New to the site... have to admit my project tractor is giving me fits, these days. I'm really hoping for some tips at what I need to direct my attention towards. Long story short...
Bought a used tractor as-is from a guy to wrench on and replace an old 44" tank that finally crossed the point of reason to work on. It's a Craftsman DLT2000 with a 25hp Briggs V Twin in it. Has about 850 hours on it. Thing was running and cutting when I picked it up. During the move an old siezed up plastic idler broke off, which I didn't notice and that had me scrambling. Blah blah blah. Few other items fixed as well. New plugs, new oil filter, new belts, patched gas tank, rebuilt the siezed up brake, cleaned out the carb. I had the thing running fine when I left it in someone else's charge, though I will admit I thought it was running slow (as in low top speed).
Fast forward a bit, during the second mowing of this property, I was called and told that there was oil everywhere. a couple of questions later, and I learned that she forgot to screw down the oil dipstick cap and that the oil was coming out of the top and covering that side of the motor, the fwd/reverse pedals and her feet. I took this at face value. She cleaned up, and didn't think about it again.
Got another call... now the tractor won't start. It's been sitting for about 4 days or so. Started once, ran for about 40 seconds and then stalled out. The engine cranks and sounds just like it did before, it just doesn't turn over and get on with it.
Spark plug wires are in place
Fresh gas in it
Choke is operating
Throttle adjusts as it should
Battery charged
Proximity switch at this point has been disabled for testing
Fuse iss good
Fuel filter is new and appears to be letting gas through normally
PTO is disengaged
Clutch is down
Key is turned ... heh
At this point I have to assume something bigger. Valves, carb flooding, something... right? This is the biggest small engine I've worked on, and the only twin OHV. So it feels like I'm reaching. But any help or tips anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.
Results Pull oil dipstick & smell for gas, if no gas smell make sure oil is on full mark. Adjust valves with engine cold per operators manual specs. Check gas cap vent for being stopped up. Check air filter for replacement. Check fuse between ignition switch & starter solenoid. Let us know how it goes, thanks.
917.272263 is the model. 25 hp v twin intek with Nikki carb. According to manual it's a b&s 445777-0154-E1, but I'm not sure where I can verify this on the motor.
#4
cpurvis
Simple things first.
Take off the air filter and give the engine a tiny shot of starting fluid. If the engine fires, you have a fuel problem. If it doesn't, you probably have an ignition problem.
Starting fluid is to be administered carefully, in small doses.
Hi guys. Updating this, the problem was actually very simple. While cleaning off all the oil that had come out and made a mess on the engine, the operator had been a little aggressive and ended up pulling out the pulse line from the valve cover. So the fuel pump wasn't operating.
It still was a hard starter and was running a bit odd, so I decided to check out the valve clearances anyway and they were way off. I snugged them up, replaced both the cover gaskets and did another oil change since the oil was so dark. It certainly corrected the delayed/hard start - it fires right up, now. And I think it's running smoother at some of the throttle points where it was sounding a bit odd.
Now I'm left with three issues:
1. It still seems significantly slow. Top speed on this is supposed to be 5.5 mph and I'd guess I'm topping out under 4... And that's when I'm not running the deck.
2. When I engage the deck at full throttle I start to get rpm drops or what probably would be considered surging. If I cut off about 20% from the throttle, it evens out. Once in a while, I have to have the choke out just a touch as well. This leads me to think my carb cleaning needs to be turned into a complete carb rebuild?
3. New spark plugs are already blackened and the oil only went about 5 hours before becoming awfully dark. It seems I'm maybe burning oil. It's not smoking, though.
These inteks are notorious I guess for head gasket problems, so I'm wondering if one or maybe both are giving me trouble?
SLOW GROUND SPEED
1) slipping drive belt / build up of debris under mower preventing cutch fully disengaging.
2) build up around brake preenting brake fully disengaging.
3) low oil level in hydro
4) on big hour machines, dirty / blocked hydro filter
5) worn out hydro
SURGING UNDER LOAD
1) surging is always fuel related so either the carb is still not cleaned properly
2) govenor is malfunctioning ( get some one to hold the govenor off and see if it still surges )
The little spring that wraps around the throttle - governor rod should even out speed changes.
BURNING OIL
Inteks , head gaskets prime suspect although the V twins are a lot better than the singles.
Being that the vales were way out , good chance you have a leak.
Run the engine for 10-20 minutes then pull the dip stick the instant the engine stops look for smokecoming from the crank case.
Check the breather tube in the carb , it should feel oily to the touch but appear dry to the eye.
I use a colortune for a quick diagnosis, they are about $ 50 US from Gunsons in the UK and worth 10 times that much in saved time and unnecessary parts replacement.
A badly worn exhaust valve guide will give you the same symptoms as a blown head gasket , just on a smaller scale.
