I have a 60" Super Z with a 25 hp Kawasaki that I bought new in 08. It's had carburetor problems for the past 4-5 years, low power, hard starting, sticking float putting gas in the crankcase, etc. A few weeks ago I used it to spray and after about an hour it stalled like it was out of gas. It would start again but stall again after going a few feet. To get it back to the garage, I had to choke it till it started to die, open the choke for 5-10 seconds till it started to die, close choke for 5-10..... Just to keep it running had to open and close the choke.
From one of the prior problems I had replaced the black hose between the fuel pump and the carburetor with clear plastic tubing so I could see if it was getting gas. I could see gas in the tube but there were large bubbles too.
I put it on the trailer and dropped it off at my dealer. It was running fine by then and the dealer couldn't duplicate the problem. He gave it the yearly svc and cleaned the carburetor of crap due to ethanol and sent it home to try it for awhile. Found a station with no ethanol and filled both tanks with premium. Yesterday it did the same thing again and it took to choke game to get to the garage.
I still have confidence in my dealer because I know intermittent problems can be tough to find. He doesn't think its the fuel pump, saying they either work or they don't.
Just thinking that I can't have the only mower with this problem and I might get an idea from the Forum to pass on to my dealer when I get my Super ZERO back to him.
Dealing with the same thing on a Kawaski on a JD 279. Will run a few seconds with the choke on then run a few seconds with the choke off. Problem with this one was the fuel solenoid on the carb had quit.
Turn the key on and off a few times to see if the solenoid is working. It should click when the key is turned on.
Thanks for the ideas and possible causes. I checked the fuel system and found that one of the tank caps seamed plugged. I held each cap like a bowel and filled it with gas. One dribbled out the vent but the other cap only dripped. I blew out the lines and even took the tank selector valve off and blew it out. Today I tried the mower, and it would hardly run after just a few minutes. Had to choke on and off to the garage. Every time it stalled, there was gas in the clear tube to the carb. I loosened the tank caps to eliminate the vents and switched from right to left tank without change. Had the wife, with her can catch you sneaken around in the dark good hearing, listen for the carb solenoid. She didn't hear any clicks around the carb as I turned the key on/off. The solenoid may be the problem.
ILENGINE, can you tell me any more about this solenoid? What does it do, is there a way to check with a volt meter, or if it doesn't click when the key is turned on, should it be replaced?
Thanks again for all the help. I'm sure that the folks on this forum can save me from a long hot summer at the lake and let me spend it on my mower
I think I found the problem. Based on ILENGINE's thought about the carb solenoid, and not hearing it click, I took that sucker off to check it out. This solenoid pulls a small piston in when energized. A very small spring, about the wire thickness of 2 lb test fishing line, pushes the piston away from the solenoid. There's a small collar around the piston that the spring pushes on. THE SPRING WAS INSTALLED BACKWARDS. One end of this small spring is a smaller diameter than the other end. With the larger end of the spring outside of the solenoid and against the collar on the piston rod, the spring goes past the collar and doesn't push the piston rod out from the solenoid.
My dealer put a new carb on my mower last year so that's probably when it happened. It's an easy mistake because there isn't much difference in the sizes of each end of the spring. Now I just hope there really is a difference in the spring ends and my problem doesn't return, spread fertilizer and mowed today with no stalls.
