PT 425 WITH ROBIN ENGINE--SPUDDERING OUT

SCOTCHERS · Nov 17, 2005

HEY ALL,

WELL I'M AT 200 HOURS EXACTLY AND WHILE WORKING TODAY, WHEN GOING TO PICK SOMETHING UP, THE MUFFLER STARTED MAKING A SPUDDERING/PUFFING NOISE AND SEEMED VERY BIZARRE. I STARTED TO LOOSE POWER AND IDLE WENT DOWN. THE PT SLOWLY WAS DIEING. THEN DEATH. I TRIED TURNING OVER AGAIN AND ALL IT DID WAS CRANK, CRANK, CRANK WITH NO FIRING OR IT WOULD SLOWLY PUFF LITTLE BLACK SMOKE CLOUDS OUT EXHAUST. ALL MAINTENANCE HAS BEEN DONE BY DITCH WITCH AND I HAVE CALL INTO THEM. THOUGHT I'D PICK OTHER'S BRAINS. ALL PLUGS, FUEL FILTERS, AIR FILTERS, HYDRAULIC FILTERS HAVE BEEN SERVICED IN THE LAST 3 WEEKS. BEYOND THAT YOUR GUESS IS BETTER THAN MINE. THANKS JOHN IN MARYLAND

tracdoc · Nov 17, 2005

John,

Not to belabor the obvious, nor insult intelligence here, I would first check for spark at both plugs, and check for fuel delivery. If either one is a problem, she ain't gonna' run. On the other hand, if they check out OK, you've eliminated a lot in terms of solving the problem.
Pull a plug, reconnect lead, ground plug and check for spark on cranking. (avoid electrical shock /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif). Repeat on opposite cylinder. Then, pop the fuel line south of the fuel pump and see if you get a stream on cranking. Let us know what you find, and good luck.

toolz_not_toyz · Nov 18, 2005

Clogged fuel line? Even with a dirty filter or poorly gapped plugs it should at least try to start. I think a damaged cylinder head and loss of compression would cause this too. Anyone else?

stray · Nov 18, 2005

I got ahold of some bad gas. It gage me some proplems for a while.

J_J · Nov 18, 2005

If you have a fuel shutoff solenoid valve on you carb, take it off and clean it out

ClintBlake · Nov 18, 2005

Pull the fuel shutoff solenoid and look to see if there is trash inside the carburetor. My 422 has done the same thing and trash (looked like filter material) was the culprit.

tracdoc · Nov 19, 2005

John,

Did you or your service folks find the problem yet?

SCOTCHERS · Nov 21, 2005

Ditch Witch came out today, Nov. 21, 2005, and said all appeared ok. I was a quart low in oil, surprised considering it was just serviced by them and that was one of the things i asked to do is change oil filter and oil. spark plugs were firing and fuel was coming in. Upon opening up the air filter and removing 'new' filter, just installed 3 weeks ago, we were both amazed it was full of oil. Not just a little. Saturated. After taking it off. Ray, the mechanic, turned ignition on to crank engine and oil poured shot out at every crank. We both looked at each other and said 'Not good'. Besides that nothing to say. They're going to tow it in tomorrow and remove engine for further diagnoses. This is very discouraging considering 200 hours only. All maintenance has been followed. He didn't offer any insite as to what may be wrong. I'd love to hear from any of you all and Subaru/Robin if they read this. The tractor is about 16 months old and only used by me. I'll keep everyone abreast on what I find out when I find out. I'm sure it'll be a couple weeks. John

J_J · Nov 21, 2005

That sounds like you are blowing oil up through the crankcase vent tube . That is the only way I know of that the oil filter could be saturated. Perhaps there was too much oil in the crankcase, or gas leaked into the crankcase, and caused an overfilled situation. Was it hard to start at any time? Some times when the engine is too full of fluid, it will not start because of piston lock.

JackRobin · Nov 23, 2005

John,

Well, there could be several different issues with this engine, I'm sure the mechanic and I will be able to get to the bottom of this if he calls me for the suppport.

Regards,

Jack Gawecki
Robin America, Inc.
Technical Support Dept.
800-277-6246