Hello,

I have an 11 year old Craftsman 18hp tractor. I needed to change the battery, which is about four years old. Not a big deal, I thought. For the last few times I was jumpstarting the tractor off of my car battery. So I got Lowes battery, put it in, assuming it is charged, as it was the case before - the starter made some clicking noise, as if battery is not charged, so I went for my jumper cable, connected to tractor battery, connected negative to car battery negative, but once I tried to connect positive, it sparked, and melted a bit of positive clamp. I thought the new battery has internal short, put in the old one, jumpstarted with no issues, and cut the grass. I exchanged the new battery for another one, put it in, and exact same thing happened, the starter was clicking, and I could not jumpstart, because of the spark. I said a few words about Lowes quality control, and went on to get another battery. Exact same thing happened - could not start my tractor, could not jumpstart. Put in old battery - everything works like a magic. Just to add to the mystery - my old battery just does not hold a charge for more than a few hours or so, but if I turn the tractor off, I can start it right back on within short period of time from that old battery. I guess, I can keep jumping the tractor - inconvenient, but does the trick, but at this point I am very interested in what is a real problem. I would appreciate if anyone gives me a clue about what is going on. I changed two batteries on that tractor in a past 11 years with no issues.