JD 420 garden tractor quit/wont start

[tshell]

Have a late '80's John Deere 420 Onan engine, and all of a sudden the battery light came on, next the mower deck stopped. When I put it in forward (hydro) it began to die. To get it back to the house I held a stick against the neutral interlock switch next to the drive lever. Got it to the garage and jumped the wires to take the switch out of the loop. Started up the street to my neighbors house to have him look at it and it just died. I took the battery out and cleaned it up and tested it, ok. Stuck it back in, and it wont even turn over or click. Could it be the ignition switch or is there some electronic ignition module that could be bad? Anyone familiar with this problem? Nothing in the manual. The tractor is in great shape, I try to take care of it. 60" mower deck.

 

[beenthere]

A search on the Onan engine on TBN might help.

 

[B7510HSD]

Have a late '80's John Deere 420 Onan engine, and all of a sudden the battery light came on, next the mower deck stopped. When I put it in forward (hydro) it began to die. To get it back to the house I held a stick against the neutral interlock switch next to the drive lever. Got it to the garage and jumped the wires to take the switch out of the loop. Started up the street to my neighbors house to have him look at it and it just died. I took the battery out and cleaned it up and tested it, ok. Stuck it back in, and it wont even turn over or click. Could it be the ignition switch or is there some electronic ignition module that could be bad? Anyone familiar with this problem? Nothing in the manual. The tractor is in great shape, I try to take care of it. 60" mower deck.

I don't think the module would cause it to not turn over if it has one..I would start by testing the voltage with the key on at the starter...maybe even jump across the starter see if it turns over if not you probably have a bad starter or solenoid...if it does turn it could be the key switch...