Location; How It Works; Testing - Toro 260 Series Service Manual

Location

The solenoid is located under the front hood, mounted
to the firewall of the tractor (Figure 221).
Figure 221

How it Works

The solenoid has two primary parts. One is a coil of
wire wrapped around an iron core. Whenever 12 volts
is applied to the coil, it becomes a magnet. The other
part is a bar type switch. Because it has a large
contact area with the contact terminals it can easily
handle the high current loads required by the starter
motor.
When 12 volts is applied to the coil, it becomes an
electromagnet. This quickly pulls the bar toward
contacts and closes the switch. When power is
removed from the coil, the spring loaded bar returns to
its "normally open" position. The solenoid closes and
opens the switch very quickly. This minimizes the
"arcing" that can damage other types of switches.
260 Series Tractor Service Manual
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
The ignition switch is protected because only a small
amount of current is needed to activate the coil.

Testing

MVC-314X
1. Disconnect the solenoid from the wiring harness.
2. With a multimeter (ohms setting), check to ensure
that terminals "c" and "d" are open (no continuity)
(Figure 222).
3. Apply +12 VDC to terminal "a" and ground
terminal "b". Terminals "c" and "d" should now be
closed (continuity) (Figure 222).
Figure 222
XL Solenoid
6 - 3