LT1046 won’t start

[Law57]

What's this "snow" you speak of? (Writing from Central Texas, where we've had more than 2" of snow maybe half a dozen times in the past 15 years!)

Fuel filter is just upstream of the pump, so all's good there.

Cutting grass of that height . . . I usually run over it with the deck all the way up, wait a couple of days (so that the grass clippings dry up), and then hit it again at the normal height. (The area is mostly native prairie grasses, although Bermuda grass is starting to colonize.)

Glad you got it fixed - some good advice. Central Texas... I'm in N. MN and my mowing is done for the year. It's 27F right now - supposed to be 19 and 17 the next two nights. Our 'Confinement' begins. I wish I could complain about having to cut the grass.

 

[Savage3]

Remove hose that is attached to valve cover and fuel pump.

Remove the end that is attached to the fuel pump itself. Let the other end connected to valve cover.

See if you can feel a pulse while cranking the engine. Put your finger at open end of hose that goes to fuel pump.

 

[Wheels]

I would do what Tilngot said about using an external tank with gravity feed to carb. All new hoses and not yours. If all works good then you are right and it is probably a gas tank/gas line issue.
This is easy to do if you have an extra gas tank or can.

 

[gearheadred]

I would recommend getting the factory service repiar manual from here......
https://cubcadetmanual.com/store/pr...n-and-garden-tractor-service-manual-download/

 

[LKB]

Gearheadred: good call; will get that.

 

[LKB]

FYI, the first 14 pages of the LT1046 service manual (which includes the steps for removing the fenders so that you can access the gas tank) can be found here:

Cub Cadet LT 1046 Lawn Tractor Service Repair Manual

Read Cub Cadet LT 1046 Lawn Tractor Service Repair Manual by fksuekmdm on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start h...

issuu.com

 

[LKB]

Glad you got it fixed - some good advice. Central Texas... I'm in N. MN and my mowing is done for the year. It's 27F right now - supposed to be 19 and 17 the next two nights. Our 'Confinement' begins. I wish I could complain about having to cut the grass.

Currently 83F here in Central Texas; should be high 80’s later today. Will be lounging in the pool later.
First major cold front of the season to hit us Monday, which will drop the daily low temps to the 40’s.

 

[TobyU]

Thanks. I’d replaced the old fuel pump (which clearly wasn’t working at all) with one that came with the carb/plugs/filter kit I bought from Amazon. Replacement pump was able to suck fuel into the filter, but apparently did not have enough oomph to suck it up another vertical foot to the pump body.

In doing some further research, apparently these “4 bolt” Chinesium fuel pumps are crap. I’ll try one from a reputable source before trying electric.

I have never had a problem with any of these cheap little round plastic three port pulsator pumps.
Whether you buy them from eBay / Amazon or go to the dealer and get a Briggs & Stratton when it makes no difference to me.
My thought is you have a restriction somewhere else..
I have seen a number of tractors and zero turns where the fuel wasn't coming out of the gas tank Port nearly fast enough or there were strands of grass, usually multiple, insects, ladybugs etc in there blocking stuff off.
Take the fuel line off at the fuel pump and with even a fairly small amount of fuel the gas is still come out via gravity on its own.
Also check your gas cap vent and make sure it isn't pulling a vacuum because this happens often.
Sometimes protest purposes all you have to do is crack the fuel cap a little bit loose and it will continue to run no problem.
Most running issues like this though and no start issues end up being clogged yet or jets in the carburetor and not fuel delivery to the carb.

 

[LKB]

I have never had a problem with any of these cheap little round plastic three port pulsator pumps.
Whether you buy them from eBay / Amazon or go to the dealer and get a Briggs & Stratton when it makes no difference to me.
My thought is you have a restriction somewhere else..

As you’ll down further in the thread, that was my original thought. But after ruling out everything else, I isolated and tested the “four bolt” new pump I had installed, and it plainly was not working. (There are a number of YT videos out there that report the same thing.)
When I installed another cheap ($15) impulse pump from Amazon (slightly different design, and supposedly a comparable replacement for the Kohler part), it fired right up.

 

[TobyU]

As you’ll down further in the thread, that was my original thought. But after ruling out everything else, I isolated and tested the “four bolt” new pump I had installed, and it plainly was not working. (There are a number of YT videos out there that report the same thing.)
When I installed another cheap ($15) impulse pump from Amazon (slightly different design, and supposedly a comparable replacement for the Kohler part), it fired right up.

That's good. While as I said I've never had a problem with any of them, it doesn't change my basic troubleshooting.
As I mentioned in my other post one of the first things I do after I give the carburetor an external fuel source in the throat of the intake to see if it is mechanically sound is to take the fuel line off at the carburetor to see if it has proper fuel flow to it.

This is where you would be able to see if a replacement or even original pulsator pump isn't really pulse pulsing like it should when you crank the engine over or better yet, give it another shot of carb cleaner or spray of gas in the intake and let it run for four or five seconds to really see how the fuel is pulsing out of the fuel lines of the carb.
So even though I've never had a problem with one of those parts I have the exact same mindset for any new part that NEW DOES NOT EQUAL GOOD OR WORKING.
LOL
Kind of like a trust but verify thing.