I have a craftman 18.5 lawn tractor. It has a new battery, new solenoid and I had the starter checked, the guy said it was good. My engine will make 1 rotation at most then stops and then makes partial turns as if not getting enough power, as I turn the key on and off. Can it be the ignition switch??
I had the same problem. Easy simple fix. Remove the hood from the mower. Next remove the spark plug and the silver square box on the front of the engine. Stick and screw driver if the plug hole and turn the flywheel until the cylinder is top dead center. Adjust the intake valve (top) to .003 and exhaust valve (bottom) to .005
that will cure your problem.
Hank, April 2010
Hey Kerry, don't spend another dime. Free fix you can do yourself. Same thing happened to me. Adjust the valves. The valves on my mower were about to fall off when I took the cover off. See previous answer.
Hank, April 2010
Bigger engines have an internal de compressor, this lifts one of the valves allowing the engine to rotate more freely, valve clearances need to be correct for this to work, worth checking.
