When we picked up the customer's mower, the problem stated was the the mower "didn't move". We brought the unit back to our shop and it was staged in line behind, at the time, approximately 30 mowers already in our shop for repair. When our mechanic was able to begin the diagnosis on the...
mower, it would not start at all. There was no spark at the plug. This had nothing to do with the mower not being able to "move". But if the engine would not start (not stated by the customer originally), then that had to be fixed first. We ordered a new ignition coil (1 week process) and replaced it. The engine still would not fire. That's when we found that this particular engine had a second coil. We called, got the ok from the customer, and then ordered the second coil. Another week's wait. After this part was installed the engine did fire. Running the mower around in the shop it did in fact "move" in both directions but we noticed that the frame of the mower was very loose and flexible. This caused some noise when the mower was driven, so our shop mechanic tightened up all the attachment frame hardware as best he could. The mower is extremely flimsy and light weight........not a rigid frame like most riding mowers. We felt we did what we could on such a design and the mower now "moved" basically normally. Plus we had spent hours of labor in making the engine run with the electrical work. The shut off switch was done because we found that when the engine coils were now allowing the engine to run, that NOW there was an issue with not being able to shut off the engine with the key. The only options were to replace the ignition switch or the main circuit board. These both are very expensive options, so we offered to put in a cut off switch and save the customer a good deal of money. He agreed. The mower frame was never broken or dropped by us at any time. The customer feels otherwise, but it is now clear to us that the reason it wouldn't "move" in the first place is because the frame had failed before we got it....in places that were completely hidden until we removed components at the customer's house to explore the issue. He gave it to us broken in our opinion. That is why is would not move. The gear mechanism was not functioning correctly with the frame pieces out of line. It was kept so long because it took us a good deal of time to first fix the engine electronics that were never mentioned by the customer as something that was wrong. We have hundreds dollars wrapped up in this encounter.....3 trips back and forth across the city to pick up, deliver and troubleshoot. All the electrical parts. And about 10 hours of shop labor. And we will not see a dime of it back from the customer. Our strong belief is that we did not damage this customer's frame. It was broken to begin with, along with many electrical issues not told to us when we picked it up. Our dollar loss on this greatly exceeds the cost the customer will pay to have someone try and weld this frame back together.....an endeavor that we feel is likely to fail. The mower has been used outside of what it's designed to do, which is mow a very very small patch of grass. It did not stand up to the customer's needs and it is very likely to fail again soon should he try to get it weld-repaired.
When we picked up the customer's mower, the problem stated was the the mower "didn't move". We brought the unit back to our shop and it was staged in line behind, at the time, approximately 30 mowers already in our shop for repair. When our mechanic was able to begin the diagnosis on the...
mower, it would not start at all. There was no spark at the plug. This had nothing to do with the mower not being able to "move". But if the engine would not start (not stated by the customer originally), then that had to be fixed first. We ordered a new ignition coil (1 week process) and replaced it. The engine still would not fire. That's when we found that this particular engine had a second coil. We called, got the ok from the customer, and then ordered the second coil. Another week's wait. After this part was installed the engine did fire. Running the mower around in the shop it did in fact "move" in both directions but we noticed that the frame of the mower was very loose and flexible. This caused some noise when the mower was driven, so our shop mechanic tightened up all the attachment frame hardware as best he could. The mower is extremely flimsy and light weight........not a rigid frame like most riding mowers. We felt we did what we could on such a design and the mower now "moved" basically normally. Plus we had spent hours of labor in making the engine run with the electrical work. The shut off switch was done because we found that when the engine coils were now allowing the engine to run, that NOW there was an issue with not being able to shut off the engine with the key. The only options were to replace the ignition switch or the main circuit board. These both are very expensive options, so we offered to put in a cut off switch and save the customer a good deal of money. He agreed. The mower frame was never broken or dropped by us at any time. The customer feels otherwise, but it is now clear to us that the reason it wouldn't "move" in the first place is because the frame had failed before we got it....in places that were completely hidden until we removed components at the customer's house to explore the issue. He gave it to us broken in our opinion. That is why is would not move. The gear mechanism was not functioning correctly with the frame pieces out of line. It was kept so long because it took us a good deal of time to first fix the engine electronics that were never mentioned by the customer as something that was wrong. We have hundreds dollars wrapped up in this encounter.....3 trips back and forth across the city to pick up, deliver and troubleshoot. All the electrical parts. And about 10 hours of shop labor. And we will not see a dime of it back from the customer. Our strong belief is that we did not damage this customer's frame. It was broken to begin with, along with many electrical issues not told to us when we picked it up. Our dollar loss on this greatly exceeds the cost the customer will pay to have someone try and weld this frame back together.....an endeavor that we feel is likely to fail. The mower has been used outside of what it's designed to do, which is mow a very very small patch of grass. It did not stand up to the customer's needs and it is very likely to fail again soon should he try to get it weld-repaired.