I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

Thanks for the reply. I am almost sure that I have a fuel pump.
Also, this is a new problem and I have had no problem mowing this
sloped land for the past 2 years. Generally I start off with a full
tank. The fuel filter was changed recently. I did manage to almost
run the mower out of gas a couple of weeks ago and you may be right
that I have air in the line. How would you go about purging a fuel
line of air? THanks again for the reply.

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 22:00:27 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , (Jack) wrote:
I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

My first thought is that you probably don't actually have a fuel pump. Riding
mowers typically have gravity fuel feed. If it did have a pump, it is unlikely
that you could still drive the mower on any slope steep enough to affect fuel
delivery -- however, this can happen with gravity fuel feed if the slope is
steep enough, and a clogged fuel filter will make it worse. Have you tried
changing it?

My second thought is that the slope may be steep enough that the hose from the
fuel tank to the carburetor is above the level of the fuel (and thus you're
getting air in the fuel line). This can occur either with pumped or gravity
fuel feed. It's also much less likely to happen if the tank is full -- had you
noticed whether that makes any difference?

If the slope *is* that steep, you probably should reconsider your mowing
pattern.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article , (Jack) wrote:
I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

My first thought is that you probably don't actually have a fuel pump. Riding
mowers typically have gravity fuel feed. If it did have a pump, it is unlikely
that you could still drive the mower on any slope steep enough to affect fuel
delivery -- however, this can happen with gravity fuel feed if the slope is
steep enough, and a clogged fuel filter will make it worse. Have you tried
changing it?

My second thought is that the slope may be steep enough that the hose from the
fuel tank to the carburetor is above the level of the fuel (and thus you're
getting air in the fuel line). This can occur either with pumped or gravity
fuel feed. It's also much less likely to happen if the tank is full -- had you
noticed whether that makes any difference?

If the slope *is* that steep, you probably should reconsider your mowing
pattern.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:19:00 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

Clean the fuel cap vent, or loosen the cap a tiny bit.

--
Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:19:00 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

If your carb has a float, it could be leaky. A little gas in the
float might make it heavy enough to starve the engine of gas when the
engine is sloped the right (wrong) way with respect to the float
hinge.

I've always thought it was safer to mow a slope up and down unless
it's a very gentle slope....

HTH,

Paul F.

On Aug 4, 3:19 pm, (Jack) wrote:
I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks


If your tractor has a Kohler twin engine you do have a pulse fuel
pump. Make ABSOLUTELY sure you replaced the fuel filter with the
correct Kohler OEM part. There have been numerous posts and reports
about problems after a fuel filter change when NOT using the correct
Kohler fuel filter. fuel filters may look similar but thwey have
different filtering characteristics and flow rates.

You can check here for the right one...
http://www.perr.com/cgi-bin/shopper....keywords=a ll

"Jack" wrote in message
...
I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

I had this problem when water had gotten into the fuel tank on my Honda. The
Honda's tank has a slight depression located away from the fuel pick-up. The
depression is there to collect water and other crap that gets into the tank.

However, once the depression was full of water, the water would spill out of
the depression when the mower was on steep slopes, and get into the fuel
line feeding the carb.

KB

That makes sense. I went out and cleaned it out. How did you come up
with that?


On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:23:18 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:19:00 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

Clean the fuel cap vent, or loosen the cap a tiny bit.

--
Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:38:12 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

That makes sense. I went out and cleaned it out. How did you come up
with that?


On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:23:18 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:19:00 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

Clean the fuel cap vent, or loosen the cap a tiny bit.


I used to have to cut a sloped front yard and my 18HP tractor would
act up. Once I cleared the cap vent - she ran fine.

It is also a "troubleshooting tip" for small engines with fuel
problems. Good practice to start with the easy stuff, first

So did clearing the cap vent work. You didn't mention it.

--
Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

No, it didn't work. Sorry

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:10:32 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:38:12 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

That makes sense. I went out and cleaned it out. How did you come up
with that?


On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:23:18 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:19:00 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

I have a Poulan Pro riding lawn mower. It has just started having a
problem that I need help diagnosing. It is some kind of a fuel
problem and is related to the position of the mower while cutting. My
land is sloped and, when cutting the following happens.
If I am cutting across the slope and my left side is on the downhill
side of the slope, the mower gets plenty of gas and works perfectly.
If I am cutting across the slope and my right side is on the downhill
slope, it slows down and seems to lack power. It almost slows to a
stop. The fuel pump is mounted on the left side of the engine. Any
thoughts about what is going on will be appreciated. THanks

Clean the fuel cap vent, or loosen the cap a tiny bit.


I used to have to cut a sloped front yard and my 18HP tractor would
act up. Once I cleared the cap vent - she ran fine.

It is also a "troubleshooting tip" for small engines with fuel
problems. Good practice to start with the easy stuff, first

So did clearing the cap vent work. You didn't mention it.

--
Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:21:38 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

No, it didn't work. Sorry


Clean the fuel cap vent, or loosen the cap a tiny bit.

Not familiar with the engine. Does it have a low oil pressure cut off?

--
Oren

"I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you."

I am sorry. I don't know and don't know how to find out.


On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:27:27 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 02:21:38 GMT, (Jack)
wrote:

No, it didn't work. Sorry


Clean the fuel cap vent, or loosen the cap a tiny bit.

Not familiar with the engine. Does it have a low oil pressure cut off?

--
Oren

"I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you."