John Deere won't start

[kvickna]

I have a JD riding mower that is approx 7 years old. Ran mower today and engine was cycling up and down when cutting grass, almost to the point of killing. Disengaged blade and it continued to cycle. Turned mower off and tried to restart, all it does is turn over. I removed plug and cleaned it, checked for fire, which is OK and reinstalled plug. Still would not start. Sprayed starting fluid in air intake and still would not start. I removed plug again and it was wet with gas. Has gas and fire but won't start. I am confused.

 

[RDA.Lawns]

Water in the gas? Would be a good place to start....

 

[kvickna]

Checked that. Mower and gas can stays in Garage. Used mower three to four times before on same tank of gas with no issue.

 

[leeasaki02]

I know it needs gas spark and compression to run and sounds like you have 2 of the 3. I would check compression.

 

[leeasaki02]

Maybe the cycling was due to rev limiter? In future try to cut back on throttle or put heavier load on the engine to see if cycling stops...

 

[leeasaki02]

If you find that compression is good then it sounds possible that it may not have started back [even with start fluid] because it flooded. when you turned it off.....Let sit and retry after a little bit...

 

[SeniorCitizen]

I have a JD riding mower that is approx 7 years old. Ran mower today and engine was cycling up and down when cutting grass, almost to the point of killing. Disengaged blade and it continued to cycle. Turned mower off and tried to restart, all it does is turn over. I removed plug and cleaned it, checked for fire, which is OK and reinstalled plug. Still would not start. Sprayed starting fluid in air intake and still would not start. I removed plug again and it was wet with gas. Has gas and fire but won't start. I am confused.

What ratio of gas to air did the combustion chamber get when spraying starting fluid into the intake?

 

[anytimemower]

ive seen the post i would check to see if the key way is lined up under the fly wheel if it sheared off you can sit there all day and it wont start

 

[bertsmobile1]

Try to start it with a short shot of starting fluid.
If it starts and you can keep it running for 30s to a minute with short shots of starter fluid you have a fuel supply problem.
The JD technical manual is 400 pages long so I have no desire to reprint the entire thing here so do that & tell us what the outcome was.