First post for me. Hope I'm smart enough to figure this out with a little help from the more experienced forum folks:
Had this L120 John Deere mower since 2005. Have neglected it (sadly) and a few weeks ago it started running very rough (while my son was using it). Next time I started it - it barely ran. I'm fairly mechanical but don't spend much time working on or maintaining my yard machines - sadly. So it seemed to be barely running on one cylinder. When viewed from sitting in the seat - the cylinder on the right appeared to fire and work. The cylinder on the left - not working (head not hot). So I pulled the valve cover and had to pinch myself because one of the valve pushrods was GONE (the steel one) and the aluminum one was bent. I walked away for a few minutes asking myself - what in the world?? So I went back with a good LED headlight on my head and some reading glasses - and discovered the (?) oil return hole and thought... no way... So I got on Youtube and found a couple of guys had the same experience and, indeed, the bent pushrod was disappearing into the crank case. One guy even said he fished it out thru the oil-fill spout. So I picked up a handy telescoping magnet for $2.99 and ---- much to my serious amazement, fished out a bent pushrod thru the oil fill valve.
Then I proceeded to order a new cylinder head along with new pushrods and all the gaskets. Tonight I installed all the goodies and was pretty careful with torque values, etc. I installed two fresh spark plugs too - and put it all together. It started roughly, and ran - smoother than before (because the valves were cooperating I think) - but it still wasn't right. I shut it down and again noticed that the same cylinder was still not firing. I pulled the wire off the plug and the valve cover off and cranked it again. The plug was arcing just fine (I observed a strong spark). And as far as I can tell - the valves appeared to be operating fine (quietly). But that cylinder was not hot and I don't believe it's firing for some reason.
What do you guys recommend? What could be causing this problem? I've got spark. A new head. New pushrods, etc. Apparently I've got gas(?) Thanks for reading and listening to my newbie woes.
Ford Cook
Had this L120 John Deere mower since 2005. Have neglected it (sadly) and a few weeks ago it started running very rough (while my son was using it). Next time I started it - it barely ran. I'm fairly mechanical but don't spend much time working on or maintaining my yard machines - sadly. So it seemed to be barely running on one cylinder. When viewed from sitting in the seat - the cylinder on the right appeared to fire and work. The cylinder on the left - not working (head not hot). So I pulled the valve cover and had to pinch myself because one of the valve pushrods was GONE (the steel one) and the aluminum one was bent. I walked away for a few minutes asking myself - what in the world?? So I went back with a good LED headlight on my head and some reading glasses - and discovered the (?) oil return hole and thought... no way... So I got on Youtube and found a couple of guys had the same experience and, indeed, the bent pushrod was disappearing into the crank case. One guy even said he fished it out thru the oil-fill spout. So I picked up a handy telescoping magnet for $2.99 and ---- much to my serious amazement, fished out a bent pushrod thru the oil fill valve.
Then I proceeded to order a new cylinder head along with new pushrods and all the gaskets. Tonight I installed all the goodies and was pretty careful with torque values, etc. I installed two fresh spark plugs too - and put it all together. It started roughly, and ran - smoother than before (because the valves were cooperating I think) - but it still wasn't right. I shut it down and again noticed that the same cylinder was still not firing. I pulled the wire off the plug and the valve cover off and cranked it again. The plug was arcing just fine (I observed a strong spark). And as far as I can tell - the valves appeared to be operating fine (quietly). But that cylinder was not hot and I don't believe it's firing for some reason.
What do you guys recommend? What could be causing this problem? I've got spark. A new head. New pushrods, etc. Apparently I've got gas(?) Thanks for reading and listening to my newbie woes.
Ford Cook