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Message: <blockquote data-quote="dennishoddy" data-source="post: 3859007" data-attributes="member: 5412">Quoting the OP so everything is in one thread. FIXED! Discovered what came first, the chicken or the egg. After discovering the melted fuse and fuse holder, went to town today and bought a replacement dual blade type that is designed a little different so I could watch the fuse if the element blew. One side of the pigtail went to the clutch/starter solenoid and the other went into the main wiring harness. Stripped the metalic wiring jacket back aways, clipping the wire and putting an inline wire connector on it with my Ideal crimpers. When attaching the other end to the clutch/starter solenoid under a boot, I discovered the nut on the supply side of the solenoid loose that feeds the starter and the clutch. Finger back off loose. Everything in my mind came together at that time. That connection was loose causing high current and heat. The current will seek out the weakest link that was the inline fuse to generate heat. Weak connection possibly? 12 years of age on that connection which was the fuse holder. Apparently when the young man was mowing and he shut it off, then trying to restart the blades, the retaining pin on the clutch broke because the poor connection was causing the clutch to engage/disengage repeatedly, breaking the supply voltage and stopping the blades. The inability to start the engine was because the fuse holder was melting with the fuse intact because the mower could restart in about 15 minutes after things cooled off and voltage, along with reduced current was able to pass again. When I got home, the engine was sputtering and dying when repeatedly engaging/disengaging the blades because of the reduced amperage, causing the belts to come off repeatedly, finally dying for the last time when the blown fuse was located, starting this troubleshooting. Replacing everything electrically, it ran and engaged the blades great. Better than it has in awhile to be truthful. I think the problem has been a long time coming.Mowed the entire 3 acres tonight and it ran like a new one but the idea of why that connection on the solenoid came loose, causing a succession of failures after 12 years still bugged me in my mind, so I dove back in. After another half hour or so of looking around. I spotted a kink in the rubber jacket of the cable running from the battery to the solenoid where the clutch was attached that was adjacent to part of the frame structure finally realizing it was a failure of a stress relief device applied at the factory.A single zip tie that eliminated the vibration on that cable which was missing caused the entire issue IMHO. So, tomorrow, it's time for an oil/filter change and some more looking around to see if there are any more issues with stress relief on wiring. I was fully convinced the clutch coils were deteriorating causing the issue, but it turned out to be a $5 repair along with a lot of frustration trying to figure out WTF!</blockquote>

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