john deere x540 engine surging and will not idle

[Gab Martin]

I cut half my lawn yesterday and got rained out, today the engine will not run properly. It will stay running if I run it at 1/2 throttle or higher but it's surging up and down. so far I have replaced both coils, spark plugs, fuel filter, air filter. It has done this before in the past for a minute or two but than cleared up like it never happened. It has an inline fuel filter and fresh gas in it. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

 

[kaius]

I have a very similar problem with my X540. It seems like the engine starves for gasoline, then revs up. Holding the choke partially in helps but that's not a good idea. The local JD dealer has not been able to diagnose or fix this after a couple of trips. It is somewhat intermittent and tends to run well at the dealers, of course. Any luck on your end?

 

[johndeeretech]

I have a very similar problem with my X540. It seems like the engine starves for gasoline, then revs up. Holding the choke partially in helps but that's not a good idea. The local JD dealer has not been able to diagnose or fix this after a couple of trips. It is somewhat intermittent and tends to run well at the dealers, of course. Any luck on your end?

Sounds like the carb needs cleaning also blow back through the fuel hose lightly with compress air to the tank to make sure there isn't crud in the elbow from the fuel tank