John Deere 170 , starts but stops after 30 seconds

[magnusio]

Hello,

I have a John Deere 170 riding lawnmower. My problem is it starts but dies after 30 seconds or so. Sometimes it will stay running a bit longer if I mess with the choke, down quickly then up all the way again. I have replaced the spark plug, igniter, key switch, and the blade engage switch. It seems to get fuel to the carb but not sure if it is getting to the combustion chamber. I really need some help, I can not afford to pay someone to fix this nor can I afford to keep buying parts that don't fix the problem.

Thank you in advance for any help
Jerry

 

[David-Davies]

Spray some starting fuild in the carb while turning it over. If it fires then you have a gas problem. If it doesn't fire, then you have a spark broblem.

 

[builder2]

Hello,

I have a John Deere 170 riding lawnmower. My problem is it starts but dies after 30 seconds or so. Sometimes it will stay running a bit longer if I mess with the choke, down quickly then up all the way again. I have replaced the spark plug, igniter, key switch, and the blade engage switch. It seems to get fuel to the carb but not sure if it is getting to the combustion chamber. I really need some help, I can not afford to pay someone to fix this nor can I afford to keep buying parts that don't fix the problem.

Thank you in advance for any help
Jerry

Jerry,

Check in the lawn tractor section. Sounds like the problem I had with my Cub Cadet with a Kohler Magnum engine.

Paul

 

[6sunset6]

what a coincidence. My wife has a friend at work who has a lake house. We have been trying to get over there for ever. Last Friday we made it. After lunch and a boat ride her husband say to me , You know a lot about tractors, I got this lawn tractor and. Same symptoms as yours. John Deere something. Kohler engine. no manual . So using this web site's knowledge base (I have been reading for a couple of years)
I discovered after it stopped it was in gear and the neutral safety switch was not made. After that it has the same problem as yours. We took off the hood and side shields and went looking for gas flow. The pump is 1/2 behind the engine mount but we pulled off the tube to the carb. Pumping like crazy. But tapped on it a bunch of times in case the check valves had something in them. If it has check valves, has to have something like that. Did not fix it.
Looked for a shut off valve on the tanK, probably did that first to see if it closed up. There is one , can just reach it with finger tips from right side bottom. opened and closed a few times assumed ccw was open, only a 1/4 turn though. Restarted every once in a while no change. The only thing left was the carb bowl. Acutally I kept looking for a fuel filter, the air filter looked new. Took off the carb float bowl , cleaned out a very small amount of stuff , bounced the float around a couple of times ,put it back to gether with the same gasket. Started after the float bowl filled up and the problem was gone. I would have stopped right there anyway. IF I had gotten grease on my clean go visit clothes I would not be typing now. Hope this can help

 

[essasmallengines]

Take the air filter off and then start the engine but spray quick start into the carb if it keeps running you have a fuel starvation in play. Clean the carb and if that doesn't work post again.,

Dan

 

[zman007007]

If you havent already, dont use starting fluid on air cooled motors, it is very bad for them and others. Use carb. cleaner, almost as flammable and wont hurt the engine. In most cases like this you have water, trash, or just a stuck float, in the bowl. Hope this helps.

 

[zman007007]

Also some fuel tanks have a small screen in the bottom of the tank where your fuel runs thru the fuel line, make sure its not stopped up.

 

[Ken Cunningham]

I dont think 30 seconds is long enough to pull a vacum, but check the gas cap openings to make sure they arent clogged. I have had that happen before and it will create the same symtoms that yours has.

 

[Pipestone Kid]

This might be a dumb question, but does it have a low oil kill switch? Might be just low on oil. That is exactly how it would act if it has one and the oil is low.

 

[RavensRoost]

If it has a solenoid at fuel inlet at the bottom of the carb, I bet it is corroded in (almost) closed position. Ethanol + water + gas = bad things ometimes.

RavensRoost