E130 Lawn Mower won’t go uphill except in reverse

[Snuffy77]

I am about to go crazy because my lawnmower won’t go up even a slight upgrade except in reverse. The motor dies and I have to back up the incline every time. I cleaned the carb, replaced the air filter, replaced the fuel pump, replaced the spark plugs, drained and replaced the gas with non ethanol.
YouTube videos show people replacing the transmission fluid, but I only have 36 hours on the mower and it is only 3 years old.
Can anybody help?

 

[MoKelly]

Welcome to the site from Missouri.

You don’t mention whether the motor loses power when you are trying to go up a hill.

If the motor has power, I’m guessing the issue is the hydro belt. For some reason, the belt is too lose such that you can’t go up an incline.

That is where I would begin the process.

MoKelly

 

[Snuffy77]

The motor loses power or stops completely in forward almost every time I go uphill.

 

[MoKelly]

Sorry - you did say that in your initial post and I missed it completely.

Do your blades turn when going in reverse? If not, then perhaps the blades are causing the stress on the engine at an angle?

MoKelly

 

[Snuffy77]

The blades turn fine in reverse.

 

[oldnslo]

Is the engine quitting because of loss of spark or fuel. Could be some safety switch not being made when on an incline causing the ignition to lose spark. I.e. the mower deck moving

 

[Cougsfan]

Out of curiosity, what kind of lawn mower is it? Push, zero turn, lawn tractor? I am wondering if the float level in the carb is set too low, or the carb is mounted tilted in one direction.

 

[Snuffy77]

It is a Lawn tractor, 100 series.

I notice when I first crank it, I get some black smoke. I also notice some wet oil on the spark plugs.

 

[Richard001]

I am about to go crazy because my lawnmower won’t go up even a slight upgrade except in reverse. The motor dies and I have to back up the incline every time. I cleaned the carb, replaced the air filter, replaced the fuel pump, replaced the spark plugs, drained and replaced the gas with non ethanol.
YouTube videos show people replacing the transmission fluid, but I only have 36 hours on the mower and it is only 3 years old.
Can anybody help?

When you say, "I cleaned the carb", what exactly did you do to clean the carb ?

Richard

 

[Diggin It]

I am about to go crazy because my lawnmower won’t go up even a slight upgrade except in reverse. The motor dies ...

Dies how? Just shuts off like you turn the key off? Sputters? Starves for fuel or air?

If it just flat dies like you turned the key off, it may be something like the seat safety switch out of adjustment. Going uphill forward leans you back in the seat a bit and may be moving the seat off the switch. Backing uphill won't have the same effect as you'll be leaning forwards, putting more pressure on it.

If it acts like it's starving for fuel, it could be a fuel filter not passing enough flow.