Hello everyone, new member from N. Texas

It has been doing it for several months just once in a while. Many tanks of gas have been fed through. Thought it might be the seat safety switch, so I defeated it just to eliminate it.
Lately, I can make it happen every single time a pull back to slow it down. I can mow up hill and down hill full blast cutting thick grass and it does perfect until I make a turn. As long as I have one arm pushed forward a little, even though the other arm is pulled back some, it won't stall. Doesn't matter which tank I'm on either, it acts the exact same.
I just filled up the tanks and suspended the pickup tubes with a wire so they are about in the middle of the tank, which should eliminate any water issues. It still does the same thing.
 
Hello A.,

That condition suggests that the wiring harness and connectors need to be carefully checked for any pinching, pulling or rubbing.

Shifting and twisting of the chassis often tugs and pulls on harnesses and connectors creating wear and loose connector pin fitment. The last thing that many people consider is the wiring and connectors

As and automotive and equipment technician, I have seen this happen many times over the years.

Hope this helps you.
 
Thanks for your reply. I have been through all the wiring several times. Mower hasn't been this clean since new so I could look everywhere really well. Thought a rat could have chewed something but all wires and connnectors look good. This is a real puzzle for me. I'm also a mechanic but gotta admit, I'm not an expert at small engines. Hoping I don't have to take it to a steelership.
 
Hello A.,

That condition suggests that the wiring harness and connectors need to be carefully checked for any pinching, pulling or rubbing.

Shifting and twisting of the chassis often tugs and pulls on harnesses and connectors creating wear and loose connector pin fitment. The last thing that many people consider is the wiring and connectors

As and automotive and equipment technician, I have seen this happen many times over the years.

Hope this helps you.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Electrical.
 
Thanks for your reply. I have been through all the wiring several times. Mower hasn't been this clean since new so I could look everywhere really well. Thought a rat could have chewed something but all wires and connnectors look good. This is a real puzzle for me. I'm also a mechanic but gotta admit, I'm not an expert at small engines. Hoping I don't have to take it to a steelership.
You might have to take to the dealer or someone who has the Kawasaki software for the EFI engines.
If it were a carbureted unit, I would say look at the wiring going to the fuel solenoid.
 
You said " As long as I have one arm pushed forward a little, even though the other arm is pulled back some, it won't stall."
That really sounds suspicous. Are you talking about crossing through the neutral point, or just relaxing off full forward?

Auto Doc said "The control arms (handles) only link to the directional drive hydraulic motors with the exception of when they are placed in the neutral position. They have no physical or electrical link/ connection to the engine."

Very strange.
 
Good question. It's very slight forward and very slight backwards when it works okay. Otherwise it's slightly backwards or extremely backwards that does not work. There is no real detent to know when I hit neutral. That being said, the 660 should not know where the arms are without having them in neutral and the parking brake set (locking them in place) and making the switch. At least that's how I understand it.
 
It is mowing season and I am having problems with my 2021 Gravely Pro-Turn 660 w/Kawasaki FX1000V engine. I am mowing my pastures (15" -20" tall grass) and the mower cuts thru the fields very easily and does not bog down. When I pulled back on the control arms to slow the speed, the engine back-fires and stops. The same thing occurs mowing hills. Mowing up the hill is effortless, but controlling the down hill descent speed with the control arms, engine back fires and stops... Hopefully someone has some insight on this issue. I look forward to all your comments... thank you. (new gas, air filter and engine oil, 65hrs on mower)
I'm responding to the original poster even though I have posted several times with others about this. Hopefully, if someone has this same issue, they can go straight here and find out what I found. I have spent hours on this issue trying all kinds of stuff. It just did not make any sense to me how this could be happening, until I found the issue. A couple of months ago I unplugged the seat safety switch and inserted a jumper wire to bypass it to eliminate an intermittent switch. So, in my mind, I eliminated that circuit and moved on to many other things. Yesterday I finally decided to disengage both hydraulic motors so I could start the engine, take off the brake and play with the handles to see just how in the world they could be causing this, without the mower moving around. To my dismay, as soon as I took the brake off, the engine died. What??!! The mower didn't know I wasn't in the seat, the safety switch was jumpered. I got in the seat and it didn't die. What? So here's the deal. I bypassed the switch, with a jumper, at the switch connector, leaving all the wiring in place going back to the harness by the fuel tank switch. There are four wires from the seat that tee into the harness. All four wires were broken internally 1/2" to 2" from the tee. One wire had two breaks in it. This is a suspension seat. So, anytime weight (me) shifted to the front, the wires were getting a slight tug, causing a disconnect. Basically telling the engine I fell off and to shut down. A very very slight movement with the arms caused the suspension seat to go back and make the wires reconnect. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope this helps someone!!
 
Back
Top