John Deere 185 running issues

[Lukematyas]

I have a John Deere 185 with the Kawasaki FC540v in it. I took the cylinder head to clean the piston and valves because it has never been cleaned. I also cleaned the carburetor and replaced the gaskets around the carburetor. I set the valves cold to .005 when I reassembled and put everything back on same as it was taken off. When I started the tractor it sounded like it was not on full power and would only run on choke. After about 30 seconds from startup and still on choke the engine begins to surge badly. It will not idle at all on any speed, it just dies. So far I have thought it to be a vacuum leak but to be honest I don稚 really know. Any ideas would be awesome thank you.

 

[Richard001]

Luke,

Welcome to TBN
:welcome:


I'm sure that there will be some good points offered soon to help you.

Richard

 

[Richard001]

Do you have the service manual for this engine?

If not, your should be able to find it on the internet. Search for the Kawasaki manual, not from JD.

Richard

 

[Lukematyas]

Yes i got the service manual after this problem started

 

[Richard001]

What was the reason for removing the head?

Richard

 

[Lukematyas]

I wanted to clean the piston and one of the valves was squeaking so I cleaned up the valves too

 

[beenthere]

Luke
:welcome: to TBN

Do you have a lot of experience cleaning up old engines this way? and do you have success ?

I'm not familiar with the technique.

 

[Lukematyas]

No it had lots of carbon buildup so I used a wire brush to gently clean up the piston and valves. I don’t have much experience with this

 

[tomplum]

Best thoughts would be to verify that you set the valves at TDC after the intake closed. Other than that, intake gasket in place or check carb.

 

[Lukematyas]

Alright will do I will run through and recheck everything tomarrow and let you know if I solve the problem