This is the Dixon zero turn mower I rolled over to my place. Here's what I've found so far: No response from the key switch so I charged the battery, this morning all I got was a click. I crossed the leads at the solenoid and the engine turned. I had a new solenoid in the shed, not sure if it should be exact replacement. I installed it and the engine will now crank with the key. However it turns over very slowly and the heavy red wire from the solenoid gets hotter the longer I let it turn. Any bad news for me on this briggs engine, or am I just missing the correct problem or part? I did put a die hard battery out of another tractor in and the results are the same, this battery turned the 12 HP over rapidly. Thanks for any help. This is one great site!

Does the engine turn easy by hand, could be old oil causing the engine to drag. It may also be a bad starter.

I pulled the plug yesterday and the engine turned over easily. I reinstalled the plug and got the engine turning over and started. Unfortunantly, the starter reengaged on it's own and I couldn't shut it off with the key. I finally got the negative cable off the battery, but things got pretty hot. I let it cool off and tried the key but nothing at all this time. If I cross a screwdriver at the solenoid the starter engages. I'm not sure what to do now. I checked continuity on the switch and it doesn't appear to be working correctly. Starter might be the problem all along.

sounds like you have two problems, the starter and the ignition switch

quick easy way to test the starter is to take it off, take your battery with some jumper cable, hook up jumper cable to battery, hook the positive cable on the other end of your jumpers to the stud on the starter, and use the negative anywhere on the starter so it grounds out. The starter should snap and spin real fast, if it doesn't, I would question it

Hey, thanks for the answer pyro, I'll pull the starter tomorrow and see what I find out. It's good to have you seasoned veterans to guide me through these small engine problems. They sure can make you scratch your head.

after working on them so long, you can almost do it in your sleep

Alright, I got the starter off and tested like you said. It turns but makes a loud sound, like something is having a hard time. The regulator was attached to thr starter with a large hose clamp. It looks like it's been hot once or twice too. Any way to check that thing? Thanks again.