Exmark Laser Z cutoff, and is dead to the world

[LightningCamaroGuy]

I was cutting my grass today and after about an hour my lawnmower petered out. No issue, that gas tank is empty, the other is full, so I switched over to the other tank. About an hour and a half later it petered out again the exact way it does when a fuel tank starts to run out. I was like, "what the heck? I can mow my whole yard on one full fuel tank, no problem." So I looked and sure enough that fuel tank was probably 2/3 to 3/4 full. I got back on my mower and tried to start it, and nothing. The starter isn't even trying to turn the engine over. It's like the battery is dead as a door knob, but it's not. The battery is good and cranks the mower great. Plus the mower wouldn't just start putting out for about 5-6 second before shutting off it it was the battery, but this definitely seems electrical. I looked at all the wiring, everything appears to be fine. It's just odd how in the middle of cutting my grass that the mower just puttered out for about 5-6 second like it was being starved of fuel, and then it won't even attempt to fire.

BTW I had the parking brake engaged, the PTO turned off, the handles in the neutral position, but it refuses to try and fire, but IDK what made it choke itself out in the first place. Do y'all think it could be a safety switch in the seat, parking brake, PTO switch, etc? It's an 03 Exmark Laser Z with I believe a Kohler CV20 is the engine #.

 

[RjCorazza]

Could you clarify whether the starter is turning the engine over or not? Slowly turning the engine, not turning the engine, clicking sound only, no sounds at all?
Also please describe how the engine stopped the two times mentioned.

 

[Tinhack]

On a 20-year-old machine, it's probably wiring or a bad safety switch. Could be as simple as corroded connectors. Some safety switches have to be making contact while others may need to be open. Disconnecting and reconnecting several times should clean the contacts. Try that on all the connectors on your machine.

 

[LightningCamaroGuy]

Yeah, it makes no sound. No clicking when you turn the ignition switch. It's dead to the world. The first time it cut off it just ran out of gas in that tank. The second time it cut off it mimicked the way it would cut off if it was running out of gas. My first thought was there's no way that the other tank was empty as it was full when I started cutting, but maybe I had gotten something in the fuel system that was starving it of fuel, but then when I tried to restart it after looking everything over, and it wasn't even trying to fire I realized it must be something electrical. It's just weird how it went about sputtering out over the course of 5-6 seconds. If it was electrical I figured that it would just up an die, and not slowly choke itself out like it's starting to be starved of fuel.

I'll definitely check all the connections in the harness, and clean them, and probably put some dialectic grease on them. I also saw that the harness has a couple of fuses on it. Maybe one of the blew?

 

[ruffdog]

Is there evidence of mice damage or mice making a home in the mower?

 

[Carl_NH]

Most likely a fuse or connector issue, but if those check out could be the ignition coils when heated up are shorting out and blew a fuse.

On my Ferris/Kawasaki engine the stator shorted out which blew the fuse in the starter circuit - replaced the stator and regulator and all was good.

 

[MF243RedTop]

I had to replace both ignition coils on my 20 yr old 27hp Kohler a few yrs back acting very similar to what your describing...also if it has a electronic fuel shutoff solenoid on the carb bowl that could be an issue too.

 

[LightningCamaroGuy]

Sorry for not replying. I'm not getting notifications sent to me.

Anyway I checked the fuses and one was blown. Great, easy fix. Well come to find out the engine's locked up. Probably blew a fuse when it was locking up. Odd how when it cut off it sounded mechanically fine, just like it was being starved of fuel. Anyways the starter won't spin the flywheel, it just kind of kicks a little, but it's locked. I took the sparkplugs out, and spayed some WD40 in the cylinders to try and loosen them up, but that still didn't let the engine turn over. Then I put a wrench on the crank, and again it's definitely locked up, because I couldn't get it to turn with a wrench. I guess next I'll try pulling the valve covers and looking at the valvetrain. Hopefully the rotating assembly's fine, but IDK.


EDIT:
Here's a video I just uploaded of it.

 

[Carl_NH]

Hopefully its a stuck valve or push rod is broken/bent not allowing for compression release. If not the valves, you may be looking at a new block/engine.

 

[LightningCamaroGuy]

Hopefully its a stuck valve or push rod is broken/bent not allowing for compression release. If not the valves, you may be looking at a new block/engine.

Agreed.

The valvetrain under the valve covers looks great..... Unfortunately