Governor acting up on Kaw 26 LC

[Happy Frog]

In the last 2 hours or so, it feels like the governor of my Kaw 26 LC engine is "sticking": when the engine needs an increase of power, it starts to slow down and suddenly accelerate to the rpm it is should be at.
It is like the governor is "sticking" and suddenly "free" itself to give the proper increase of power.
Does not happen all the time but it became more frequent in the last hour.
It is most noticeable when I move the control forward to increase speed or when I engage the blades (the engine stalled once or twice).
Anyone knows what is causing this?
I have about 160 hours on the engine.

[Restrorob]

My guess would be sand/dust build-up in the governor shaft and or carb throttle shaft.

Shoot some carb & choke spray cleaner into the governor shaft (where the governor arm is) followed with compressed air if available, Then shoot some Fluid Film (http://www.fluid-film.com/products/index.html) in there and work the governor arm by hand a few times and check the carb throttle shaft as well cleaning the same way.


Hope your a Happier Frog if this solves the problem..... Thumbs Up

[djagusch]

It should be still warrantied so bring it to the dealer.

[Restrorob]

Warranty covers defects in material and workmanship, It does not cover cleaning and or adjustments......

[mowerknower]

What are you talking about restrorob? Warranty cover everything from abuse, misuse, accedents and old fuel. Oh wait, thats just what the customer thinks. Also, he never posted numbers and purchase date, just because it only has 160 hours on it does not mean that there is any warranty left.

[Restrorob]

What are you talking about restrorob? Warranty cover everything from abuse, misuse, accedents and old fuel. Oh wait, thats just what the customer thinks. Also, he never posted numbers and purchase date, just because it only has 160 hours on it does not mean that there is any warranty left.


LMAO !!!

I guess you got me on that one !


I have a Walker in the shop now, It looks like a brand new unit and only has 77 hrs. on it. I couldn't figure why the customer brought it to us for repair instead of a Walker dealer for warranty, I then seen the manufacture date of 2005.....

[Happy Frog]

There are 5 months left on engine warranty but I'd like to know what is going on before I escalate the problem to the dealer.
If it's just something external, I'd rather take care of it myself.
I was wondering what it could be if it was internal. :confused:

[djagusch]

What are you talking about restrorob? Warranty cover everything from abuse, misuse, accedents and old fuel. Oh wait, thats just what the customer thinks. Also, he never posted numbers and purchase date, just because it only has 160 hours on it does not mean that there is any warranty left.

His mower is a 08 according to his sig. Simple math says it's most likely under 2 years.

With that being the case. If a engine is acting up under warranty I would bring it in because if I start messing with it the dealer could say I messed something up.

Oh wait techs never blame the owner for performing poor repairs.

At my dealer he would take a look at it when I stopped by and either say do this (the cleaning idea) or say he needs it (and then says take this mower while he fixes it).

[Happy Frog]

I thought I would give a follow up as it may help others having the same kind of problem. :)

I checked the governor arm and it was moving freely so I checked it again while the engine was running. I grabbed the governor link at the carb and kicked it up a few times and the engine was not accelerating smoothly.
It was sputtering a bit before revving up and I could smell gas vapor from the exhaust.
I had already checked the spark plugs and there were looking nice and clean so I went back to basics before I would bring the mower to the Dealer (warranty).
I put new air filters: no luck
Changed both spark plugs: problem solved :cool2:

One (or both) spark plug was the problem. The spark was good enough to run the engine but was not strong enough to ignite properly when gas was added to the mix to increase the rpm.

The good news is that E3 spark plugs have a lifetime warranty Thumbs Up

Note to myself: always start the troubleshooting by installing new spark plugs on an engine (even if they look like new) :hammerhead: