(ET) L coil on E-8

[Chip Gribben <futurev radix net>]

Hi all,

I'm having the hardest time trying to get my tractor working.

First. All the circuit breakers and switches appear to be fine. I checked 
each one with the meter. What I did notice when I opened up the tractor 
was a wire going from the key switch to the Circuit breaker on the motor 
had melted. I think that wire go caught in the steering gear and shorted 
out.  I replaced that wire which didn't seem to make a difference.

So I'm suspecting the problem is the L-Coil.

When I turn the key on and press the clutch nothing happens but I can turn 
the mower blades on so something is working.

When I was checking the L-coil with my meter I accidently shorted one of 
the probes across a couple of the contacts and the motor started running. 
That was a great noise to finally hear. So now I know the motor is 
working. Good thing I had it in neutral. I had put it in neutral just in 
case.

So that gave me another reason to suspecting the L-Coil is bad. I did make 
sure the clutch switch was working. At the moment I have the seat switch 
bypassed and the wires jumped.

I have a copy of the book that has all the tractor wiring diagrams so I'm 
fine there and have been studying them and tracing the wires. I can't make 
sense of the logic on some of the circuits particularly the origination of 
the key switch circuit. It appears to be coming from the negative side and 
that doesn't make any sense to me. I thought 36 volts was supposed to be 
running through it. But I need to confirm that part of the circuit again 
since all the wires are black.

Does anyone know where I can get an L-Coil? I have an old price list from 
a fellow in Pennsylvania but I'm not sure if he is still doing it or not. 
I guess I could call his number. 

Any ideas feel free to email me off-list or on. My grass is getting tall. 
My RoboMower also broke or it's just activing whacky moving only a couple 
feet at a time. which is why I'm trying to the tractor working now. But I 
still have my trusty 12 volt Black and Decker to use as back up but it 
takes forever to mow with the 17 inch wide path. 

Thanks

Chip Gribben.