Mowing JD 445 No Power Under Load

[hardlyrob]

Hi Guys;

I have a JD 445 23hp gas lawn tractor with the Kawasaki v-twin, 511 hours on it. The problem is two part - first it cycles when idling at mid to full throttle (faster, slower, faster etc. - about 1 second interval).

Secondly, it has no power under load. Started to mow the lawn for the first time this season, and engaging the mower deck will stall the tractor. Stepping on the hydro forward can stall it. Not right.

This is the first time I've used it since moving 2 feet of snow back in Feb. with the front end loader. It was cycling then too - but I figured it was water in the fuel, so added dry gas. It still has the same gas in it - about half a tank left.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Rob

 

[RaisedonDeere]

Hi Guys;

I have a JD 445 23hp gas lawn tractor with the Kawasaki v-twin, 511 hours on it. The problem is two part - first it cycles when idling at mid to full throttle (faster, slower, faster etc. - about 1 second interval).

Secondly, it has no power under load. Started to mow the lawn for the first time this season, and engaging the mower deck will stall the tractor. Stepping on the hydro forward can stall it. Not right.

This is the first time I've used it since moving 2 feet of snow back in Feb. with the front end loader. It was cycling then too - but I figured it was water in the fuel, so added dry gas. It still has the same gas in it - about half a tank left.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Rob

Rob,

OK my first question to you is:

Do you have ethanol treated gasoline in your area and do you use it in your tractor. Reason i'm asking is I had the exact same issue with my 445 when I had it. The tractor would start fine but would idle up and down trying to settle in. When I was mowing any load put on the motor would cause the motor to stumble bog down and almost stall if you didn't stop and let the motor rpm spool back up. It got to be a pain dealing with it. Up until my buddy told me that the ethanol that they were using in the fuel was killing my tractor. He told me he had the same issues with his snowmobile and this would take care of my problems. Starbrite enzyme ethanol treatment. ( Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment - TV COMMERCIALS ) This ethanol treatment treats 128 gallons but I added about half of the bottle to start. Then everytime I added fuel I would add a couple chugs of the bottle. It isn't cheap, It's like $9.00 or $10.00 bucks a bottle but my problems went away. I hope this helps you with your problem.. I was buying it from NAPA. If you don't have a NAPA parts store in your area I believe Sta-bil marine formula ethanol treatment is the same and you can get that at wallymart.. There is a where to buy on the starbrite website.

Here's a video on the effects of ethanol in small engines..

YouTube - WLBT News on Ethanol Fuel in Boat Engines


Good luck Rob and let me know how you make out..:thumbsup:

 

[Don87]

Rob,

OK my first question to you is:

Do you have ethanol treated gasoline in your area and do you use it in your tractor. Reason i'm asking is I had the exact same issue with my 445 when I had it. The tractor would start fine but would idle up and down trying to settle in. When I was mowing any load put on the motor would cause the motor to stumble bog down and almost stall if you didn't stop and let the motor rpm spool back up. It got to be a pain dealing with it. Up until my buddy told me that the ethanol that they were using in the fuel was killing my tractor. He told me he had the same issues with his snowmobile and this would take care of my problems. Starbrite enzyme ethanol treatment. ( Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment - TV COMMERCIALS ) This ethanol treatment treats 128 gallons but I added about half of the bottle to start. Then everytime I added fuel I would add a couple chugs of the bottle. It isn't cheap, It's like $9.00 or $10.00 bucks a bottle but my problems went away. I hope this helps you with your problem.. I was buying it from NAPA. If you don't have a NAPA parts store in your area I believe Sta-bil marine formula ethanol treatment is the same and you can get that at wallymart.. There is a where to buy on the starbrite website.

Here's a video on the effects of ethanol in small engines..

YouTube - WLBT News on Ethanol Fuel in Boat Engines


Good luck Rob and let me know how you make out..:thumbsup:

This topic has benn discussed extensively, in this thread: Oil, Fuel & Lubricants - TractorByNet.com

But I had the same problem with my old Cub Cadet...........a simple carb cleaning fixed the problem. (dropped the bowl.......cleaned it, reassembled........good to go).

 

[RaisedonDeere]

This topic has benn discussed extensively, in this thread: Oil, Fuel & Lubricants - TractorByNet.com

But I had the same problem with my old Cub Cadet...........a simple carb cleaning fixed the problem. (dropped the bowl.......cleaned it, reassembled........good to go).

Don87,

That would be that easy if hardlyrob's JD 445 had a carb, But its fuel injected with a computer controlling it..

 

[Rob_H]

Thanks Guys!

I think I found the problem yesterday.

Thinking that it might be bad gas I filled it up with fresh gas, pulled the fuel line and let it flush with the fuel pump - but it ran the same, so not that.

After scouring this board and finding a couple of posts about a bad MAP sensor I started to look at that. If I simply disconnected the MAP sensor, the engine dies. However, if I squeezed the vacuum tube closed with a pair of pliers, the engine runs perfectly - problem solved. Apparently the sensor fails in such a way that it doesn't send an error code from the computer to the dash light.

Rob