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Solenoid (John Deer 175 lawn & garden tractor) clicks
& sounds like bendix is engaging flywheel but starter motor won't turn (except on hot days or occassionally if the key is turned on & off several times) Assuming the bendix is being engaged but the starter motor contacts are fried; would paralleling the existing solenoid (with one with suitable contacts) work?

I would check the starter motor brushes. I have had similar things happen in a car when the starter motor brushes wore down, as they will eventually.

The second sentence should read Assuming the bendix is being engaged but solenoid contacts are fried.;
The the solenoid is sealled so I can't get at the contacts.
The starter motor brushes are a good length.

Sure. Also try connecting batt positive with the motor stud to see if the motor spins freely under power, without engaging.

If you use one side of a jumper cable to make the battery (+) to starter motor connection (across the solenoid contacts would work too), try to hit the clamp on the nut rather than the stud so that you don't melt the threads on the stud, making removal of the nut, if necessary, a bit difficult.

Have you checked the battery to make sure it has proper water level? That's alway my problem.

Dean

I worked on a J D 318 a couple of weeks ago and his problem was the plug connecting the wiring to the ignition switch. There was a bad terminal that
fed the switch (battery +). The loose connection
generated enough heat to melt the plug housing and allowed one of the other wires to vibrate off.
Worth a look...

It should work.
The only problem you might have is the motor spinning before it engages. In that case you might have to employ some kind of delay.

If it’s a Bendix type then the spin of the electric motor will centrifugally engage the starter drive into the fly wheel gear as it tries to start.

If this is true, apply power at the other side of the solenoid and the starter will spin, engage, and crank the motor.

If all the above is true, it will work bypassing the solenoid but...only if all else is good as well?

IF true, and all of the above works then remove or by pass the existing solenoid as it is merely a large contact switch or relay for the battery power and can be bypassed using a good solenoid.

However, the other type of starter motor is a pull type solenoid, and it has a contact switch and a solenoid to pull the Bendix gear into mesh, and then engage the power after the gears are in mesh.

This type is the trouble some type that needs proper repair or replacing as a whole.

<small>[ January 05, 2006, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: Chris Smith ]</small>