John Deere 185 problem -- Need help!!

[Camaro_87]

ok i have a john deere 185 lawn tractor 17" hp kawasaki engine 46" cutting deck best lawn tractor i've ever owned except for the small problem im having. problem is after mowing the lawn for an hour the engine starts cutting in and out (it won't completly turn off it just stall then fires up again quickley) if i let it sit for a while it;ll run great again and sometime it'll start acting up again or sometime it won't do it at all. after it started acting up i brought it into the garage and had it idling on low it seems like it'll stall then quicklet fire up again and it just repeats it over and over.



i have cleaned the fuel tank replaced all fuel lines and it still was acting up so i thought mabye it was the ignition coil so i replaced that yesterday and after using it for 1 1/2 hours it started stalling again. what could it be?? im thinking fuel pump mabye?? it seems to be getting fuel i took off the fuel line and cranked it over to see if gas is coming out and it is but if i start it up and turn the throttle up the gas only drips out of the pump? is that nromal?



any ideas please let me know thanks!!

 

[zzvyb6]

My 535 has the same motor. Problem was the fuel pump diaphragm. There was some crap stuck in it. Heaven knows how it got past the filter. After a filter change, too, the thing runs fine. Inspect the filter when it starts bogging down. Mine is clear plastic so I can see if there is fuel in it. No fuel means plugged tank line, or breather/vent not working, or plugged filter. My fuel tank cap is on the left side. When I drove by my pine trees, the cap would get unscrewed when it hit the pine branches and come off. Hence the tank would fill up with pine needles and pine tar. When I cleaned out the tank and lines, there was disolved pine tar in there. Some got into the fuel pump I imagine...

 

[Camaro_87]

yeh i kinda noticed when it starts acting up there is hardly any fuel in the filter just a few drops at the most i removed the tank and cleaned it replaced lines and breather im guessing it could be a fuel pump. the thing that i don't understand it should do it all the time if it was the pump shouldn't it? this problem comes and goes.

i also noticed a 12v regulator rectifier behind the battery could that be whats causing the problem mabye it's on it's way out?

 

[Camaro_87]

ok just to clear it up a bit the problem im having is know as "surging" if that helps make sense. and have been asking around and heard it could be becuase of the governer? also heard that the governer has internal plastic parts that could be worn or something?

 

[Camaro_87]

ok here is a link to a video i took this morning of the problem im having.

John Deere 185 surging problem video by camaro_87 - Photobucket

 

[Ob1kubota]

I have a GT275 with the FC540V-FS15 that was doing the same thing. Kawasaki calls this Engine Erratical Run in the trouble shooting Workshop Manual. I changed out the fuel pump and while changing it out I cleaned the crank case vacuum line and adjusted the carburetor governor linkage per Kaw spec for wide open throttle. See other Ob1kubota post for additional overheating issue with this engine. I think this will cure the engine surge. I like Green but Love Orange better....