John Deere X300 Running rough Quitting while mowing

[Diggin It]

I don't remember what this tank pick up looks like. I looked it up on the parts diagrams once, but I didn't really understand what I was looking at. It isn't just a typical gravity feed as far as I remember, so I don't know if pulling a line will let it flow freely.

And I agree that at 8 hours a year using corn squeezin's, you may have some kernels of goo somewhere.

One other thing that caused me trouble was the valves and push rods, but I can't see that with so few hours, unless something is carboned up.

 

[beenthere]

So if I disconnect the fuel line before the filter can I safely blow air back into the tank without doing any damage? I was going to try this but I was afraid there might be an orifice or something else that might be damaged.

Don't take a deep breath, but just blow not too hard. Won't hurt anything.

 

[MajMac392]

Well I dove into the X300 yesterday to see how far I could get. My goal was to get the tank out, drain it real good, check the fuel pickup tube, etc. The tank comes out of the X300 fairly easy. Remove the seat, two bolts on the back of the rear fender deck and two bolts in the front under the foot rest, remove the deck height plastic dial, remove both forward and reverse hydro pedals on the right. The worst part was having enough oomph to loosen the bolts on the pedals, really torqued. I would guess it is no more than a 15-20 minute job as long as the bolts come out ok. Then it is just removing a rod holding the tank and disconnecting the fuel line and wire to the seat.

I couldn’t get much fuel out of the tank syphoning it so most of it I dumped after removing the tank. The gas was quite yellow, about the color of urine. So, I washed the chassis and everything else I could get to and then removed the pick-up tube from the tank. It’s just a firm piece of open tubing about 20” long or so that sticks down into the middle of the tank or so. It doesn’t reach all the way into very front bottom of the tank so it doubtful it would ever pick up anything unless it was floating at just the right level of the tube.

I blew the fuel line out, then reassembled everything. After getting all the big pieces together, I attacked the carburetor. I removed it from the attaching rods/bolts and left the linkage connected then pulled off the bowl and solenoid device on the bottom. Sprayed some brake cleaner up into all the holes I could find and put it all back together. It started up fine but I couldn’t get it to move back and forth. I was scratching my head until I remembered the little Hydro rod in the back was pulled out. I know better too! Pushed the rod back in and "Voila" it moved.

I ran it probably 30 minutes or so, did a quick grass cutting and left the hood off during this. I wanted to watch fuel filter to see how fuel was flowing and also in case any signs of leaks appeared. It ran fine so I’ll see how it is the next time I have it out. Pictures included.

 

[Diggin It]

The gas was quite yellow, about the color of urine.

Left over corn squeezin's.

This is why so many people use various additives.

 

[tomplum]

Good deal. But yes, these tubes often get plugged with plant debris. Needles are the worst. The leafy stuff doesn't pack in near as bad. I allow an hour and a half to RnR the tank and flush and flush and flush as long as needed to get the krap out.