Is anyone else having lots of problems with an 1850?

[J_J]

10/25/06.
Well the saga continues. The Alternator is now burnt up. The PT will sut off after a few minutes.

We were able to get it on the trailer and home.

This machine will bankrupt me yet.

Tell us more , Which model and engine are you talking about. you said the alternator fried. Something had to caused that. The regulator could be defective, and shorted the alternator to ground and therefore killed the alternator. Is the regulator built in on your model, or does it have a separate regulator?

 

[DonStillwagon]

Concur with JJ: Need more data.... shutting down after a few minutes sounds like the circuit breaker is tripping from some kind of excess current draw or a bad breaker instead of the alternator. See my other post on the fix for a dead internal alternator regulator. I have had to replace the circuit breaker on my 1430 - probably accelerated by my blasting everything with a pressure washer! It was pretty rusty inside. Check current draw thru the breaker with an ammeter and if high (close to or over the breaker rating) try to find the high draw - could be an intermittent short from a damaged wire and that could be harder to isolate (one way to find intermittent faults is to cut some fuses into separate circuits and see which one blows and then trace that one out)

Don

 

[J_J]

As far as the alternator, every thing has a cause and effect. If the current alternator is to expensive to fix or replace, You do have some options. A Ford or GM alternator might work just as well if the bolt holes and pulleys are similar. 40, 60, or 100 amp alternators, probably less than $100 used or junk yard. The one wire alternators are simple. The regulator is built in. Run one wire from the alternator to battery, and of course , a good ground.

 

[AltavistaLawn]

Well ,it broke down again, separate from the alternator, generator or whatever.

The stupid little box that regulates hydraulic pressure started pouring fluid AGAIN!

This is the fourth time within 400 hours this has happened. It leaked hydr fluid all over a driveway. We stopped early, trailered it home, and I pulled it down and replaced the seal in the plunger assmbly again...at least I was able to get the o-ring seal from NAPA.

I guess I'll have to pull it down and replace the o-ring every 50 hours with the filter.

-Unbelievable.

 

[Bob999]

Well ,it broke down again, separate from the alternator, generator or whatever.

The stupid little box that regulates hydraulic pressure started pouring fluid AGAIN!

This is the fourth time within 400 hours this has happened. It leaked hydr fluid all over a driveway. We stopped early, trailered it home, and I pulled it down and replaced the seal in the plunger assmbly again...at least I was able to get the o-ring seal from NAPA.

I guess I'll have to pull it down and replace the o-ring every 50 hours with the filter.

-Unbelievable.

Because this is apparently not a common failure, based on posts here, I would suspect that there is a defect in the regulator housing or in the plunger assembly that is causing premature failure of the o-ring.

 

[MikeOConnor]

Because this is apparently not a common failure, based on posts here, I would suspect that there is a defect in the regulator housing or in the plunger assembly that is causing premature failure of the o-ring.

That gizmo failed for me too -- not quite as spectacular in terms of oil flow, but seals blown. I think I'm sitting at about 150 hours on my 1850.

 

[AltavistaLawn]

Because this is apparently not a common failure, based on posts here, I would suspect that there is a defect in the regulator housing or in the plunger assembly that is causing premature failure of the o-ring.

I forgot to mention..the whole assemble was replaced last time. At least they did warranty it, it was about $250.00 part if I remember right.

 

[Bob999]

I forgot to mention..the whole assemble was replaced last time. At least they did warranty it, it was about $250.00 part if I remember right.

That puts the failures in a different light. Perhaps PT got a bad batch of parts. Alternatively there could be a design defect that only affects the 1850 (assuming that there have not been a significant number of failures in other machines).

 

[IrTxRx]

Kind of a tangent:
I am not very handy and am (was) getting very close to the purchase of a 1430. What kind of shop work (time and price) might be involved in fixing some of these issues?

Thanks

 

[MikeOConnor]

Kind of a tangent:
I am not very handy and am (was) getting very close to the purchase of a 1430. What kind of shop work (time and price) might be involved in fixing some of these issues?

Thanks

None of these issues take long to repair -- the seals problem we've just been talking about probably took a total of about 15-20 minutes of actual repair time.

But it took several days to diagnose (the symptom was "oil leaking", which had to get narrowed down to "oil leaking from gizmo on side of engine compartment" which then had to get narrowed down to "oil leaking from the end with the spring" during conversations with Terry -- each iteration required lots of cleaning of the engine compartment to get rid of the oil that was already there).

Then it took a few days for the seals kit to get here via UPS from PT.

Then it took a trip over to Big Bruce at the implement dealer where his monstro power hands got one of the O-rings on a piston.

If you took this problem to a good implement/hydraulic shop I imagine they would have charged you, I dunno, a couple-three hours? Plus the hassle of hauling it over and back.

On the bright side, I don't think of myself as terribly handy either. But this kind of thing I've learned I can handle myself -- partly relying on Terry over at PT for instructions (he's great at that) and partly relying on this gang for ideas. I'd have spent a lot of money on my 1850 if I'd had a shop do all the work I've had to do on it. So unless you just simply hate that kind of thing, I'd suggest learning how to do the routine service stuff yourself.