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jeff_wisnia

dicko wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:03:17 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , Van Chocstraw wrote:

hibb wrote:

I have a 15 Hp Simplicity garden tractor with a Kohler engine. This
machine is about 13 years old and I have had it since it was new.

I went out to mow the grass this weekend and the engine died on me
after about a half an hour. It just suddenly stopped and made a couple
of small back-firing noises.

I noticed it did still have a few inches of gas in the tank but I
topped off the tank with fresh gas anyway. But before I put more gas
in it I took off the fuel filter and noticed there wasn't much gas
flow from the tank. I blew out the filter with air pressure and re-
installed the fuel filter. It still wouldn't start even after adding
more gas to the tank.

I poured a little bit of gas in the carburetor and it still wouldn't
fire. I spent some time trying to get the hydrostatic transmission
release lever to disengage so I could push it back into the garage but
never got that to work so I left it alone for a while.

After a few hours, I went out and it started right up. It ran good for
15 minutes and then quit again. I left it in the yard until yesterday
morning. It started right away and I pulled it into the garage. While
I was out and about yesterday, I picked up a new fuel filter and
installed it just in case that would help.

I started mowing the yard with it again today and had the same
problems. It ran good for about a half hour and quit. I waited a few
hours and it started and quit again after about 15 minutes.

I was very hot Sunday when this started but not as hot today and even
cooler this afternoon. But I'm still wondering if it has a vapor lock
problem.

Anybody got any more ideas I can try?

Thanks, David

You fuel line is clogged and the tank is probably full of crap. Are you
careful not to let the dirt and grass from the top of the can fall into
the tank when you fuel up? That's what people do. Fill the tank full of
crap and wonder why it stops running.

If that's the case, why does it run fine after it cools off, until it gets hot
again?

That points to an electrical problem, not a fuel problem. To the OP: the
problem is almost certainly in the electronic ignition module. Replace that,
and the problem will go away.

I have a John Deere tractor with a Kohler engine. It did almost the
exact same thing as yours. Its start up , run for a few minutes and
then lose power and run rough. Let it sit for a while and it'd do the
same thing.

It cost $250 to replace one of the coils. I guess there are 2 coils
with associated electronics. One of them died under high temps.

Y'know, I just don't think they are making ignition coils that are as
good as the ones from way back when.

I drive a 2004 6 cylinder engine Lincoln LS with less than 45K miles on
it and during the last year I've had to replace all 6 of the coils under
the hood

Well, maybe my trusted auto mechanic might have replaced a couple of
"still OK" coils in the process, but I had to bring the car into his
shop three times during the year, when the engine began stumbling under
load again, to get yet another coil replaced.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.