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My new X300 starts fine cold with no choke,I start it like the manual states at 1/2 throttle and idle for a minute before operating.i noticed today I took a break from mowing,stopped the mower reduced throttle to 1/2 or maybe a bit lower for a few seconds and shut it off.Restarted it and noticed a quick puff of black smoke and it run uneven for 20 seconds.It seems to cut fine... I had 2.7 hours on it with the fuel tank full,it now has 3.4 hours and looking at the tank it is a tad below the first mark,Guessing this is about 45 minutes.Not sure if this is normal fuel usage,my grass was not high and I have no slopes. Are these three marks on the tank gallon marks? Any tips or advice would be great.

Black smoke is fuel smoke. I'd idle it all the way down before turning off to make sure fuel isn't feeding in to th cylinder while it moves after you turn it off. The rough running is probably excess fuel being burned out. If it continues I'd think to look at the carb to see if it's feeding fuel through.

Thanks,I'll try that instead of 1/2 throttle shut downs

MRCo. said:

Black smoke is fuel smoke. I'd idle it all the way down before turning off to make sure fuel isn't feeding in to th cylinder while it moves after you turn it off. The rough running is probably excess fuel being burned out. If it continues I'd think to look at the carb to see if it's feeding fuel through.

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Id check the owners manual. I know the d100 series have you go full throttle before shut down per the manual. Half or low results in a backfire and a hard restart. It goes against basic knowledge but it works.

X300 manual states half throttle for a couple of seconds...

TreasureHunter11 said:

X300 manual states half throttle for a couple of seconds...

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Hmm well experiment with both full and idle otherwise the carb is flooding when you start it.

Edit late night typo

Spoke with my dealer and he said try throttle down fully when shutting it down but made no difference.I noticed if I shut it off hot and walk back in say 5 minutes to restart it will puff some fuel "black" smoke and run uneven until I throttle it up,if I wait 20 minutes it runs fine.Something to do with heat?

TreasureHunter11 said:

My new X300......... I had 2.7 hours on it with the fuel tank full,it now has 3.4 hours and looking at the tank it is a tad below the first mark,Guessing this is about 45 minutes.Not sure if this is normal fuel usage,my grass was not high and I have no slopes. Are these three marks on the tank gallon marks? Any tips or advice would be great.

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Your fuel tank electric gauge is non linear, meaning the indicated fuel quantity levels may not be actual and it will vary. Your fuel consumption per hour calculations may certainly vary by load and usage. The easiest is your gallon/hour calculation, affected by load and state of tune of your motor.

Establish a fuel consumption baseline for your new John Deere. Fill the tank and document your engine hours, then fill again after an extended usage and then calculate your gallon/hour baseline. The electric fuel gauge reading in your tractor may be very erratic. Hash marks on tanks are usually correct, only if level and fully visible.

Anybody else with a X300 have flooding issues or black fuel smoke during warm restarts? Mine only does this when hot,if allowed to cool for 30 minutes it does not have this issue nor at cold starts.During hot restarts I get a puff of black smoke and it runs a little rough until I throttle it up and the engine levels out.Tried shutting it down at mid and low throttle and it makes no difference.Although I never use the choke,it appears to be open and not sticking.It only has 6 hours on it,spoke with my dealer and he said if it gets worse bring it in which I'll likely do

If it is under warranty or dealer policy have them fix it!

Would be nice to know what engine your machine has on it. Definitely let a dealer deal with it as it is still on warranty. My spin on it is a carb problem possibly the float set a little too high. Is the muffler tail pipe sooty with dry or damp soot?

It has the Kawasaki FS600V,the exhaust has some black soot indicating a rich condition.Called my dealer a month ago and he said it may be my fuel and to run this tank out,refill and see how it does.I have a bit over a gallon to go,thought about adding some fresh 93 but at 2.7 hours it was doing this and the fuel was fresh.Was hoping I could solve it instead of taking it to the dealer,I've had bad experiences with dealerships and service depts "LOL"

Your problem needs to be addressed soon as a rich fuel mixture washes the cylinder walls and the engine will never break in. It could a simple thing like the choke plate not fully opening or could be a major problem with the carb. This excess unburned fuel slowly dilutes the engine oil the result of which is early or premature engine failure.
I understand your apprehension about service departments, I was an outboard/power equipment mech in the 70s. With the exception of 24 years in the military, I have been a service dept mech in several local small businesses including aircraft until I retired.
Diagnosing problems has turned into just parts changing until the problem appears to go away. This is the primary reason that companies are increasingly critical of warranty requests from dealers and are rejecting an increasing percentage of them.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

Thanks Mackie,I'll call the dealer tomorrow and schedule a service day to drop it off.

Ok I purchased my mower the first of May of this year,it had about 1 gallon of fuel from the dealer but did not use the mower until the the middle of May waiting on replacement tires "new tires had cracks" after getting the new tires I added a gallon of 93 gasoline,I used the mower for about 1.5 hours and at the end of June filled it up with 93,used about a half tank and filled it up again the end of July,now with 6.5 hours on the mower I had about a gallon of fuel left from the last fill up so today I purchased 2 gallons and added to the tank.Is it possible my fuel is bad even though I have been topping it off? We have had a lot of rain and a large portion of my yard is wet so I only cut the front with the Deere and use my old mower for the wet mess that's why my hours are low.Every week since I purchased the mower I would start it up and drive it just to keep fuel from setting in the carb bowl and to keep the battery charged.My dealer is clueless after speaking with him,he tends to lean toward trash in the bowl seeing my issue is intermittent,he is a week behind in work and said it would be next week before he could look at it.

TreasureHunter11 said:

Ok I purchased my mower the first of May of this year,it had about 1 gallon of fuel from the dealer but did not use the mower until the the middle of May waiting on replacement tires "new tires had cracks" after getting the new tires I added a gallon of 93 gasoline,I used the mower for about 1.5 hours and at the end of June filled it up with 93,used about a half tank and filled it up again the end of July,now with 6.5 hours on the mower I had about a gallon of fuel left from the last fill up so today I purchased 2 gallons and added to the tank.Is it possible my fuel is bad even though I have been topping it off? We have had a lot of rain and a large portion of my yard is wet so I only cut the front with the Deere and use my old mower for the wet mess that's why my hours are low.Every week since I purchased the mower I would start it up and drive it just to keep fuel from setting in the carb bowl and to keep the battery charged.My dealer is clueless after speaking with him,he tends to lean toward trash in the bowl seeing my issue is intermittent,he is a week behind in work and said it would be next week before he could look at it.

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Let the JD dealer fix the whole thing. Cut with your old machine while it is in his shop.

I am,it is scheduled to go in Monday.

Well after two visits to the dealer my issue still exist. They could not duplicate the issue, they checked everything and found no problems after keeping it for almost 3 weeks, he even checked in his system for other mowers sharing this issue and found none. The shop mgr said they put enough time into it... I may be wrong but after some thought I think it's the design of the exhaust heat shield below the carburetor bowl combined with the lower boiling point of ethanol blended fuels, when the engine shuts off it generates more heat causing the fuel in the bowl to boil creating fuel vapor. The muffler and heat shield is very close under the bowl. At 30 hours on the clock it still continues. It starts fine cold, it runs great mowing and instant hot restarts are perfect, say a minute or so to grab a soda but if it sets for 5 minutes it will puff black smoke for a split second, run a bit rough and clear up. If it sets 30 minutes no black smoke so it's gotta be heat related, the boiled over fuel vapors evaporates but that's my take on what's happening. This winter I used the mower and it was flawless on hot restarts but now that temps are in the 80s it's starting again, the hotter it is the more prone it is to occur. I may try non-ethanol fuel and see if this resolves this ongoing issue just to see if it helps. My mower has the newly designed hood, I recall the dealer mentioning it was the first he had seen when they uncrated it, perhaps the old design allowed more airflow, suppose I could try running it with the hood off and see if it makes a difference. Is it normal for these Kawasaki engines to "occasionally" puff blue oil smoke at cold start, I've had it happen 3 times? I've changed the oil twice by the book at 8 hours & 1 year interval and the oil level is dead on & not overfull. I read somewhere the way the cylinders lay this can happen depending on where the piston stops? I asked the dealer about this as well and he said it is still in the break in period and can happen. I agree with Mad Mackie, eventually this extra fuel/vapor will eventually cause wear on the cylinders but not much I can do when the dealer cannot find anything wrong which is my issue.

Just throwing this in. Just because its higher octane does not mean it ethanol free. See if you can find ethanol free gas and remove all the old gas and replace it. Including in the carb bowl. If ethanol free is not available then just run 87 octane. Higher octane fuels can be "old" when purchased because of low need for them. They can sit in big underground tank for over 90 days before someone buys it.

BlazNT said:

Just throwing this in. Just because its higher octane does not mean it ethanol free. See if you can find ethanol free gas and remove all the old gas and replace it. Including in the carb bowl. If ethanol free is not available then just run 87 octane. Higher octane fuels can be "old" when purchased because of low need for them. They can sit in big underground tank for over 90 days before someone buys it.

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Correct, I was planning on going from my current fuel which contains ethanol to 91 non-ethanol, now that you mention it with high fuel prices I imagine it does set there longer, good tip. Thanks

How about the occasional puffs of blue oil smoke at cold start up? I have read this can be typical for twin cylinder engines. I have a single cylinder Kohler Command on a mower that has not smoked any in the 13 years I've owned it's actually a 1999 model engine that was used when I got it, likely has well over 1000 hours on it, if it smoked it is to be expected but on the new Kawasaki I'm not fond of seeing any smoke especially with the hefty price tag they carry and with so little hours but this is my first twin cylinder mower

Hi TreasureHunter,
I´m from europe and have bought a X305R this winter. It was from a dealer with 17hrs on it and about two years old. So not really used - just for opening of a new market so kids were able to ride on it. the first times I used it it was fine this year in months march and april. But the last times I use the mower I have always same problems.
When its cold it starts fine - and it works perfect. I use for one or two hours and no problem at all! But when I park then and try to restart again it is really hard to restart. Almost no way to bring up again. Black smoke, need to start and start and start and then very weak and like an 100 years old traktor starts slowly to come up. I runs very weak for about half a minute. Then it gets turning and slowly getting enough turns.... then its fine again and can run another hour.... I really would like to find out whats the problem.
What I can see is that in the gasfilter is usually filled most with gas - and after hot running there is more and more air in it. Is that normal?
I havent changed anything on the mower now. What could be the problem?

Best regards
Hubsn

Our old 172 had sat a month, we started it Wednesday, after a couple of plungers full of fuel on the primer, I'm sure it smoked, and it ran rough for the first 30 seconds??? so whats the problem, every general aviation aircraft I know of requires primer, and no doubt they all tend to start rich and smoke a little??? so what, most recips require a primer shot to start.

If you want a thrill watch a radial engine start, oil pools in the bottom cylinders then burns out rapidly as the engine starts, I would relax and keep tabs on oil consumption. In my honest opinion, you don't have a problem, other that obsessive compulsive disorder???
:confused2::confused2::laughing:

Hubsn, If yours has the Kawasaki there is a black spring operated choke lever on the left side of the carburetor, insure it is in the down position by gently pushing it down with your finger. It should go up with the use of the dash choke lever and return under its own spring tension. Mine has a issue with sticking closed which the dealer suppose to fix next week which is unrelated to my rich restarts, I have insured the choke is fully open. Not seeing much fuel in the filter is normal

Well second trip to the dealer fixed the sticking choke which is a issue by itself and not related to the over rich hot restarts without choke. The Dealer could not duplicate it, they did go through the carb and found nothing. They lowered the idle set screw. Today I tried it hoping they fixed it and sure enough after mowing for 30 minutes I lowered the idle & shut it off to take a break, 5 minutes later I restart it and it's puffing black smoke and idle is erratic but clears up once it is throttled up

TreasureHunter11 said:

Well second trip to the dealer fixed the sticking choke which is a issue by itself and not related to the over rich hot restarts without choke. The Dealer could not duplicate it, they did go through the carb and found nothing. They lowered the idle set screw. Today I tried it hoping they fixed it and sure enough after mowing for 30 minutes I lowered the idle & shut it off to take a break, 5 minutes later I restart it and it's puffing black smoke and idle is erratic but clears up once it is throttled up

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So the dealer is telling you he cannot replicate the problem, but for you, every hot start result in this over-rich condition, engine loaded up as indicated by the black smoke and erratic idle? so it really sounds like its possible the idle jets are too rich, which is better than too lean. THunter, how many seconds does it take to "throttle up", as I crank a hot engine, I almost always advance the throttle if I don't get an immediate firing condition? If you are attempting to start at idle, its possible that your engine is not making enough vacuum initially to get sufficient airflow to run smoothly.

The reason I mentioned aircraft, is because they are notoriously hard to start when hot, heat builds under the cowling, and if its on the ramp, the black pavement can create intake air of 115 degrees or so. On the old Piper Tomahawk,,, with the T-tail, it took a special knack to start some of them after they became heat soaked, they are low wing so there was an electric fuel pump, I recall a customer who couldn't get his to light, so I had to help him. I don't remember the drill as it was 20 plus years ago.

When I shut down in the heat, I sometimes allow the engine to idle around 1000 rpm, which is higher than normal idle, and perform the "mixture idle cut-off", our aircraft has a very effective mixture control, and the little higher rpm when the fuel is shut off allows the engine to turn through a few more blades, purging the cylinders of excess fuel.

In contrast the Ercoupe I fly, the CFI/Mechanic asks that I not use "mixture idle cut-off" but simply turn the switch to off? strange to me, but it works.... I have flown aircraft and maybe the Ercoupe is one of those, where the mixture is pulled full lean and they never completely seem to shut the fuel off, and the aircraft has a "run-on" condition, chuffing and huffing and generally sounding like something is about to blow??

So, my suggestion for you, is to try a little higher throttle setting for starting/and or shut down, not full throttle, but a couple of hundred RPM above the idle speed and get back to us on whether that might help, be sure to shut down the PTO, Hydraulics, etc before shut-down, if you have the lift lever somewhere that it is trying to spin a little hydraulic pressure, you could be loading the engine inadvertently??

Correct the dealer couldn't replicate the issue, the temps were in the 80s that day not ideal conditions for it to happen which I explained to them, it has to get hot/mowing and temps 90+ . I've owned many mowers in the past and this is a first for me and worked on small engines for many years. All winter it is trouble free, no matter how much it's run and shut off and restarted. I've went by the manual half throttle shut downs as well as lowest idle & makes no difference. The muffler is about 3 inches under the carb bowl separated by a metal plate and that plate gets sizzling spit on Hot! I feel like the fuel is boiling in the bowl but just my opinion. If they had some grass to mow on a 90+ day I could replicate it for them but they don't. Funny thing the choke lever operated fine cold, I could walk in my shop at night or any cool day and the lever would work perfect, get the mower hot, shut it off for say refueling and it would stick in the closed position. I never use the choke to start it other than if I run out of fuel, which is how it was discovered as a issue. 2 weeks ago prior to running the engine I opened the hood and operated the choke many times and it worked perfect, it has it's own spring on the choke shaft so it closes without cables, basically a lever pushes up on the plastic arm mounted on the choke shaft and when the dash control is released the choke lever opens under it's own spring tension... I run the engine about twenty minutes and shut it off, opened the hood and operated the choke and it worked perfect, waited a few minutes for the temp to peak and tried the choke again and it would stick in the closed position every time until the engine cooled. The guy at John Deere pretty much sanded the plastic choke shaft. When I took it off the trailer it operated fine & the mechanic said I see nothing wrong so I started the mower and drove it around the parking lot, idled it down & shut it off, tried the choke and it worked perfect, I told the guy to wait and sure enough after 3-4 minutes it stuck in the closed position and took effort to push it back open.

Pretty much to sum it up it runs perfect in the winter including the choke "zero issues". Summer 90+ temps it starts fine without a choke, runs great mowing. Shut it off 5-10 minutes for a break, restart it without choke at half throttle and it fires up and puffs black smoke "over rich condition" but slowly levels out as throttle is increased, instant restarts hot it does not occur meaning if I reduce throttle shut it off and restart, if it sets say 30 minutes after mowing it starts fine without and issues. Was the same with the choke, only sticks when hot and has set a few minutes. I've even run it without the hood and it still occurs. The dealer checked the lowest RPM and it was at 2400 which he said was incorrectly set by Kawasaki so he set it to factory spec of 1800 RPM & felt like that contributed to excess fuel being drawn into the intake seeing I was shutting it down at the lowest RPM the dash lever would allow so instead of 2400 it was now 1800 & I thought that was the fix but it still occurs after using it yesterday. I'm puzzled as is the dealer as to what is causing it. I think sanding the plastic shaft "dressing it" as they call it was a bandaid to the actual issue. How can this choke shaft operate perfect cold but not hot??? I works fine now that they have sanded it...