27HP Kawasaki died suddenly while mowing

[rreyn1812]

I'm out in a field that is part of a cemetery just mowing away with my JD Ztrak 830 w/27hp Kawa and suddenly the engine just drops to an extremely low idle. I kill the blades and the engine is still just barely idling. Try moving the sticks forward hoping I can just get it back to the trailer, but no way. It dies. Getting a real sinking feeling and just hoping it's nothing too bad. Try to start it, and it does start, barely! Try getting it to move again, and it dies. NO! I just know this isn't going to be fun.

I noticed that the throttle doesn't feel right, so I start checking the connections and everything looks pretty good, so start looking at everything just hoping I find something simple. Ah ha!! I noticed that the governor spring has broken at the bottom so I whip out the old Leatherman and put a turn in the bottom and reconnect it to the governor lever at the bottom of the motor. Holding my breath I give her a try. Starts right up and is running good; maybe just a tad fast, but still good. Whew!!! Dodged a bullet on this one!!

The dealer has to order the spring, but it will be in tomorrow so I won't miss any mowing. Engine has approx 535 hrs on it and other than this problem is running good on Mobil 1.

[Firefighter337]

The suspense was killing me. Glad it worked out for you.