- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
- Messages
- 58
- displayname
- Jack Marks
First problem was on a John Deere, a guy gave me! The JD hadn't run for a couple of years so I did my usual cleaning, Oil and filter, carb rebuild, replacing essentials etc.
I fired that baby up with less than one revolution of the engine. The engine ran beautifully for about 20 minutes then started to sputter, spit and choke, finally I shut it down to try to figure it out. The oil on the dip stick looked alright, no water in the fresh gas, all wiring looked fine, points looked fine !!
Started it up again, half revolution and she started purring like a kitten, ran another 20 minutes and started spitting, sputtering and choking etc. This time I noticed a couple of drips of what looked like tan slime coming from the PCV Tube that feeds into the intake manifold.
After a couple of days doing the carb over and over, thinking I was having needle and seat failures, tearing my hair out, and getting totally frustrated I finally figured it all out! The engine has a mechanical fuel pump, the diaphragm in the pump was deteriorated to a point that it was pumping as much gas into the crankcase as it was feeding the carb, basically diluting the oil and causing the foaming mixture of gasoline and oil to get sucked into the intake through the PCV tube and choking the engine and generally making a mess of things. I failed to realize that the oil level was continually rising in the crankcase due to the fact that I had done that oil and filter change when I first started this job, trying to read the dip stick after an oil change is nearly impossible due to the clean oil just being impossible to see on the stick. I actually resorted to gluing a pice of brown paper tho the end of the dipstick to make the oil level visible,,!!! Imagine my astonishment when I realized that the oil level was now twice as high as it should be.
Continuing on! I eliminated that Chinese fuel pump and replaced it with the littlest electric pump I could buy from STENS, and it’s been cutting grass ever since!!
The second problem was on a Husqvarna I was helping a friend replace the deck belt that was destroyed when his daughter was mowing. After receiving the new belt, he asked me for assistance and I went over to help, I found two of the 3 spindles on the deck were in “need” of replacement, so when he got the new spindles (All 3), I went over again, everything went like clock work (whatever that’s supposed to mean, but my Dad always said that), when we fired it up and set the mower in operation, it threw that new belt faster than a New York City Pick Pocket( Dad used to say that too), we put that belt back on there numerous times to no avail, until finally through shear luck, when I was rolling the belt on to the motor drive pulley,, I noticed the problem,, a Hickory Nut was jammed into the V of the pulley, therefore throwing the belt immediately, a screwdriver solved that problem, and it’s been cutting grass ever since!
Needless to say,, sometimes we run into little problems that Defy common sense !!
I fired that baby up with less than one revolution of the engine. The engine ran beautifully for about 20 minutes then started to sputter, spit and choke, finally I shut it down to try to figure it out. The oil on the dip stick looked alright, no water in the fresh gas, all wiring looked fine, points looked fine !!
Started it up again, half revolution and she started purring like a kitten, ran another 20 minutes and started spitting, sputtering and choking etc. This time I noticed a couple of drips of what looked like tan slime coming from the PCV Tube that feeds into the intake manifold.
After a couple of days doing the carb over and over, thinking I was having needle and seat failures, tearing my hair out, and getting totally frustrated I finally figured it all out! The engine has a mechanical fuel pump, the diaphragm in the pump was deteriorated to a point that it was pumping as much gas into the crankcase as it was feeding the carb, basically diluting the oil and causing the foaming mixture of gasoline and oil to get sucked into the intake through the PCV tube and choking the engine and generally making a mess of things. I failed to realize that the oil level was continually rising in the crankcase due to the fact that I had done that oil and filter change when I first started this job, trying to read the dip stick after an oil change is nearly impossible due to the clean oil just being impossible to see on the stick. I actually resorted to gluing a pice of brown paper tho the end of the dipstick to make the oil level visible,,!!! Imagine my astonishment when I realized that the oil level was now twice as high as it should be.
Continuing on! I eliminated that Chinese fuel pump and replaced it with the littlest electric pump I could buy from STENS, and it’s been cutting grass ever since!!
The second problem was on a Husqvarna I was helping a friend replace the deck belt that was destroyed when his daughter was mowing. After receiving the new belt, he asked me for assistance and I went over to help, I found two of the 3 spindles on the deck were in “need” of replacement, so when he got the new spindles (All 3), I went over again, everything went like clock work (whatever that’s supposed to mean, but my Dad always said that), when we fired it up and set the mower in operation, it threw that new belt faster than a New York City Pick Pocket( Dad used to say that too), we put that belt back on there numerous times to no avail, until finally through shear luck, when I was rolling the belt on to the motor drive pulley,, I noticed the problem,, a Hickory Nut was jammed into the V of the pulley, therefore throwing the belt immediately, a screwdriver solved that problem, and it’s been cutting grass ever since!
Needless to say,, sometimes we run into little problems that Defy common sense !!
