some maintenance for came by "Mower won't start".

Fiddled with it a bit, said "Okay, leave it on the trailer, park it over there, I'll get to it in a bit, probably a bad connection or a safety switch."

Y'all know where this is headed, right?

Crapsman 20HP twin. Nothing/Zip/Nada on the key, not even a click. Battery checks tired but usable. Connections were UGLY.

Remove shroud so I can remove battery to check electrolyte level and clean up terminals. Positive cable comes with the battery. Burnt, mostly melted solenoid end hanging off the end of the cable, along with the inner contact from the solenoid. Gee, that might be a hint, eh?

Take the battery tray out to get at the solenoid, remove it, rummage around in my box-o-crap and find a used one. Mount it, crimp the proper connectors on the wiring for this solenoid, mount everything back up, hit the key. Got clicking, but no motor spinning. Clean the connection on the starter. No change.

Pull shroud off motor to look at starter. Fiber pinion boogered up, jammed in flywheel. Starter held on with two bolts.

ONE OF WHICH IS UNDER THE *&(*ing FLYWHEEL!

Crap. Dig out my pullers, flywheel actually came off fairly well. Take starter off, clean things up, flip the pinion gear over, test it on the bench...seems to be okay, a little dry but no place to oil it and I am NOT taking it apart!

Put it back on the mower, hook the baddry up, hit the key...starter spins! Yay!

Put the flywheel back on, try again...tries to spin but battery just isn't up to the task. Jump it with another good battery and tap-dance on the key a little, spins the motor over. Good enough.

Start putting shrouds and various sheet metal bits back on. Get everything snugged up, realize I forgot to put the fan on. Take everything off, put the fan on, put the shroud back on, won't line up. Da fuq? Oh. The fan is indexed, only fits down over the flywheel one way. Take everything back off, index the fan, put everything back on...back bolts good, front bolts won't line u.....shit. Got the shroud inside the mounts on the front instead of outside. Take it back off, get it lined up right, bolt everything back down.

With a little help from an outside battery, it starts and runs. Starter pinion really should be replaced, but I don't think Reynaldo wants to wait a week for it to come it. He should also budget for a new baddry.

So I've got 4 hours and a little skin tied up in this POS, I'll bill him for 2 of 'em and tack on a little for the used solenoid and the cable ends I crimped on.

You just saved me four years of small engine school... thanks!

It ain't got not gas in it.

I read Paras post first and then read PHPauls.

I wound up reading it in Karl Childers voice.

I recon I ain't got no reason to kill nobody. Ummhmmm

I am a sells rep for a company that builds and sells outdoor power equipment, you would be surprised how many times I have been called in to a store because a lawn mower or some other piece of equipment wont start and it turns out that its out of gas.