Engine Suddenly Dies

mechanic mark

Lawn Pro
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Jul 15, 2013
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After thinking about it, it sounds like my old craftsman that I bought it used. It would just die from overheating. Had to remove hood and all the panels around the engine. Then it never happened again.
This zero turn for some reason is starting to do it. Someone said the battery was bad and the draw of the PTO was draining it and causing the shut down. So I put the charger on for about 3 hours until it went down.
I blew out all the debris around the engine and the fins around the spark plugs were clean on the front side. I'd have to remove the cover to get to the back side. Is that the blower housingView attachment 53428 you mentioned?
I also change the fuel filter and cleaned the foam air pre-filter which was covered in grass. The fuel filter does look dirty; see photo.

Started to mow but then the rain came in so I'll have to try it out tomorrow.
Absolutely! You will not believe the amount of dirt & crud that needs to be removed, just do not use water, do it by hand.
 

slomo

Lawn Addict
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Jul 14, 2019
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4,677
After thinking about it, it sounds like my old craftsman that I bought it used. It would just die from overheating. Had to remove hood and all the panels around the engine. Then it never happened again.
This zero turn for some reason is starting to do it. Someone said the battery was bad and the draw of the PTO was draining it and causing the shut down. So I put the charger on for about 3 hours until it went down.
I blew out all the debris around the engine and the fins around the spark plugs were clean on the front side. I'd have to remove the cover to get to the back side. Is that the blower housingView attachment 53428 you mentioned?
I also change the fuel filter and cleaned the foam air pre-filter which was covered in grass. The fuel filter does look dirty; see photo.

Started to mow but then the rain came in so I'll have to try it out tomorrow.
Where it says 23hp is the blower/flywheel shroud/engine cover. You need to remove that YEARLY to clean out all the grass, dirt, oil and bugs that will collect on the block cooling fins. Could have a mouse condo in there too. There are fins all the way around the cylinder. Get your engine manual and read it. Valve clearance adjustment while you are at it. That fuel filter looks pretty crusty. Carb probably could use a good cleaning.

slomo
 

slomo

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Joined
Jul 14, 2019
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Either the flywheel fins are gone, not likely or the block fins are covered up overheating the block. You should be able to mow in 100+ temps all day long. This is without removing hoods and other panels.

Need to take your blower to the engine and mower after every mow. Don't forget to Turtle Wax the deck while you are at it.

slomo

slomo
 

djg618

Active Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Threads
7
Messages
58
I'll pop the cover off before I mow again. Thanks everyone.
 
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