Re: Not enough fuel to run smoothly
Good afternoon
Our five year old JD L130 is not getting enough fuel to run smoothly. Not sure how many hours are on it. But not a lot for its age. Used 95% of the time for cutting 1.25 acres of level lawn.
It will start with no problem but after a while it sputters. When you look at the fuel filter and it is 1/4 - 1/3 full the engin runs fine. It's when there is almost no fuel visible in the filter that it sputters. The same problem was happening last year so I replaced the Fuel pump, filter and gas cap. It was better for a while then happened again last year. It is happening again this year the first time I fired it up. Have not done the yearly tune up yet this year.
Is there any type of filter / screen at the bottom of the gas tank that could be clogged? Any advice would be great.
Have a great day
Jim
Many possibilities. I recently corrected a similar problem on a Deere D140, V-twin. Ran perfectly since 2012. One evening, turned off the engine for a few minutes after cutting the grass. Later after cool down attempted to start it to put the tractor away. No start. Checked EVERYthing fuel related. Gas to the pump YES, Gas out of the pump NO. Ok either of 2 possibilities: 1. pump filter (on the pump the gold mesh eye) may be stopped up? Or the pump is worn out. So I removed the pump, installed it on another V twin ( 23hp Kawasaki), which started and ran perfectly with this 2012 original pump.
Before just condemning a pump (or any component for that matter), know that the pump has 3 connections.
Check all 3 (functionally). IS there fuel TO the pump inlet? Yes? IS there pulse to DRIVE the pump? Disconnect the pump outlet line ( that feeds the carb), is it squirting gas OUT when the key is engaged and the motor spinning? NO? Why not?
So I concluded that the issue must be the pulse line.
Either: 1. Pulse line (from valve cover) is clogged, cracked, loose, poorly connected, leaking, etc OR
2. the fuel pump is just not seeing sufficient vacuum/pulse to drive the pump. You can disconnect the pulse line from the pump and put your finger over it while keying the ignition...do you feel the sucking pulse? Strong? Weak? Absent? ( ASIDE - the pulse line sees the pressure changes dynamically occurring inside the crankcase - the variations from the piston cylinder action - just the backside. And this pressure "pulse) communicates into each of the "under valve cover" space). Valve covers poorly sealed, not only an oil mess but also adversely affect vacuum/ pump pulse).
Motor needed a deep clean and tune up anyway, hence removed the topside cowling, valve covers, carb/manifold, plugs, etc. , deep cleaned all the fins, degreased, reset armature gaps, valve clearances, plugs, gaps, torques PER manual, and ENSUREed a solid bead of Permatex on the valve covers to heads contact, reassembled, fresh filters et al. Also installed a new pump (although not necessary).
The dry pump just would not pull sufficiently from the long, UPHILL fuel tank to pump line routing that Deere has designed . So, I was puzzled.
Checked compression and checked leakdown ( both cylinders). Both perfectly well into the Green range. I disconnected the fuel line at the pump inlet, used an auxiliary tank (gravity flow) to the pump inlet (in lieu of the line from the fuel tank) to get the engine started. Started, ran for 5 minutes this way. Shut her down, reconnected the fuel line ( from tank) to the pump as normal. The engine subsequently started without incident, and ran good as new. I suspected that a dry pump might not create sufficient suction, hence decided to "wet the pump" and establish a warm up and fuel draw - continuous from tank to carb.
Moral of the story is: even a perfect pump - needs sufficient vacuum pulse to operate. If there are compression/ leakdown issues, a poorly sealed valve cover, a poor pulse line connection at the valve cover connection, unclamped lines at the pump - any / all of these, even a dirty air filter, may contribute to poor performance, starved or NO fuel delivery.