Ok I have a 4 year old Wright 36" stander with a Kawasaki 18.5 FS600V. It has always ran fine until a week ago I did notice once a week it would blow white smoke on start up then clear out. The engine started sputtering and popping at low to medium throttle. If I raise it full throttle it would cut and run fine. Once I turned off the blades and idled down it started popping real loud. So I took it to the local mechanic and theey called and said it was done. They performed a carb cleaning. I went to put it on the trailer at the shop and it did the same thing. I went back in and told them. They kept it another day and flushed the fuel system and carb again. It seemed to run a little better but not 100%. It started running real bad yesterday so I took the carb off and went thru it. Found a little stuff in the bowl but not much. I cleaned every hole on that carb pilot jet main jet every thing was cleaned. Put it back together and it sounds and acts the same. What am I missing here? Is the problem deeper than the carb? The exhaust smells rich of fuel so I adjusted the pilot jet with no change to the popping. I am at a loss here thanks.
Kawasaki FS600V 18.5 engine problems
Rcgm
1 - 20 of 28 Posts
Ok I have a 4 year old Wright 36" stander with a Kawasaki 18.5 FS600V. It has always ran fine until a week ago I did notice once a week it would blow white smoke on start up then clear out. The engine started sputtering and popping at low to medium throttle. If I raise it full throttle it would cut and run fine. Once I turned off the blades and idled down it started popping real loud. So I took it to the local mechanic and theey called and said it was done. They performed a carb cleaning. I went to put it on the trailer at the shop and it did the same thing. I went back in and told them. They kept it another day and flushed the fuel system and carb again. It seemed to run a little better but not 100%. It started running real bad yesterday so I took the carb off and went thru it. Found a little stuff in the bowl but not much. I cleaned every hole on that carb pilot jet main jet every thing was cleaned. Put it back together and it sounds and acts the same. What am I missing here? Is the problem deeper than the carb? The exhaust smells rich of fuel so I adjusted the pilot jet with no change to the popping. I am at a loss here thanks.
Joined
·
399 Posts
I had a similar case and it turned out to be a failing ignition coil. Sometimes the coil would fire and sometimes not. When the coil was not firing the exhaust had a raw fuel smell since the fuel was not burning in the combustion chamber and there was a popping sound out the exhaust. I don't remember the spec but I measured the primary side of each coil and they had very different ohm readings. My supplier said he has been selling a lot of kawasaki coils due to a high failure rate. Before replacing any parts, measure the resistance of the primary and secondary side of each coil to compare. You can also use insulated pliers to pull off the spark plug wire at the spark plug while the engine is running and compare rpm drop on each side. If it is a coil and it is acting up at the time, one side will usually have a lot less rpm drop compared to the other.
When I remove the wire with the engine running on the right I notice no difference in the sound. When I remove the left wire the engine starts to stumble. Sounds like my other engine when the coil started failing but not as bad.
Posted via Mobile Device
I would try replacing the coil on the side where it stumbles. I've done a few coils and for the correct air gap I use a business card between the flywheel and the coil. It seems to be a good air gap but not close enough to make the coil rub or hit the flywheel.
Joined
·
399 Posts
You found your problem, the right side coil is not producing enough spark. I tell my customers since one coil went bad, the other may not be far behind. They usually agree and have me replace both coils at the same time. Doing so saves the labor of going back in there and prevents the down time. My advice to you: replace both coils while you are in there.
Joined
·
399 Posts
Once you fix your engine, are you going to go back to your "favorite" local dealer and tell them what you found and how they blew the diagnosis? Maybe if you teach them something they will refund your money. Ask them why they didn't pull the spark plug wires and do a cylinder balance test.
Joined
·
399 Posts
Just the opposite. When you remove the coil wire from the spark plug and the engine stumbles, it's telling you that cylinder is producing power by burning the fuel. When there is no drop in rpm (stumble), that indicates the defective coil or at least the cylinder that is not producing power.
No offense but that would most likely be a waste of time, it's sad but it seems to me they don't usually care. I have found dealers are best for the inexperienced "new" owner who takes it in every time there's a "simple" problem (such as a dirty air filter or a bad spark plug) but once you get into carburetion or coils or deeper you're as well, if not better off fixing it on your own.
Fixing it yourself, you'll be short or out of one machine just about as long, I mean we're talking what, 2-3 or 4-6 weeks?
Right, by the time youv'e done made two or three trips back and forth to the dealer you're out about that as well.
At least that's been my experience.
Time, and time, and time and time and again.
Joined
·
399 Posts
No offense taken. I was not making a suggestion, simply asking a question.
As to your comment about the dealer experience, well that's too bad that the dealers in your area are not willing to pay for quality technicians but to simply generalize making the suggestion that all dealers have lousy service personnel is simply not true.
Lucky for the OP that he will have his machine fixed as soon as he gets the parts and installs them himself. If the parts are in stock at his local supplier then he can be back to cutting in a matter of an hour or so.
So this morning I start the machine and it's popping and I hear a hiss noise. I pull the plug wire on the left the engine stumbled didn't do that the other day. Try the other side same stumble. Well now I am puzzled and where is this hissing coming from. I take it back to the only dealer around me and tell them it's not right. He comes out and says sounds like a idler bearing. Wtf? No that is the engine. So he says leave it I will figure it out. He calls me at 2 pm today figured out the problem. Your left ohv gasket has a small breach at the bottom sucking in air. That is whats causing the engine to stumble and pop. He also said thats why you smell a strong gas smell. That breach in the gasket is making that cylinder not fire correctly. I did notice a small amount of oil at the bottom of the OHV gasket. So what do you guys think? Think this might be the cause of the engine popping and running rough?
Posted via Mobile Device
Posted via Mobile Device
Joined
·
399 Posts
Intermittent coils are fun, aren't they? You already found a defective coil the other day and today it's working again. Tomorrow the coil may stop working and you are back to square one. You can let the dealer fix the oil leak/broken ohv gasket but what will you do if that doesn't fix the original problem? I'd love to hear what the dealer would say when that happens. The short answer to your question if this might be the cause of the engine popping and running rough? Probably not.
I'm going to take a guess here and say that since your machine is back at the dealer you probably didn't even measure the resistance of both coils on the primary side. True?
I'm going to take a guess here and say that since your machine is back at the dealer you probably didn't even measure the resistance of both coils on the primary side. True?
No I didn't measure the resistance because I took it back first thing this morning before reading here. I will tell you I did order 2 new coils this afternoon and will change them. If they don't fix the problem and the coils do I will let them know for sure. I honestly don't think a oil leak is causing my problem. But they offered to look at it again for free so I let them.
Posted via Mobile Device
Joined
·
399 Posts
At least the price was right.
I agree with you that the oil leak you describe would not cause the problem you are experiencing.
I always advocate testing parts before ordering/replacing but you did say in a previous post that one of the coils did not change rpm when you disconnected it from the spark plug. I recently had an Kohler engine with 11 hours on it do the same as yours - popping from the exhaust and a slight smell of raw fuel. Of course this was warranty but the customer was upset over loss of use while waiting for parts to arrive. I told him that the average automobile was made up of about 15,000 pieces and parts. If that automobile was 99.9% perfect, 15 parts would still break. He got the idea and realized things weren't so bad.
I hope the coil replacement job goes well for you.
Joined
·
4,222 Posts
A bad plug itself can become intermittent as well. I would change the plugs too. I was stuck out on the river with a single cylinder 5hp merc a few weeks ago. It would start when cold run for 15 seconds WOT and quit. Sounded like it was running out of fuel. I pulled the plug and it sparked slammed it back together and cleaned the carb nothing in there. Now I re-adjusted the float etc... Nothing. Motor got cold again and it started for 15 seconds. Moral of the story, the spark plug was sparking but it was shorted internally and I couldn't get a good look at it while pulling the rope. When I got home I had someone pull the rope and I could see in my dark garage the plug was sparking backwards from the ground strap to the engine and not from the electrode to the ground strap. Never seen this happen before. To be honest usually on the FH Kawasaki engines the coils die I haven't had a intermittent one. Now, Echo stuff is a different story. Once they warm up, the coils would die. Shoot the coils and see what they come out to cold and hot. I have a FS engine on a Wright velke in the garage it's got a cold cylinder steady miss I can touch the exhaust coming out of the head after mowing the yard.
turns out it was the intake gasket was bad and the engine was sucking in air causing the left cylinder to burn lean.
Joined
·
399 Posts
Thank you for updating us. How did you determine that a vacuum leak was causing the problem?
Well the second time I took it in I heard a little hiss but didn't pay much attention to it. They said it was a dirty carb so I went with it. Got it back and it seemed to run better for a few days then down hill it went. So I took the carb apart and cleaned every port and jet. Put it all back together and it still was stumbling like a bad coil. So when I took it back I started it for the mechanic and I heard the hiss noise again. I said do you hear that hiss sounds like a vacumm leak. He said sounds like a bad idler pulley on the deck
umm the deck isn't even on I said. Well leave it and I will figure it out. He called me and said it was a bad intake gasket. I first thought he said OHV gasket as I mentioned in my previous post but I was wrong. They had it for 14 days because Kawasaki had the gaskets on back order. I even tried around on the internet to find them with no luck. Glad to have it back it runs like a raped ape now 
1 - 20 of 28 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
