On Apr 3, 5:31*am, "Hustlin' Hank" wrote:
On Apr 2, 12:50 pm, (hillclimber)
wrote:

Have a 18 hp Kholer engine (model # CV492)on a 42" Craftsman lawn tractor
(7 years old). Problem is starts OK and runs for 20 minutes or so and then
starts to stall and lose power. Does restart but repeats problem. This
was the first mow of the season. Had run all gas out for winter. Used
fresh gas to start. Know I need a new battery as I can put a charger on
the current (orginal) battery and get mower started but should have
anything to do with the stalling? Changed oil and oil filter and air
filter. Have not changed gas filter or spark plug. Please advise, Thanks.

I doubt it has anything to do with fuel delivery. I would look at the
safety switches first. They get dirty, ground out, and they also wear
out.

To check them: There should be one wire coming from the motors coil,
then it splits into different areas that go to the different switches.
If you disconnect the main wire, that will disable all the safety
switches. Then run it to see if the problem still exists. If it does,
then it is NOT the safety switches.

Diagnosing the problem will take a systematic approach. Rule-out each
system until you find the system (fuel, electrical, compression and
etc.) that is faulty.

Hank

The question is why after 20 minutes, safteys should be almost
immediate, fuel should be an issue within maybe 5 minutes as thats
about the max for a float bowl to hold and the choke is not needed,
unless its not venting the tank so as to not feed fuel. My Lawnboy
did this one year, first it would not restart hot, following year it
died after getting hot, the following year it would not start at all,
it was the ignition module, Once I bought a used boat motor, no wonder
the guy selling it only gave me a 5 minute test ride, after 15 minutes
one cilinder would stop firing, only an expensive new ignition module
fixed it. Coils going bad can also fail when fully heated up. I
think a first test is a spark strength and color check just after it
dies, and when cold. My lawnboy still sparked, but this test is faulty
since under compression and with fuel in the cilinder it takes much
more voltage than in open air. Another indicator ive noticed on
several small motors, and my car, with failing ignition components is
ok idle, and rough running under load.