Ride On Lawnmower Issues

[OldCrLvr]

Greetings Forum Brothers & Sisters,

 

I need a bit of assistance before I blindly change some parts.

 

First off this is a Craftsman model #917. 276020 with the Kohler 25hp V twin engine. It is or was the largest ride on they made at the time and is classified by them as a Lawn Tractor. It is in very good shape (about 7 years old) and until recently has been absolutely trouble free. We use this to mow a little but more to haul supplies and manure around the ranch.

 

I am having 2 problems but the first is now hindering it from running at all.

 

First: The engine won't crank at all. I can jump it at the starter and it will turn over but via the key it won't do anything. I put a meter on it and it seems that nothing is getting power. As far as I know it only has 2 safety’s, the seat pressure switch and the blade engagement button. I unplugged the seat switch & jumped it. That made no difference. The blade switch seems to be where all of the wires tie into each other. In the last 6 months there was a couple times where I had to push/pull the switch to get it to turn over. So I'm guessing this is the culprit. When I took a meter to this however no voltage was found here. The Battery is a couple months old and has a full charge. I also pulled the ignition switch off and checked all the wires on the plug with my meter. I found no voltage here as well. I can check the battery connections via putting the test lead to ground and find full power. So the cables and it's connections are fine. Any thoughts?

 

Second. My fuel pump isn't delivering enough fuel. We had to replace the long block because a rod decided to exit out the block. When doing this the original pump was put back on and seemed to run fine for the first couple months the new engine was in it. When it wasn't delivering enough I replaced it thinking it was the problem. This fuel pump apparently moves a diaphragm via a vacuum tube that goes into the side of the block. I don't know where it pulls from but was told by someone that it was the fan on the top of the engine that creates the vacuum. If this tube got plugged with dirt/debris it could be the issue. We live in a very dusty area and it causes a lot of problems for other components. Any thoughts?

[00Silverado4x4]

Is there a switch on your deck height lever? Some tractors (like mine) must have the deck at max height to start? Also you may have a fuse inline with ignition switch to check out as well.

Fuel pump, all I am stating is "may" be right for your tractor, I could be wrong dependent on your model.

There is a line (hose) coming from pump to crankcase, allows the crankcase pressures to operate the pump.

Do you have fuel flooding your crankcase? Might be a pin hole leak in that line and fuel pressure will be diverted from engine to your crankcase. Do you have fuel flooding your crankcase?

Once you get it running again, take off your air filter and look at the fuel actually being sprayed into the throat of your carb. You may have some mixture screws out of adjustment. If you can find a book on the new engine (small engine shop should be able to assist you), and get the screws dialed in. You should/could have an idle setting screw, idle fuel mixture and a high speed (run) mixture screw.

 

Again these are all "maybe's" but some ideas I have off top of my head.

[TimmyG]

Mine wont fire with out the brake on

 

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

[OldCrLvr]

Is there a switch on your deck height lever? Some tractors (like mine) must have the deck at max height to start? Also you may have a fuse inline with ignition switch to check out as well.

Fuel pump, all I am stating is "may" be right for your tractor, I could be wrong dependent on your model.

There is a line (hose) coming from pump to crankcase, allows the crankcase pressures to operate the pump.

Do you have fuel flooding your crankcase? Might be a pin hole leak in that line and fuel pressure will be diverted from engine to your crankcase. Do you have fuel flooding your crankcase?

Once you get it running again, take off your air filter and look at the fuel actually being sprayed into the throat of your carb. You may have some mixture screws out of adjustment. If you can find a book on the new engine (small engine shop should be able to assist you), and get the screws dialed in. You should/could have an idle setting screw, idle fuel mixture and a high speed (run) mixture screw.

 

Again these are all "maybe's" but some ideas I have off top of my head.

 

 

This model does not have a height switch as a matter of fact you could start it at what ever height you had previousl mowed at if you wanted to. the only safety it has in that matter is the engaugement switch. I also don't see an inline fuse but i will look further.

 

The fuel pump is somewhat universal as far as it comes on Xhp through Yhp models so I am (almost) positive it is the correct one. I recently changed the engine oil and found no fuel in the oil. I did have a small issue a while ago with the carb flooding. But that was because the needle and seat had junk on it. And it had crud because the fuel filter came apart. Ever since I changed the filter it had been fine.

 

Mine wont fire with out the brake on

 

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

 

That is pretty common and this one is the same.

[OldCrLvr]

Update: I finally found a fuse. It is a 30amp blade and is blown. So I am going to replace it and see what happens.

[00Silverado4x4]

Sweet. Hope that fixes the no-start problem.

[Coolmaker]

Update: I finally found a fuse. It is a 30amp blade and is blown. So I am going to replace it and see what happens.

 

 

Now you need to find out what overloaded and caused the fuse to blow. ;)