B&S 25 HP Twin ELS cuts out pointing uphill

[rwoltner]

I re-installed the shield and she ran for almost twice as long as before before having problems. I guess I'll put in an order for a new shield and see what happens when I have a complete piece on.

The wing on the side of the shield is roughly 25 square inches in size or about 25% of the total size. Also, the wing that is still attached is barely hanging on (if I flex it once it will probably break off) and felt barely warm when I touched it so it is not doing its job to dissipate any heat.

The heat shield id number 10 in the linked diagram.

http://c.searspartsdirect.com/lis_png/PLDM/P0303056-00005.png

 

[Fish]

wing on the side of the shield is roughly 25 square inches in size or about 25% of the total size. Also, the wing that is still attached is barely hanging on (if I flex it once it will probably break off) and felt barely warm when I touched it so it is not doing its job to dissipate any heat..

http://c.searspartsdirect.com/lis_png/PLDM/P0303056-00005.png

If it is "barely warm" then it is doing it's job. Is it aluminum?

 

[rwoltner]

If it is "barely warm" then it is doing it's job. Is it aluminum?

The shield is steel. The barely warm temp was lot less than the main part of the shield. The wing was about 3-4 seconds on a touch test, where as the main part was 1 second on a touch test. The existing wing is only hanging on by about a 1/4 of un-cracked metal.

I may have some foil backed insulation in the basement to try shielding the carb. Will have to wait until tomorrow for that.

Once again I want to say thanks for the assistance.

Sometimes it helps a lot to bounce problems off of a knowledgeable person. Everyone at work and the neighbors are all non-mechanical in nature and usually ask me for help or take it to a shop. When you get the chance to lay it out to someone else who understands, you tend to start looking at every little detail. Wish I had thought of the heat shield earlier.

I think I should also order replacement springs for the govenor while I am ordering parts. If they overheated too much, too often, their temper may have changed.

 

[Fish]

Nah..... The springs should not even be considered here...

as far as the rest of it, something unique has to being happening, so one must know/hear of the whole story...

But my gut tells me that you have some pesky moisture in your system, but on a discussion forum, every possibility is always nixed by the original poster, and all of the gang here always takes the side of the original poster.....

Nothing personal, but we get a lot of "head scratchers" which usually means some missed detail....

 

[rwoltner]

Nothing personal taken:smile: I understand that free help and advice should always be taken with an air of gratitude and it is a 2 way street so all of my replies will be of the most professional nature.

At this point I am willing to try anything, so I will pick up some dry-gas next time in town and add it to the tank. Maybe even my "fresh" gas is not that great, so I'll grab another 5 from a different station.

I will also try insulating the carb/intake until the new shield comes in. I have an infrared thermometer I can shoot at things so I'll keep it with me next time I am using the tractor and take a reading on everything when it screws up.

As far as details go, I am trying my best to provide every possible thing that may be a contributor and everything that I have tried. Sometimes you just don't think of everything until someone else bounces an idea off your noggin.

This problem reminds me of one I had with a 1984 Camaro (V-8, 4 barrel carb). On extremely long trips of 100 miles or more non-stop, it would start acting like it had vapor lock. Multiple trips to the dealer and they either couldn't replicate (never ran it long/hard enough) or they would throw parts at it (new carb, new filter, new distributor module, insulated fuel lines). Finally onetime, on my way home from the beach the fuel pump went out, started leaking gas out the vent (manual pump, cam driven, hanging on front side of block). So I slapped a new fuel pump on and never had the problem again. Best guess is that a very small puncture existed on the diaphragm and when the fuel pump housing expanded from prolonged heat exposure, that puncture also enlarged when the diaphragm stretched resulting in loss of fuel pressure.

 

[Fish]

Yes, it indicates some water in the fuel, it can be real pesky, as it will sit in a small layer in the bottom of the carb bowl, and will just stay there and corrode things.
Then occasionally some will get slurped into the engine when turning, hitting a bump, or going up-downhill. I liked the old fashioned fuel separator-filters, where you
had a glass bowl that would collect the water, that could be easily seen and discarded.

 

[rwoltner]

Here's an update on my issue....

After cleaning out the gas tank again and fully cleaning the carb, along with the new heat shield, she seems to be running without issue and I haven't had her cut out on me. I still have a new breather to put on and have a few questions on that.

I read the manual and it says to remove the flywheel to replace the breather, and that requires special tools. So, is it possible to replace the breather with the flywheel in place? Looks like if I remove the intake I can get to the bolts, but don't know if there is enough vertical clearance to remove the bolts and breather.

Any advice on breather replacement on the vertical v-twin?

 

[upnorth]

This probably doesn't mean anything but what I'm thinking is the float in the carb is meant to function on level or almost level ground. With the mower going uphill or downhill the float's movement is hampered by the incline. As you say the engine straightens out when you are level. You'd think that with all the vibration the carb would still function but with the float hung up [to the side] the needle may be closed or drastically stay open - regulating, really, NOTHING.