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#1
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The
symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. |
#3
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
In article , "John A. Weeks III" wrote:
In article , wrote: I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. In order for an engine to run, you need 3 things. You need air, fuel, and spark. You need to determine which of these three things is missing, then troubleshoot that system. Well, that's certainly true -- but his symptoms point to exactly *one* of those three things: spark. I'm betting he has a bad magneto, and it's failing when it gets too hot. -- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com) It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again. |
#4
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
The engine never stops after it is running. The only time it will not
start is after it has been run for a long time(1-2hr). If the magneto was failing when it gets hot, wouldn't it stop running? On Fri, 05 May 2006 02:09:40 GMT, (Doug Miller) wrote: In article , "John A. Weeks III" wrote: In article , wrote: I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. In order for an engine to run, you need 3 things. You need air, fuel, and spark. You need to determine which of these three things is missing, then troubleshoot that system. Well, that's certainly true -- but his symptoms point to exactly *one* of those three things: spark. I'm betting he has a bad magneto, and it's failing when it gets too hot. -- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com) It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again. |
#5
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
wrote in message
... I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. You have something called "vapor lock" which happens when the area in and around the carburetor gets too hot. Basically instead of a liquid gasoline in the fuel line or at the point in the carb where it must flow through the needle valve, it has vaporized. Yes the gasoline has to vaporize prior to combustion but this is after the needle valve prior to the intake valve. First, try keeping the fuel lines away from the cylinder or wrap aluminum foil around it in an attempt to shield it. Next, check that you have proper fuel flow from the gas tank thru the lines. Sometimes it "drips" out of the fuel tank into the fuel line rather than a solid flow which causes air pockets where vaporization can occur. This can happen by having a piece of grass or leaf falls into your tank while refueling and it lodges right where the fuel line connects to the tank. A clogged fuel line or fuel filter could also restrict flow. Have you ever changed the fuel filter in the 10 yrs? You might also consider changing the fuel line to one of the clear ones rather than the black rubber ones so you can see the fuel flow. Letting it sit for a few hours until it cools gets rid of the vaporization and it also allows a sufficient amount of fuel to work its way past any clogs. -al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA |
#6
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
In article , wrote:
The engine never stops after it is running. The only time it will not start is after it has been run for a long time(1-2hr). If the magneto was failing when it gets hot, wouldn't it stop running? Not necessarily -- if 'running' implies 'moving', the magneto could actually be cooler while running than while shut off and parked for a while after having been run for an hour. What happens if you run it long enough to get it good and hot, then park it with the engine running? On Fri, 05 May 2006 02:09:40 GMT, (Doug Miller) wrote: In article , "John A. Weeks III" wrote: In article , wrote: I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. In order for an engine to run, you need 3 things. You need air, fuel, and spark. You need to determine which of these three things is missing, then troubleshoot that system. Well, that's certainly true -- but his symptoms point to exactly *one* of those three things: spark. I'm betting he has a bad magneto, and it's failing when it gets too hot. -- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com) It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again. -- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com) It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again. |
#7
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
After I have run it for 1-2 hrs and then come to a complelte stop and
sit for awhile, it still continues to run. On Sat, 06 May 2006 02:26:22 GMT, (Doug Miller) wrote: In article , wrote: The engine never stops after it is running. The only time it will not start is after it has been run for a long time(1-2hr). If the magneto was failing when it gets hot, wouldn't it stop running? Not necessarily -- if 'running' implies 'moving', the magneto could actually be cooler while running than while shut off and parked for a while after having been run for an hour. What happens if you run it long enough to get it good and hot, then park it with the engine running? On Fri, 05 May 2006 02:09:40 GMT, (Doug Miller) wrote: In article , "John A. Weeks III" wrote: In article , wrote: I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. In order for an engine to run, you need 3 things. You need air, fuel, and spark. You need to determine which of these three things is missing, then troubleshoot that system. Well, that's certainly true -- but his symptoms point to exactly *one* of those three things: spark. I'm betting he has a bad magneto, and it's failing when it gets too hot. -- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com) It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again. -- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com) It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again. |
#8
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
I have further analyzed my engine's performance and have more
information. Actually, after running the engine for an extended period of time, the following happens: If I let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and try to start it with the throttle about 1/2 way and choke out all the way, it will start. However, it only runs a 2-3 seconds and stops. I have tried all choke and throttle positions and this seems to be the only thing that will start. However, as said above, it stops. I have tried leaving the choke out and pushing it back in quickly. I have checked the fuel lines and they seem to be ok. The fuel lines run close to the engine. I did not know that aluminum foil would keep heat away from the line. I thought it was a heat conducter. On Fri, 5 May 2006 21:53:31 -0400, "Alan Sung" wrote: wrote in message . .. I have a 10 year old Poulin Pro that has a Kohler engine. The symptoms of my problem are simple. After the mower has sat overnight, it is easy to start. Even if I run it only a short time, it is easy to start. However, if I run it for an hour or two and shut it down, I may not be able to start it back up. It appears that the problem occurs only if the engine has been run an extensive amount of time and then shut down. In that case, it won't start until I let it sit overnight. What is going on? Any advice will be appreciated. You have something called "vapor lock" which happens when the area in and around the carburetor gets too hot. Basically instead of a liquid gasoline in the fuel line or at the point in the carb where it must flow through the needle valve, it has vaporized. Yes the gasoline has to vaporize prior to combustion but this is after the needle valve prior to the intake valve. First, try keeping the fuel lines away from the cylinder or wrap aluminum foil around it in an attempt to shield it. Next, check that you have proper fuel flow from the gas tank thru the lines. Sometimes it "drips" out of the fuel tank into the fuel line rather than a solid flow which causes air pockets where vaporization can occur. This can happen by having a piece of grass or leaf falls into your tank while refueling and it lodges right where the fuel line connects to the tank. A clogged fuel line or fuel filter could also restrict flow. Have you ever changed the fuel filter in the 10 yrs? You might also consider changing the fuel line to one of the clear ones rather than the black rubber ones so you can see the fuel flow. Letting it sit for a few hours until it cools gets rid of the vaporization and it also allows a sufficient amount of fuel to work its way past any clogs. -al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA |
#9
Posted to misc.consumers.house
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Need help with a riding mower that won't start
wrote in message
... I have further analyzed my engine's performance and have more information. Actually, after running the engine for an extended period of time, the following happens: If I let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and try to start it with the throttle about 1/2 way and choke out all the way, it will start. However, it only runs a 2-3 seconds and stops. I have tried all choke and throttle positions and this seems to be the only thing that will start. However, as said above, it stops. I have tried leaving the choke out and pushing it back in quickly. I have checked the fuel lines and they seem to be ok. The fuel lines run close to the engine. I did not know that aluminum foil would keep heat away from the line. I thought it was a heat conducter. The 5-10 minutes allows just a tiny bit of fuel to make it to the carb so you are able to start it but since there is not sufficient fuel flow, it stalls out within the 2 or 3 seconds. The easiest/cheapest thing you can do is to change the fuel filter if you haven't done so recently. Get a clear plastic one so you can see the fuel in it. The aluminum foil is set up as a heat shield, not wrapped tightly around things. -al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA |
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