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Always ran wheelhorse until they were bought by toro . Recently bought a cub cadet 3185 in very nice condition. It has the 18 hp briggs engine . The mower runs great for about 20 min then starts to cut out. I haven't tracked the problem down yet but am thinking maybe the fuel solenoid . Anyone have suggestions?

:welcome:

Welcome to the forum!

I'm going to move your thread over to our Cub Cadet section to see if someone over there can offer advice.

Fuel solenoids are usually, works or dont work.

Slip an in line fuel tap in the line between the fuel tank & the first item in the fuel system ( pump or filter )
When it plays up remove the float bowl and turn the ignition off on to check the solenoid.
or
Try removing the fuel cap
or
Remove the fuel line & fuel cap then blow backwards up the fuel line

or thry the whole lot, one at a time & let us know what happens.

Thanks . Already tried fuel cap with no improvement. Will give other suggestions a whirl.

I found a quick way to test the fuel pump on those was to remove the fuel line and place in a clean container like a large coffee can, remove the spark plug wires from the plugs and crank the engine over for a few seconds to see how much fuel comes out......should be able to put about a 1/2 inch of fuel in the bottom of the can in under 10 seconds.........if not suspect a weak or faulty pump.

Does it look like this one?

Hi Russ I'm Marty Thanks for the tip. I'm not sure if my pump is an exact match but it is a vacuum operated pump. Will check it out sorta makes more sense than the solenoid.

if the pump checks out ok, then I would test the coil(s) some had two.........

my manners, Hi Marty and welcome to LawnForum

Thanks doc will start with pump check.