"Tony" wrote in message

Twayne wrote:
Hi,

This actually goes along with my previous post about Lawn Tractor
Battery/Charging issue but experience tells me it's best to separate
things like this.

Motor Overheats. This lawn tractor is charging its battery at a
rate of 15Amps constantly (Subject of the referenced post). Therefore
I'm assuming that might be a relatively high load on the
motor to run the generator at 15Amps. I believe 15A is the max the
generator can provide since meter full scale is 18A.
Then add to that, taking it out into a field and cutting field
grass (wildflowers & grass, etc. abt 2 ft high) at the max
recommended rpm, for an hour.

Upon turning off the engine, it went into a serious dieseling mode.
It even spun backwards just before it finally quit for me (I finally
pulled the choke to kill it). When I checked the oil it appeared
there might have been some bubbles in it, which I think is a sign of
over-heat. After cooling for a bit, checking the level showed it to
be right on the mark, maybe a line width above it.

Do you think running with the battery generator maxed out like it
was, on top of the cutting load and hot sun for an hour would
account for it getting so hot? It wasn't literally that hot out;
temp was around 78 F. The oil doesn't appear burned nor have any
smell like it was, but ... thought I'd see what folks here thought.
Oil was recently changed hours of use wise and still appeared
clean. Anything special I should do now?

Regards & TIA,

Twayne`

I always try to let my small engine equipment run at about 1/4
throttle for a minute or so before shutting it off. That allows the
motor to cool down a bit so the little bit of carbon on the piston
isn't still glowing red when you turn it off. Especially after
cutting the high grass, it was most likely overheated and you could
have caused permanant damage, but maybe not. Anyway, after using it
really hard, let it run 1/4 throttle a couple minutes before shutting
it off. (and also let it warm up a bit before putting a heavy load
on it)

Good advice. I -think- I always do that, but ... famous last words, you
know?

Twayne`