[iandscott]

I know this is an old thread but I am posting in the hope it helps someone as I could not find an answer to this problem on the web & I had 2 decks with the same problem. If you take the deck out & look underneath there are 2 coathanger type arms coming off the start/stop switch one operates the actual on/off switch for the motor. The other goes into an arm that has a join in it. If you follow this along you will see on the mechanism it joins a black washer with an arm coming off it. It is this washer that is stuck to the plate it is on with dried grease. I used WD40 on it but it still needed a (careful) push with a flat bladed screwdriver to free. When free the arm with the black washer on can slide easily & the stop/start/auto will free up