Engine starter - bad idea?

[itachipirate]

I have an engine on a riding lawn mower I'd like to get to run. Currently the starter solenoid doesn't work, and when bridging the solenoid with a screwdriver the starter spins, but will not jump up to engage the flywheel. I read online that if it's not getting enough power it won't jump up. I currently don't have any live batteries, but I have a dead battery and a dedicated jumper like this one here.

 

Is it an okay idea to use the battery jumper by connecting the ground to the frame, and the pos alligator clamp straight to the starter? Kind've hot wiring it but the wiring in there is shit atm

 

The engine is still good afaik but the solenoid is dead, and the starter may be dead.

[terrytek]

As long as its not fuel injected, sure.

[Poohy14]

Well if your starter doesn't move then you have a bendix problem and will need a new starter. You can jump the starter if you want and it will be fine. That is how we test to see if the works or not in my dads shop at home when fixing things. I would replace the starter eventually and solenoid too so you wont have to do that.

[itachipirate]

Well if your starter doesn't move then you have a bendix problem and will need a new starter. You can jump the starter if you want and it will be fine. That is how we test to see if the works or not in my dads shop at home when fixing things. I would replace the starter eventually and solenoid too so you wont have to do that.

It's an old POS in the garage my parents haven't paid attention to in years. I was just going to try and start it with what I have onhand. If I can connect power directly to the starter, will the engine run and stay running? I'm assuming to stop it I'd just have to lower the throttle all the way since I won't be using a key at all

[Poohy14]

It's an old POS in the garage my parents haven't paid attention to in years. I was just going to try and start it with what I have onhand. If I can connect power directly to the starter, will the engine run and stay running? I'm assuming to stop it I'd just have to lower the throttle all the way since I won't be using a key at all

Well if you keep power to the starter itself then it will stay engage and you don't want that. You want the starter to engage until the engine starts then disengage when the engine is running, Same concept that is in a car. Now stopping the engine will be a different story. One way is to cover the air intake with your hand so it starves it of air to shut it down or but using a kill switch to turn it off. Lowering the throttle wont entirely do a whole lot since that will just lower the RPM of the engine and it will not shut off that way. I'm not entirely too sure how you have everything setup on the mower but I might be able to help you out with it.

[itachipirate]

Well if you keep power to the starter itself then it will stay engage and you don't want that. You want the starter to engage until the engine starts then disengage when the engine is running, Same concept that is in a car. Now stopping the engine will be a different story. One way is to cover the air intake with your hand so it starves it of air to shut it down or but using a kill switch to turn it off. Lowering the throttle wont entirely do a whole lot since that will just lower the RPM of the engine and it will not shut off that way. I'm not entirely too sure how you have everything setup on the mower but I might be able to help you out with it.

Well I think the starter needs to be replaced. I used the jumpers and it just spun in place, then I used the negative jumper instead and the pos for ground and it spun backwards like I wanted, then after that I used positive for power and negative to ground and it spun up, engaged the flywheel, but wasn't powerful enough to turn it over more than a couple times. Then it was stuck popped up even after disconnecting power, and I had to spin it backwards again for it to go down

[Poohy14]

Well I think the starter needs to be replaced. I used the jumpers and it just spun in place, then I used the negative jumper instead and the pos for ground and it spun backwards like I wanted, then after that I used positive for power and negative to ground and it spun up, engaged the flywheel, but wasn't powerful enough to turn it over more than a couple times. Then it was stuck popped up even after disconnecting power, and I had to spin it backwards again for it to go down

Yeah I figured that would happen, sounds like you need a new starter but you can get the rebuilt relatively cheap since that what I do since its mostly the Bendix that wears out after awhile. Spinning a starter backwards isn't going to turn off the engine just so you know. If the engine is hard to turn over it might need a valve adjustment so it turns over a little easier. That might be one problem you have.

[itachipirate]

Yeah I figured that would happen, sounds like you need a new starter but you can get the rebuilt relatively cheap since that what I do since its mostly the Bendix that wears out after awhile. Spinning a starter backwards isn't going to turn off the engine just so you know. If the engine is hard to turn over it might need a valve adjustment so it turns over a little easier. That might be one problem you have.

It never started. I spun it backwards because I thought maybe it was put together wrong and needed a negative charge to spin the correct direction to pop up. The second time I spun it backwards was because the starter gear was stuck in the flywheel. Since it's a lawn mower I was planning on just turning the throttle all the way down to shut it off (If it ever even started) since that usually turns the engine off on my other lawn mower. I could also just use the choke to turn it off. If the engine was running I wouldn't touch the starter at all