New to this forum and looking for some help.
I have owned an F911 for a couple years and started to have trouble last fall with the electrical system not allowing the PTO (electric) to engage. I figured out that the actuating switch that is depressed when throwing the PTO lever in gear was "burned out" so I replaced it and continued to use the mower flawlessly last fall. This spring all was good for the first few mowings, then suddenly, the same switch failed again. Thinking the new switch I put on last fall may have been bad, I picked up another new switch, swapped it out and went right back to mowing. This one lasted only about two hours and failed again. Doing some further investigation, I figured out that there are three of these same switches all in a series that allows to PTO to engage, one is under the seat, one is connected to the master brake, and the third one is the one that continues to give me trouble. I checked all of the connections and condition of the brake switch and all looks well there but upon investigating the wiring harness going to the seat switch, I discovered the seat switch had been bypassed (wires jumped together). The bypass job was a little sketchy and I found several spots where the wires had been rubbed bare and could have been shorting out, so I cleaned up the mess, cut back the wiring harness and did a better job of bypassing the seat switch. I thought this may have been the cause of the burned out switch so again I replaced it with a new one and this time it took just about 1/2 hour for this new switch to fail, again....
So, I did more wire tracing and found a connection problem where the "Brain Box" plugs into the wiring harness - part of the connection plug looked melted and one of the wires was loose in the back of the connector - so I ordered a new brain box, installed it, put in another new actuator switch and gave it a go. This time the new switch failed within 10 minutes.
Next thought was possibly a faulty voltage regulator. Picked one up, installed it, put in yet another new actuator switch and mowed about 15 feet before this new switch failed again.
I am running out of ideas of things to try.
Any ideas would be welcome.
I have owned an F911 for a couple years and started to have trouble last fall with the electrical system not allowing the PTO (electric) to engage. I figured out that the actuating switch that is depressed when throwing the PTO lever in gear was "burned out" so I replaced it and continued to use the mower flawlessly last fall. This spring all was good for the first few mowings, then suddenly, the same switch failed again. Thinking the new switch I put on last fall may have been bad, I picked up another new switch, swapped it out and went right back to mowing. This one lasted only about two hours and failed again. Doing some further investigation, I figured out that there are three of these same switches all in a series that allows to PTO to engage, one is under the seat, one is connected to the master brake, and the third one is the one that continues to give me trouble. I checked all of the connections and condition of the brake switch and all looks well there but upon investigating the wiring harness going to the seat switch, I discovered the seat switch had been bypassed (wires jumped together). The bypass job was a little sketchy and I found several spots where the wires had been rubbed bare and could have been shorting out, so I cleaned up the mess, cut back the wiring harness and did a better job of bypassing the seat switch. I thought this may have been the cause of the burned out switch so again I replaced it with a new one and this time it took just about 1/2 hour for this new switch to fail, again....
So, I did more wire tracing and found a connection problem where the "Brain Box" plugs into the wiring harness - part of the connection plug looked melted and one of the wires was loose in the back of the connector - so I ordered a new brain box, installed it, put in another new actuator switch and gave it a go. This time the new switch failed within 10 minutes.
Next thought was possibly a faulty voltage regulator. Picked one up, installed it, put in yet another new actuator switch and mowed about 15 feet before this new switch failed again.
I am running out of ideas of things to try.
Any ideas would be welcome.