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Just got my mower back from the shop and everything they put on it must have been made of gold, so I'm not too excited about the prospect of taking it back. Hoping y'all might have some ideas. The mower runs great but unless I let it idle for a while before mowing engaging the blades kills the engine. Similarly sometimes when cutting through a heavier patch of grass the engine will load up and nearly die. I thought this was probably a fuel demand problem caused by using gas with ethanol in it but after new lines and a tune up it seems to be worse. What do y'all think?

Sounds like the float is trying to stick or is not opening like it should. I'd run some SeaFoam (local parts store) in the tank to see if that will clear up the sticky float or some what clogged power jet.

IF the tank and CARB is fairly clean it should improve, or it will break what's there free and it may stop up every thing to the point it won't run at all.
Or you could try running it like it is for awhile to see if it clears up on it's own. That is possible too.

I don't use ethanol ever at home. I even buy non-E even in my Tahoe. Stuff is horrible.

Hope you get it going man!!

have had good luck with seafoam also

mfalkner wrote:have had good luck with seafoam also

Seafoam is great in anything in my world with a motor!

We've had this happen with ours. We get our gas delivered to the shop, and we had a bad batch of gas. We run all non-ethanol now, but I would get your gas tested. Our local NAPA store (same place we buy our mowers) will test it for us.

I would have your carburetor checked. Before we switched to non-ethanol gas we commonly had gunked up carbs after not being used as much in the winter. It'll run fine, get it under load and it dies / barely makes it through (same happens to weedeaters). Can't tell you how many carb rebuild kits we went through because the ethanol eats the seals. Finally we had enough and we had our own tanks brought to the shop.

If you do take it back to your repair man, tell him to make sure he doesn't just let it idle in the parking lot as that will do nothing. He needs to put it under load.

Thanks. I bought the Seafoam but was cautioned against the same thing y'all said about loosening too much build up at once and loading the carburetor up with it so I decided against it. I was told I could "overdose" it with Stabil ethanol treatment and get the same effect but more gradually so I tried that. So far so good. Running like a top.

Changing your plug helps too, they sale what the call a cold plug or hot plug,,the hot one help under load because their spark is stronger/

landscaper wrote:Thanks. I bought the Seafoam but was cautioned against the same thing y'all said about loosening too much build up at once and loading the carburetor up with it so I decided against it. I was told I could "overdose" it with Stabil ethanol treatment and get the same effect but more gradually so I tried that. So far so good. Running like a top.

We ran Stabil for a bit in ours. I would look around for non-ethanol gas around you. Usually most towns have atleast one station. It will be a bit more expensive, but you're seals won't dry out and crack.

We were told by a long time mechanic friend if you do have to use Ethanol gas, if something is going to be sitting for a long time fill it alllllllllll the way up. To the very top and put the gas cap back on. Ethanol draws water, so if there is room in your tank it'll draw water out of the air in there.

sab316 wrote:

landscaper wrote:Thanks. I bought the Seafoam but was cautioned against the same thing y'all said about loosening too much build up at once and loading the carburetor up with it so I decided against it. I was told I could "overdose" it with Stabil ethanol treatment and get the same effect but more gradually so I tried that. So far so good. Running like a top.

We ran Stabil for a bit in ours. I would look around for non-ethanol gas around you. Usually most towns have atleast one station. It will be a bit more expensive, but you're seals won't dry out and crack.

We were told by a long time mechanic friend if you do have to use Ethanol gas, if something is going to be sitting for a long time fill it alllllllllll the way up. To the very top and put the gas cap back on. Ethanol draws water, so if there is room in your tank it'll draw water out of the air in there.

Interesting. We do have one station here that sells ethanol free gas but I'm guilty of using the other stuff most of the time out of convenience. I keep Stabil in the cans and try to run everything empty after use. It's a crap shoot I guess.

It could be any number of issues to be honest. I'd start with fire, then test the fuel system. Does it die when increasing throttle without the blades engaged or only when it is under a load ? Give me some more info on the engine and mower (make, model, sn).

RebelYelp wrote:It could be any number of issues to be honest. I'd start with fire, then test the fuel system. Does it die when increasing throttle without the blades engaged or only when it is under a load ? Give me some more info on the engine and mower (make, model, sn).

Ferris IS 3200 series, 61", 27hp (maybe 26?) Kawasaki engine. It only loads up when I engage the blades or when I'm cutting and running wide open and hit some thicker grass (not necessarily taller). If I can get the deck up out of the grass in time or slow down to a crawl I can keep it from dying completely. It has new spark plugs and new fuel line on one tank. I cut with it Sunday and started out on the tank with the new line and it did fine. I swapped back and forth between tanks as I cut so as to run fuel system treatment through both sides and it was improving by the time I finished.

landscaper wrote:

RebelYelp wrote:It could be any number of issues to be honest. I'd start with fire, then test the fuel system. Does it die when increasing throttle without the blades engaged or only when it is under a load ? Give me some more info on the engine and mower (make, model, sn).

Ferris IS 3200 series, 61", 27hp (maybe 26?) Kawasaki engine. It only loads up when I engage the blades or when I'm cutting and running wide open and hit some thicker grass (not necessarily taller). If I can get the deck up out of the grass in time or slow down to a crawl I can keep it from dying completely. It has new spark plugs and new fuel line on one tank. I cut with it Sunday and started out on the tank with the new line and it did fine. I swapped back and forth between tanks as I cut so as to run fuel system treatment through both sides and it was improving by the time I finished.

good deal !