Odd problem with Lawnboy 10323

[mattfinley]

Hello all, I need to tap the collective knowledge of the forum to see if I can figure out what is going on with a 98 SilverPro 6.5 hp self propelled 10323..
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I just bought it a week or so ago at a pawn shop because I have others and thought for $10 it would make a good parts mower..
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So i work on it a bit and figure out the CD ignition is bad and replace it....Bam, runs like a top after cleaning and degreasing..
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So here is where it gets squirrely...I decide to mow my grass with it for the first time today and mow for about 15 minutes and everything is going great. Then I hear a slight ringing sound..barely noticeable.. Then the ringing starts to sound like two metal parts just barely scraping...then about ten seconds later the motor starts bogging down like it is in a strain and about to stop so I release the deadman switch and kill it.
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A decent amount of smoke coming from the muffler like oil being burned.
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So I let it sit for a few minutes and the only thing I can think of is that something got hot and metal expanded and caused the almost grind to a halt...
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Prime it twice, starts right up normally....let it run for about 3 minutes....ringing, then pinging, then bind and starts slowing down to stop as if in a bind again..
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It has to be something getting hot and expanding, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it would be and why it would take 15 minutes for it to get hot enough to start rubbing and seizing up...
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Anybody ever run into something similar or have any ideas?

thanks much
Matt

 

[dewguy1999]

Just a wild guess here (since I don't have the experience to back it up) but could it be the self-propel mechanism?

 

[mattfinley]

You know, that kind of makes sense because the belt does look a little frayed but I heard they were a bear to change so haven't done so.
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I ran another test where I just started it and let it run for about 15 minutes with a clamp holding in the deadman lever and it never made the pinging/scraping/grinding noise...

May have to do another test tomorrow actually using self propelled for a while.... Now which neighbor needs their grass mowed...

 

[jp1961]

Hmmmmm. The two things I would check is the brake that actually stops the flywheel (the dead man control shorts the ignition AND mechanically stops the engine). The other thing I would check is a look at the cylinder for scoring.

Jeff

 

[bt3]

Ah, the Duraforce. My next acquisition.

From what I gather, you were using the self-propel when this happened? When you just let it run with the cutoff clamped, you were fine. This would lead me to believe that you have an issue with the drive mechanism binding or catching. Especially since you say on prime it just "started right back up". If it were an issue with piston/cyl or cutoff then you'd most likely have issues getting it restarted.

Let us know if you simply PUSH it tomorrow if that worked fine and you had no issues. If that's the case, you need to look at that drive mechanism and see what is binding.

 

[jwt1605]

Is it possible that the gap between the new ignition module and the fly wheel decreased to the point of contacting each other? Just a guess