Well, we had a real exciting moment in life the other day.....
Son came over - conned him into bringing up some wood to stack by the front door. The system to do this includes a Craftsman riding mower & a Rubbermaid utility cart attached to mower.
Son attempted to start said mower. Mower only backfired on him. He called on Mom (me) to come out and give it a try.
I cranked it over. No go.
Tried again....... that's when it got interesting.....
Didn't start, shut off key, removed my foot from the clutch. Every "starting" action should have stopped.
It didn't.
Starter continued to crank and crank and crank and crank.
1. I shut the ignition off - this action should have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
2. I took my foot off the clutch - this action should also have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
3. I got off the seat which invoked the safety shut off switch - this action should also have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
4. Fearing an imminent fire, son ran to the garage to get tools to disconnect the battery.......
5. In the meantime, I pulled off all the ignition wires - this action should also have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
6. Removed 5 gallon gas can as a safety precaution as it was sitting within 3' of the mower.
7. Son returned with proper tools to disconnect the battery.
8. Battery was beginning to run down but we eventually got the battery disconnected - FINALLY the starter disengaged.
Let me say this: The mower was sitting on our covered patio but the fear of fire was in my mind. Two other snow removal items (gasoline powered) were sitting next to the mower.
So..... despite disengaging clutch, shutting off ignition switch, invoking the safety shut-off switch in the seat and pulling all ignition wires NOTHING stopped the starter until we got the battery disconnected.
I'm not really asking for a diagnosis of the problem (mower is going to the pros for repair) - I guess I'm just flabbergasted that none of the above items (other than disconnecting the battery) was able to stop the starter.
I was REALLY worried about the mower starting on fire. I know I looked 'up' at one time during this emergency and looked at the underside of our new patio roof thinking "Now, what's that going to cost to replace?"
BTW a stack of about 1-1/2 cord of wood was only about 8' away but the wood siding on our house was only about 4' away..........
Son came over - conned him into bringing up some wood to stack by the front door. The system to do this includes a Craftsman riding mower & a Rubbermaid utility cart attached to mower.
Son attempted to start said mower. Mower only backfired on him. He called on Mom (me) to come out and give it a try.
I cranked it over. No go.
Tried again....... that's when it got interesting.....
Didn't start, shut off key, removed my foot from the clutch. Every "starting" action should have stopped.
It didn't.
Starter continued to crank and crank and crank and crank.
1. I shut the ignition off - this action should have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
2. I took my foot off the clutch - this action should also have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
3. I got off the seat which invoked the safety shut off switch - this action should also have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
4. Fearing an imminent fire, son ran to the garage to get tools to disconnect the battery.......
5. In the meantime, I pulled off all the ignition wires - this action should also have stopped any attempt to start - it didn't - starter continued to crank and crank and crank.
6. Removed 5 gallon gas can as a safety precaution as it was sitting within 3' of the mower.
7. Son returned with proper tools to disconnect the battery.
8. Battery was beginning to run down but we eventually got the battery disconnected - FINALLY the starter disengaged.
Let me say this: The mower was sitting on our covered patio but the fear of fire was in my mind. Two other snow removal items (gasoline powered) were sitting next to the mower.
So..... despite disengaging clutch, shutting off ignition switch, invoking the safety shut-off switch in the seat and pulling all ignition wires NOTHING stopped the starter until we got the battery disconnected.
I'm not really asking for a diagnosis of the problem (mower is going to the pros for repair) - I guess I'm just flabbergasted that none of the above items (other than disconnecting the battery) was able to stop the starter.
I was REALLY worried about the mower starting on fire. I know I looked 'up' at one time during this emergency and looked at the underside of our new patio roof thinking "Now, what's that going to cost to replace?"
BTW a stack of about 1-1/2 cord of wood was only about 8' away but the wood siding on our house was only about 4' away..........