Kawasaki engine stalls

[twmcmurry]

I have a 1988 John Deere 265 lawn tractor with a FC540V 17 hp Kawasaki engine. The other night I was cutting the grass and turned on the headlights and the engine stalled. I cranked it back up and it happened again. I have replaced the battery and it still does it. It now stalls when the blades are engaged. The engaging mechanism for the blades it electric also. It has a full tank of gas. What could be the problem?

[tiedeman]

so it runs fine until your engage the blades or turn on the headlights? I mean can it just run period or does it stall out after about 5 to 10 seconds?

[twmcmurry]

Sometimes it stalls after 5 or 10 seconds without engaging anything. Sometimes it runs fine until I engage the blades. Most times it stalls after 5 or 10 seconds.

[NBLL]

I'm not familiar with your particular mower at all but as far as general elctrical troubleshooting, check all of your electrical connections and wires from the battery on to the switch and controls. Also check the ground. sounds like there might be a loose connection or restriction in current so there is enough juice going through for the engine to work but not run deck and lights at the same time. With it now stalling with just blades engaged sounds like it may be getting progressively worse. You didn't mention if but do you have to charge the battery to restart it? If so then it is the alternator/generator.

[twmcmurry]

I just put a new battery in it yesterday. The old battery started it just fine but I wanted to eliminate it. I called a local JD dealer Saturday and they thought it was either the battery or the part around the flywheel (I can't think of what it's called) that charges the battery and provides power while running. Everything was working fine until I turned on the lights that one time. Now the lights stalled the engine and the blades won't engage without stalling.

[Mr.Stripey Lawn Care]

This is a little off the subject, and I am not familiar with your mower either, but I pulled my bob-cat ZT 219 Out of the garage the other day and had the same problem. I put fresh gas in the left tank and it ran fine, but the right tank kept stalling it out and making it run rough.

So if any of this sounds familiar, it might be bad gas. I heard that gasoline has a shelf life of 15 days now. I don't know how accurate that is, but it seems to be true.

[tiedeman]

I personally think it has to do with the fuel filter or fuel lines. Check those out first. Maybe also try some dry gas.

[jsr2741]

The little thing around your flywheel is called a magneto and if it's going bad, when put under a load it can stall your engine.

[twmcmurry]

I am pretty sure it's not a fuel problem. I used the same tank of gas to fuel another mower and it's working fine. Must be an electircal / charging problem.

[The Lawn Boy Pro]

Check your fuses and check for any frayed wires. I hve a Encore Pro Line Z with a 20 HP liquid cooled Kaw and the same thing was happening.

I also had the same type of problem on my Trac Vac Engine. It was a piece of the carb. seal that had fallen into the float bowl, and It was getting sucked up on the gas inlet. After I got It out, It ran fine.

[mygreengrass]

I would start with the easy. I have a SCAG that does the same thing about once a season. Replacing the fuel filter takes care of it for me.