JD 320 stalls when engine gets hot/warm

JD420 · Jun 30, 2013

I believe it had around 1500hrs on it when I sold it. The only reason I sold it was to up grade to a larger tractor with a bigger deck. Mine was a great tractor lots of power and mowed very nice. Just needed something bigger.

jinman · Jun 30, 2013

Nate, I suspect that your fuel is getting hot and boiling such that you are getting vapor lock. The next time it starts to stall, try putting ice around the float bowl. I think you are on the right track with non-ethanol and Seafoam added, but you might also try a premium fuel. If your fuel supply line is getting hot, you might add line and re-route away from the heat source. Also, does your carb get preheated by the engine coolant? If so, there might be a temperature controlled valve that is not cutting off coolant when the engine heats up. I know some Kawasaki engines use coolant or exhaust gas to preheat the carb, but your JD service guy should have known if that was a problem on any models. Your problem just sounds like very hot fuel to me, maybe the non-ethanol will do the trick and have a higher boiling point. I'm no expert, but your symptoms sound like vapor lock to me.

JD420 · Jun 30, 2013

That's a good point I forgot about. Make sure your tractor has the metal heat shield that covers the muffler. The muffler is very close to the carb on that engine.

nate81 · Jun 30, 2013

If it were from the fuel getting hot and vapor locking...i should be able to test that for sure by riding it for a while w/ the gas cap off correct?

JD420 · Jun 30, 2013

I don't think the cap being off would make a difference since the cap is vented. Vapor lock is when the fuel boils in the carburetor bowl. Sounds to me it's running out of fuel. My experience with vapor lock occurs after you shut the engine off then try to restart not while its running. But as we all know anything is possible.

BBO · Jun 30, 2013

If the reservoir line is OK and you had antifreeze in the thing, then the radiator should be full.
Does the radiator cap seem normal? Something squirrely with your descriptions.

nate81 · Jun 30, 2013

the reservoir was fine, but when i opened the radiator cap, the coolant looked low...i was able to add two 16 oz bottles of water directly into the radiator before it got filled.

BBO · Jun 30, 2013

Could someone look up the total coolant capacity on the 320?
On my LX188 the total fill is only 2.2 quarts, so a quart low might cause mine to run hot.
Have you ever had a light for high temp?

I changed the coolant in mine after 17 years of use and it was a good project.
You will need to take all kinds of crap off to do it.
It's a good time to clean the outside of the engine.

nate81 · Jun 30, 2013

well it just ran for 35 minutes...thought i'd take it to my back field to cut...and it died again. no high temp light ever came on....just stalled right on out.