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My wife and I purchased a new John Deere E170 on 10/04/2018 from our local Lowe's. The first summer in 2019, it ran great, I changed the quick oil change at 10hrs and used it once every two weeks until fall, put stabilizer then I covered it and put it away for winter. I got on it May of 2020 and it started right up, it went about 100ft and died, it wouldn't crank, just dead. I thought it was the battery. I purchased a new battery; it still wouldn't crank. I fiddled with the brake, and I did it to crank but wouldn't start. It only has 25hrs on it. Before I could get a hold of Greenway Equipment Inc. I got COVID 19 in both lungs and was sick for a while and it's taken this long to start feeling normal. I finally got it to Greenway last week and they contacted me today. They said the engine was seized up and they were able to get loosened up but recommended not fixing it because they couldn't guarantee the repair, they said they could probably get it running with a new carburetor for $1500.00 and it would cost around $2500.00 to replace the engine. Any suggestion?

I would start by getting a second opinion. Did they say why the engine seized? You have not been given the whole story, thus we need more info before receiving action.

Rivets said:

I would start by getting a second opinion. Did they say why the engine seized? You have not been given the whole story, thus we need more info before receiving action.

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Greenway is a big John Deere Dealership who carries everything from heavy equipment to riding mowers. They also assemble all the John Derr riding mowers for the box stores. I'm sure they do great warranty work but I don't think they care about it after the warranty is gone. They were not interested in going through the engine or rebuilding the Carb. I'm retired and getting ready for my second back surgery I'm may take a shot at fixing it. Back in the day I was a good shade tree mechanic.

I contacted John Deere Enterprise Contact Center for Residential, Golf, and Turf products, They did respond on 05/08/23 and said they would check it out the next day and contact me whether or not John Deer could help. JD didn't contact Greenway for days and they returned a nonrunning $3000.00 E170 that ran for a whole 25hrs back to me. JD contacted me the day after I got it back saying they contacted Greenway who told them we got the mower back. The rep said that they needed Greenway to go through the engine to see why it seized up and if it showed it was a problem with the engine they could help. So now I have to contact Greenway to come back and get it. It's forty miles to the Dealership and a pickup and return charge plus whatever it will cost to diagnose the engine. When I first sent this mower to get it fixed I figured $500.00 to $1000.00 which would still be much cheaper than going out and purchasing a new one. Now I'm wondering if all this will be worth it, I guess roll the dice and see what happens.

Before you take it back, spend $ 100 and get a second indenendent opinion.
Simply because the dealer who sold the mower could be at fault by not doing proper predelivery
Also JD will take the dealers word as gospel.
Good reason for this as the bulk of people will think it is fair game to destroy an engine then try to cover it up and make a warranty claim.
Ask any dealer how many times they have pulled down an engine that had suppoedly worked for "X" hours then suddenly stopped only to find it full of brand new clean oil with no trace of any used oil in the engine because the owner forgot to fill the engine with il before they first started it .

The bst one I ever heard of was a Triumph motorcycle with a no oil siezed motor.
Owner claimed he was cruising through the countryside and the engine just stopped .
Analysis of the ECM memory showed that the over reving cut off had been activated over 128 times ( limit of the memory )
The low oil cut out had activated also over 20 times
And finally the dirty oil in the engine had traces of diesel contaminants .
So the truth was he was unlisenced & was being chased by the cops , thus the excessive revs
The excesive revs caused ring flutter over pressurizing the crankcase and causing the oil to blow out the exhaust which is what caused the siezure .
HE had then topped up the remailing oil with some from his diesel SUV sump so it would not look like his fault .
The dealer billed him $ 450 for the diagnosis & Triumph Australia reported him to the police fraud squad .
The cops put 2 & 2 together & charged him with a host of offences he would have gotten away with if he had not tried it on with a warranty claim.
End of story was a 5 year driving ban a 3 year suspended sentence & of course loss of his job.

With a seized engine any repair shop which does warranted work for that engine can be a good location for second opinion. They may or may not charge you to look at it, but it might be a better option for you. Big dealerships do not equate to better service, especially when they are dealing with both agricultural and residential equipment, I’ve seen many times where the service on residential equipment takes a backseat to the higher profit agricultural side of the business.

Rivets said:

With a seized engine any repair shop which does warranted work for that engine can be a good location for second opinion. They may or may not charge you to look at it, but it might be a better option for you. Big dealerships do not equate to better service, especially when they are dealing with both agricultural and residential equipment, I’ve seen many times where the service on residential equipment takes a backseat to the higher profit agricultural side of the business.

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Well JD called this mourning and the Rep said he had talked to Greenway. He said that he had sent the information to his supervisor and would contact me as soon as he heard back from him. Shortly after that Greenway called and wanted to pick the mower up so they have it now. If it gets fixed then it does and if it doesn't I'll worry about that later. I'm having back surgery #2 in June and hoping to get all the things around here done before then.

Bummer to pay good money and be abused by dealership. Guess I will stay with used machines and fix and go as needed. I can fix faster than most of these posts.

John Deere agreed to have the dealer(Greenway) tear down the engine to see why it quit working after 25hrs. All they said was there was corrosion in the engine which it did sit for a couple of seasons because of COVID. That's not the reason it quit running. I ended up putting an engine in it. It cost me $1460.00 in total which was cheaper than purchasing another one. It's the same engine they have in the new S series.