# won't move



## panner123 (Oct 12, 2014)

mower starts and idles, but when I let out on the clutch the mower stalls. or when I engage the blade it staalls. What is the problem? thanks for any help. john


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## Bill Kapaun (May 8, 2007)

A good start would be to tells us what you have!
What's the Sears 917.xxxxxx number?

You aren't supposed to run it at an idle to do work/move.

IF it's stalling at high speed, it could be a dead cylinder if a twin.


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## panner123 (Oct 12, 2014)

It is a model number 917.252450 I start the mower put it in gear to move and it dies. Restart and engage blade and it dies. It dies each time I releash the clucth, no matter if it is ingear or not.


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## Bill Kapaun (May 8, 2007)

Seat switch is-
Bad, misadjusted or disconnected.


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## Thomas (Nov 1, 2006)

Does the pedal have safety switch?..may need cleaning..little WD40 might help.


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## Bill Kapaun (May 8, 2007)

Thomas said:


> Does the pedal have safety switch?..may need cleaning..little WD40 might help.


It has a brake /clutch switch which appears to be doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

The machine "thinks" the seat is unoccupied and is behaving accordingly.


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## panner123 (Oct 12, 2014)

thank everyone for their replys. went out this morning and checked the seat safety switch and it was disconnected. hooked it back up and cut the lawn. i would have never thought that was the problem. live and learn.


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## Bill Kapaun (May 8, 2007)

The seat switch is normally closed, completing the "kill" circuit to the engine by grounding the kill wire.
When the seat is occupied, it is opened.
The connector has a "shorting tab" built in which closes the circuit if unplugged, just as if the switch was closed.
This defeats people who think they can simply unplug the switch to defeat it as was possible in earlier safety switch circuit designs.
There's multiple ways a seat switch can be implemented.


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