New member with wheel horse problems - 268-H

[Travz]

Hello from a new member!

I've been searching the web trying to find an answer to the problem with my old wheel horse and have some decent answers, but thought i'd see what y'all have to say.
The mower will not stay running, especially up hill. If I sit and let it idle it'll run, but once i start it out in motion, it starts choking and dies. When I turn the deck on, it shuts
the deck off. If i keep pulling the knob and get the deck up to speed, it'll run for a while, then kill the deck and shut off. Its driving me crazy and I'm about to start some repairs
to see if I can fix it, but if y'all know of other things that i'm missing, please let me know.

I read that it could be the fuel cut off solenoid, so i'm going to be replacing that along with a carburetor rebuild since thats never been done either. The fuel filter has been replaced,
oil changed, battery charged, spark plugs changed, air filter changed, and fresh gas.

If there are any other routs to take to figure out what is wrong, help is greatly appreciated!

1999 wheel horse 72086 268-H
kohler CV18S-61528 18hp

Thanks in advance!

 

[BigMike50]

will it run ok with the choke on?

 

[Travz]

no, leaving the choke on won't keep the mower running. I also have to use the choke to start it, even when warm.

 

[deepNdirt]

It could be a number of things, does it have a fuel pump? if so check the hose comeing from the crank-case or from the oil fill tub, be sure the hose isn't split or loose at the ends, if the pump and hose checks out, move on to check or change the in-line fuel filter, and then check to be sure the fuel solinoid is not sticking, remove the bowl to get to the shutoff valve, spray the bowl and valve down good with some intake/carb cleaner, also spray up into the bottom of the carburetor, if this doesn't fix it, it could be that the spring has either stretched or come off from the governor, look behind and up from the carburetor for a small rod that has a 180* bend, be sure this rod moves freely,
this rod is connected to the governor and controls and adjust the engines speed when under a load, also would be a good idea to pull the spark plug or plugs to be sure they are not oil fowled, They might need to be replaced you can check the spark by leaving the plug hooked to the coil wire and turn engine over a few rounds, you should notice a nice BLUE spark, ( indicates a good plug and coil ) if the spark is orange/red then plug has went bad or the coil is going bad,
good luck, and please check back in with any results,
And Welcome to TBN :thumbsup:

 

[Travz]

deepndirt - it turned out to be the fuel solenoid. Since that was the part i had to wait to get in, but the carb rebuild kit was in stock locally, i cleaned and refitted the carb but used the old solenoid. Ran better, not great, but still shut off. Once I got the new part, it quit shutting off while driving, but still shut the deck off from what I'm thinking was lack of power. So I checked the coil and sure enough, it was bad. So thats fixed and now everything works great.

Thanks everyone for the advice! This thing has never run better.

 

[deepNdirt]

Glad to hear you're up-n-running :thumbsup:

 

[deerseeker001]

good job