775EX series ignition issue

[turbofiat124]

Dad bought a Husqvarna HU775H self propelled mower within a couple of years. He said the other day it just died. So I offered to look at it for him.

He brought it up to my house and I got it started on the first pull. I checked the basic stuff like making sure it had gas in it (yeah really), clogged air cleaner, oil, spark plug condition, clogged fuel filter in the tank. The spark plug looked OK but noticed it was an E3 plug which is not a plug found in mowers from the factory. I asked dad what that was all about and he said he was having this issue before and some guy at O'Reilys suggested this plug. Well it's not the plug.

I drained the gas out just in case it had water in it.

However once I let go of the kill handle and killed the engine, I was have issues getting it restarted. Other times when it is running it sounds like the engine is cutting out like it's running out of fuel or has water in the fuel. Not really a misfire.

When it wouldn't start, we checked for spark by removing the plug and laying it against metal with the plug wire connected. No spark.

Then at other times I'm getting good spark.

If I activate the kill handle several times, I can restart the engine.

This sounds like a dumb question but does this "kill handle" ground the coil and kills the engine or does it have some other purpose?

I noticed the cable between the kill handle and the engine is binding. I'm thinking the problem is in this cable or mechanism and the rest of the ignition system is fine.

Is it has simple as replacing this cable?

 

[ILENGINE]

Look at where the cable housing connects to the main upper handle, is it s U shaped piece with a plastic finger that goes through the handle to hold it in place. If so, when you pull the kill handle does it flex upward and an angle like it is trying to pull out. If so that is where the problem is. That flex is enough to prevent the kill from completely coming off the ground tab.

 

[turbofiat124]

Look at where the cable housing connects to the main upper handle, is it s U shaped piece with a plastic finger that goes through the handle to hold it in place. If so, when you pull the kill handle does it flex upward and an angle like it is trying to pull out. If so that is where the problem is. That flex is enough to prevent the kill from completely coming off the ground tab.

Well I noticed that the kill handle does not fly back when I left off like most mowers. Sometimes I have to move it manually forward to kill the engine. The cable has a slight kink, bend, or whatever you call it in it. Like it got folded over somehow which is probably contributing to the binding.

The other possibility is the cable has stretched just enough where it's not breaking the ground. When the kill handle is engaged, there seems to be a bit of slack in it.

Which would explain why the engine sometimes acts like it's running out of gas (or has water in it) and the handle has to be moved a few times before the plug will fire.

If I can, I will try to take a video of what it's doing.

 

[turbofiat124]

Got the new cable installed. So far so good!