Ariens 931 - pto draining my battery

To drain the battery, something has to be shorted that is not supposed to be, that you put in the circuit when in PTO position. So what is the mechanism that caused the short, and what is there to short?

Maybe you have a pinched wire somewhere (between sheet metal and frame), or a wire that a metallic lever has worn the insulation off and is touching, or the heat of the engine or tranny burned insulation off and a wire is grounding out.

Maybe time for a visual inspection while you are awaiting a diagram.

Lots of options.

Good luck,

Mark

I just bought a JD 100. It had a backup safety, and a seat pressure safety.

The backup safety was a pushbutton switch. If you wanted to back up without killing the engine you had to hold the switch down. Two wire switch, had to short it with a jumper to work.

Seat was a bit more involved. 4 wires. Traced it all out and couldn't get it to stay running when I engaged the mower. After a couple of hours, of very puzzling troubleshooting I found a little silver metal clip (embedded in the wiring harness connector) that shorted out the 2 center of the 4 terminals if the mating connector was pulled off....i.e. you disconnected the seat switch. I took a pair of long nosed pliers and pulled out that little piece of metal and now it works fine with the seat plug disconnected.

You have to understand these designers. Are they designing to help the maint man troubleshoot problems, or are they trying to outsmart you so you aren't clever enough to undo their "looking out for you". Makes a difference in whether you are looking for a open (not true) or a short (true).

Mark