Comments on: How to tell a lawn tractor’s battery is dead?

By: mainsailorus

mainsailorus — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:32:42 +0000

take the battery to autozone, walmart or some other major autoparts store and ask them to put it on their battery tester. or you can buy a 12 volt multimeter and tast it your self. 2 yrs is about right for a lawnmower battery to start showing signs of going bad though.

By: swampwalker

swampwalker — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:28:44 +0000

Bring it to an auto parts store. I know Auto-Zone does this. Most of them have a load tester that’ll determine whether it’s good or not. It may well read 12 volts on a meter but still not be any good. Most of the automotive parts stores will test it for free.

By: David P

David P — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:56:31 +0000

A large multi meter is not going to help you. A battery can still provide 12v but not provide enough amps to spin the motor. Lawn tractor batteries a pretty crappy, if you can get 2 seasons out of one, you have done well. Hope this helps. d

By: Gilbert65

Gilbert65 — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:42:41 +0000

use volt ohm meter. use a battery hygrometer, have it load tested

By: cronos51101

cronos51101 — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 23:12:08 +0000

well, if it won’t start then it is a dead battery, what you may have is a low electrolyte problem. you see, the battery is full of battery acid. the acid is diluted with distilled water, as the battery charges and discharges it slowly electrolysises the water(basically it evaporates) and the acid becomes more and more concentrated which makes the battery stop working.
what you want to do is go to the store and get a gallon of distilled water,IT MUST BE DISTILLED, if it isn’t it will create deadly chlorine gas and destroy the battery. a gallon of distilled water is cheaper than a battery. you will also need a turkey baster and a flat head screw driver(turkey baster is optional, and can be substituted with a funnel, but the baster will make things easier).
Take the battery out of the mower and put it outside on the driveway or something. take the screw driver and CAREFULLY remove the two black caps from the top of the battery, they should just pop off with a little prying. then, look inside(remember you are dealing with acid) the water level will probably be pretty far down there. fill up the baster with some water and fill each of the six chambers up to about 1/2 of an inch from the top of the battery( the holes will have little parts that stick down, with a little slot in the side, you should be about 1/8 of an inch under the opening of the slot to allow for vapor venting, if you over fill it, then the battery will leak from the vent cap.) do this six times and CAREFULLY put the vent caps back on and make sure they are pushed all the way down. your battery should be just fine now. this took what, like 5-10 minutes? plus the time it took to stop by the store and pick up a gallon of distilled water. If you ask me this is much better than just going out and getting a new battery.
one time my mower did not have enough power to even try to start. I filled up the electrolyte level and I didn’t even have to charge it, I just put it in and it started the mower as if it had just came off of a charger.

By: scout485

scout485 — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:20:28 +0000

Jump it with you car or truck if it is 12 volt. Let it run for a while, if it doesn’t start again, battery is bad.