Honda 18HP wont shut off

[Byrd]

I have my first 6x6 almost going now,but have run into a bit of a problem.its a hustler 950 with a Honda 18hp motor,it will start but cannot get it to shut off with switch.I gotta turn off the fuel to get it to die.any ideas where to start I'm not much on electrical things.thanks

[racerone3]

there is either a small electrical bulkhead on the engine, or a wire coming from behind the flywheel for your kill circuit (i think honda uses a green wire for this). this wire gets shorted to ground to kill the engine. any # of things could be causing the problem. first locate the wire or terminal. (you might want to pull the flywheel cover to be sure that you have the right one. one end will attach to the back of the coil(S) and the other will go to the bulkhead or stick out of the flywheel cover). once you are sure you have the kill wire, start the engine and use a short piece of wire to short the kill wire to ground. if the engine shuts down, then the issue is with your switch or the wiring in the machine. if not the issue is with the engine side kill wire or it's connection to the coil. to check out the machine side you will need a multimeter. set it to check continuity. find the wire that was or should have been hooked to the kill wire at the engine and clip one of the meter leads to it. clip the other to ground. cycle the switch from run to off. the meter should make a sound indicating that you have continuity when the switch is in the off position. if not, pull the harness off the back of the switch. it's easiest to check the switch out of the machine. clamp the switch lightly in a vice with the terminals up. hook one meter lead to terminal "G" and the other to terminal "M" check continuity again while cycling the switch looking for the same sound as before. if the switch tests ok, the issue is with the wiring between the engine and switch or ground and switch.
report back with your findings and we can diagnose further from there