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MTD 24" 2-stage 179cc starter issue

2K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  burt8810 
#1 ·
Hello all, I've got a nine-year-old MTD/Yard Machines 31AS62EE700 with the original MTD/Club Cadet 951-10645A electric starter.

I'd forgotten that last season, the starter would occasionally spin but not engage. I figured the bendix was rusty and I'd clean it up over the summer. Forgot to, of course.

Now, it just spins. What confused me, though, was that it doesn't behave like I would expect. When you press the button, it spins freely, but it engages as it's spinning down. If you play with it and run it long enough, it will eventually engage and start the engine, but I didn't want to chew up the gear so I pulled it off.

To my surprise, everything looks perfectly clean and normal. The teeth are fine. It's not jammed, in fact gravity alone will make the gear slide up and down if you tilt the starter. If you power it up (off the engine) the gear spins up correctly but spins back down even if you keep it running. Does anybody know if that's expected behavior? I would have thought the gear would move out and stay extended as long as power is applied.

TIA!
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the responses, guys.


The thing is, the Bendix is clean as a whistle and the gear slides up and down with virtually no effort...gravity alone will do it. To me, it looks more like the gear does move out as it should, but then it starts to move back even while power is applied and the motor is running. And the really strange part is that you can clearly hear it engage just as the motor spins down.


Could that really be a lubrication problem?
 
#5 ·
You have 2 options, bring it to a local electric motor shop for analysis, or buy a new one for like 50-60 dollars.

Of my 7 Blowers, 5 have electric start that work just great, but I never use it, as mine all start flawlessly with the pull.

If your machine can not start with the pull, then there is something else going on that needs to be addressed. Unless of course if you are physically challenged in some way and can not pull the cord.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the input. Absolutely it can start with the pull. But I like having the option, especially for the first start of the season. I do have a replacement starter sourced, but this one looks perfectly fine and the bendix operates very freely and I just want to make sure that I'm not missing something else before I replace it.

Sounds like you have the same starter motor problem I had with my 24" MTD. I removed the starter, put a light grease on the shaft the gear moves back and forth on, put it back in the machine and ba da bing! Took me about 15 minutes to do and it was free. The electric starter worked every time after that.

ONEACER is right, if your machine is working right it should start with one, maybe two pulls. There will be plenty of times you won't be near an electrical outlet to use the starter, so make sure it works with the pull first and foremost. As your pull cord starts to wear down and you start seeing the cord fraying, you should try to use the electrical start until you get the cord replaced. They are easy to replace if you catch them BEFORE they break.

Cheers
Thanks, but I'm not complaining about or attempting to diagnose hard starting. I'm here because in the past, when I've seen starters that won't engage, the bendix had been siezed, corroded, dirty, or otherwise not operating smoothly. This one looks new and operates with almost no effort at all. I'm curious, when you serviced the starter on your MTD, did the gear slide smoothly on the shaft before you lubricated it?
 
#6 ·
Sounds like you have the same starter motor problem I had with my 24" MTD. I removed the starter, put a light grease on the shaft the gear moves back and forth on, put it back in the machine and ba da bing! Took me about 15 minutes to do and it was free. The electric starter worked every time after that.

ONEACER is right, if your machine is working right it should start with one, maybe two pulls. There will be plenty of times you won't be near an electrical outlet to use the starter, so make sure it works with the pull first and foremost. As your pull cord starts to wear down and you start seeing the cord fraying, you should try to use the electrical start until you get the cord replaced. They are easy to replace if you catch them BEFORE they break.

Cheers
 
#8 ·
I searched for your starter part number but can't find any exploded views of your starter. There is a problem that is similar to yours that can occur with some small engine starters, a rubber part deteriorates. Maybe your bendix is built similarly.
 
#10 ·
Okay, I disassembled the starter. The bendix was clean and still lightly oiled. I added a little silicone grease, put it back together and reinstalled. The first few attempts behaved exactly the same as before, but it did eventually catch and spin the engine. But then again it's warmer today, so who knows?

I'll keep an eye on it and report back down the road.

Thanks for all the responses!
 
#11 ·
CtCarl, I had the same problem on a Husky, with the PW6 engine.....I believe it was the 291cc engine, but was essentially the same starter. I went thru all the same steps you did, with 2 different starters, over 2 seasons. The only thing that actually made it work, was to Completely clean ALL lubrication from the shaft and 'Bendix' drive. Once I did that, the starter worked flawlessly. I even tried it on the other starter. Goes against conventional thinking, BUT it worked!!! If you think about it, they call that a 'Friction Drive Starter'...... Lubrication defeats that purpose. So I cleaned up the drive and splines with Non-Chlorinated Brake cleaner. Simple & Cheap, yet effective.... Worth a shot.

YMMV

GLuck, Jay
 
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