I recently installed a brand new Kohler CH 730 25 hp engine in my old Scag Turf Tiger. Many thanks again to the folks who provided guidance here. Engine now has a total of 17 hours of faultless running time; until last night. Engine stopped, much like it had run out of gas; put some in. Engine started, ran for 45 seconds; stopped; restarted; same thing. Finally got it back to the garage. My first thought was the filter; installed a new one; old one looked dirty but I did not cut it apart to inspect. Same symptoms; starts runs for a few seconds, quits. Pulled all the lines off & blew them out; blew out line from tank to filter as well. Disconnected output line from fuel pump to carb; cranked & got flow. As I said before, engine will start but not continue to run. Tried bypassing filter by hooking line to input port on pump from container w/clean fuel. Pump will not pull that fuel thru. then I got dumb(er). Pulled pump off to check it for dirt, etc. That leads to a question as to the positioning of the "T" on the pump shaft relative to the operating lever under the valve cover; can't find any pics of that anywhere. I suspect "T' goes across oval opening in lever, but I'd like to be sure. Any info on this would be a big help. I did not replace the fuel lines from the tank to the filter when I put the engine in. As they seem to be pretty hard I'll do that as well. I did siphon all the old fuel out & replace with fresh gas as well. Carb was thoroughly hosed down w/carb cleaner, but not disassembled; (pay grade issue). My thought is figure a way to gravity feed the carb & see if it keeps going as a way of checking the pump further. I' m puzzled due to the newness of the engine & components. Not being a mechanic I'm sure I'm overlooking something simple; any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
The fuel pump operating shaft has a "T" shaped end. The operating lever, inside the valve cover, has an oval shaped hole. It appears that the shaft end fits into that. I just need to verify as to the relative position; parallel or perpendicular. My gut feeling is that it goes in parallel then turns so that it rides in a perpendicular position. I' m leery of bending something important. I don't think that this unit has a fuel shut off solenoid, but I'll check. thanks for the thought
Engine appears to have a solenoid on the front part of the carb. Frankly, I'm not all sure what the function is. I had thought that it was there to ensure a clean shut down, ie no backfire, etc. I'll have it back together tomorrow; now that I've fished out all the sockets, screws, & washers that managed to fall into various openings while the carb was coming apart to get cleaned.
