X595 Diesel mysterious quitting

[gregoire]

John Deere X595 4WD diesel lawn tractor, 150 hours, fully serviced and cared for.... I was mowing for an hour or so under moderate load when the engine died. I checked it over, everything looked OK, and restarted 2 minutes later with no problem, mowed for another 10 minutes then the same thing happened.
Checked everything I could think of - oil OK, temperature gauge low (winter here), screens clean, coolant in reservoir low (correct level for low temperature engine) and restarted.
Heading home, mower on, uphill and it stopped again. This time it would not restart for 10~15 minutes but when it did it ran fine. Back at the house I left it running on half throttle for 10~15 minutes, no mower, but it didn't miss a beat. This is very unusual. Nothing has ever gone wrong with it before, always starts first kick.
I suspect the fuel supply solenoid, which might overheat (but why would it?) or might not be getting enough voltage.
Battery is giving 11v (according to my cheap multimeter, which is hard to read); alternator seems to be working well.
Ideas anyone, please?

 

[ccsial]

Check for water or contaminated fuel. Check fuel filter.

Battery should be 12V when stopped and over 13V when running.

 

[J_J]

Check for fuel line blockage, water, and that black stuff that grows in diesel tanks.

 

[6dog]

I had the same problem with a gas riding mower a couple of years ago. Turned out to be the venting of the gas tank was blocked. After the engine would run a while, it would build a vacuum in the gas tank and starve the fuel line. Let it sit a while and the pressure would release and it would run fine a gain for a little while before cutting off again. Drove me crazy until I figured it out. :confused2:

 

[J_J]

You might try something like this. Remove the fuel hose from the injector pump input, and place in a container. Turn the switch on to activate the fuel solenoid, and observe how much fuel is coming out the filter unit. Let it flow for a while, to see if the flow is steady and continues to flow. You might try blowing air back through the fuel line at the input to the fuel filter.

 

[Ron M]

Greg
My X595 did the samething. It turned out to be the transfer pump that went bad. Look into it and I bet that will fix your problem. Ron

 

[John Deere 110]

I Have A Diesel That Hade Simmlar Problems, Check, The Tank, Lines, Filters, Lift Pump, Injector Pump, Injector Lines, Injectors, & Return Lines

 

[gregoire]

Thank you all. I will try all of the above. This is my first post on these forums and I am grateful for your help. And it is so refreshing compared to other blog sites where most participants are more interested in mouthing off and can hardly put a coherent sentence together. Greetings from the north coast of NSW, Australia.

 

[Shimon]

If the engine dies abruptly and you only have 11V while the engine is running...I would say this is an electrical problem and not a fuel problem. I would start with the run solenoid (as you initially suspected) and then any safety switches. You may just be experiencing low voltage due to no charging.

When you say it won't restart until after 10-15 minutes do you mean no cranking or no firing (engine start)? Big difference.

 

[smitty9805]

i had a simular problem with my jd 455 diesel and it turned out to be the safety switch under the seat was going out.