Mower with Kawasaki Engine help

Carolinatlc

Carolinatlc

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I have an old Yazoo Kees Zero Turn Mower with a Kawasaki engine. I've had it for 15 years or so and I think it was a few years old when I bought it. It has done everything I have needed and I have never had any issues with it. Currently has just under 800 hours on it.

Recently, it has lost power after running for 20-30min. It still runs but not well enough to actually cut grass. The last 2 times using it, it seems to be fine until shutting it down and starting it up again. I just cut the front yard and everything was fine. I turned it off to start a chimney of charcoal for tonights dinner an 5 min later, it's running like crap.

Last weekend after having issues I did my regular yearly maintenance of changing the oil and filter, changing the fuel filter, sharpening blades and also replaced the plugs, fuel pump and air filter. I still have issues.

Any ideas on what is going on? To me it seems heat related as it will crank and run fine after cooling off. I've run ethanol free gas through it for the last 5 or more years.
 
Is there an electrical connector on the bottom of the fuel bowl? Maybe spark plug. Maybe fuel filter installed backwards. Could be a valve adjustment. Plug vents in the carb keeping it in choke mode.......
 
Possible coil or electronic ignition module heat-related fail. If these are known to be OK, check the exhaust valve clearance. On the old flathead Briggs & Stratton the exhaust valves would recede causing a loss of valve clearance; this was not uncommon. Would start OK but after full warmup the valve clearance would be too tight. Grind a couple thou off the stem and Bob's yer uncle.
 
I would give it a good service for fuel system flush the fuel tanks - drain into a clear container and shine a light down in the tank - this sounds like fuel contamination (water and or debris)
The drop the bowl on the bottom of the carb be careful not to destroy the bowl gasket.
Kawasaki makes a great engine and 800 hours is not worn out as long as you have kept fresh oil and a relatively clean air filter

I used to sell Yazoo Kees for the factory - it’s a good unit
 
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heavydoc said:
Is there an electrical connector on the bottom of the fuel bowl? Maybe spark plug. Maybe fuel filter installed backwards. Could be a valve adjustment. Plug vents in the carb keeping it in choke mode.......
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Nothing on the bottom of the bowl. Just changed the plugs last weekend. I'll pull them again tomorrow to see what they look like. I've never adjusted the valves before so I'll look into that.

On the carb, it cranks and runs fine when cold. What would plug after warming up?
 
Red Marley said:
Possible coil or electronic ignition module heat-related fail. If these are known to be OK, check the exhaust valve clearance. On the old flathead Briggs & Stratton the exhaust valves would recede causing a loss of valve clearance; this was not uncommon. Would start OK but after full warmup the valve clearance would be too tight. Grind a couple thou off the stem and Bob's yer uncle.
Click to expand...
I ordered a set of coils just in case, not idea if current ones are good or not. I'll look into adjusting valves, never done it before.
 
BrettB said:
I would give it a good service for fuel system flush the fuel tanks - drain into a clear container and shine a light down in the tank - this sounds like fuel contamination (water and or debris)
The drop the bowl on the bottom of the carb be careful not to destroy the bowl gasket.
Kawasaki makes a great engine and 800 hours is not worn out as long as you have kept fresh oil and a relatively clean air filter

I used to sell Yazoo Kees for the factory - it’s a good unit
Click to expand...
I'll probably drain everything tomorrow as both tanks are under 1/4 full. New fuel filter is a clear plastic one and it look fine though. The last time I drained them and flushed them was around 5 years ago when switching to ethanol free gas.
 
Does it start to lose power before it finally quits?

I've had vintage Cub Cadets do that when they've had what usually turns out to be rust bits in the gas tank. There's enough fuel that makes it through the lines into the bowl when it's sitting that it runs ok for a while. Then it starts to use more fuel than can be supplied into the carb and they would start to run lean and begin to lose power. Lean engines run hot and finally they'd starve out and really get hot (occasionally with a very surprising backfire as it stalled out).

Fuel system flush and a cleanout of the sediment trap would usually get them running again.
 
Carolinatlc said:
Nothing on the bottom of the bowl. Just changed the plugs last weekend. I'll pull them again tomorrow to see what they look like. I've never adjusted the valves before so I'll look into that.

On the carb, it cranks and runs fine when cold. What would plug after warming up?
Click to expand...
The needle if it is that kind of carb
 
Carolinatlc said:
I'll probably drain everything tomorrow as both tanks are under 1/4 full. New fuel filter is a clear plastic one and it look fine though. The last time I drained them and flushed them was around 5 years ago when switching to ethanol free gas.
Click to expand...
Don’t forget that fuel vent in the cap - if it is not working system will vacuum lock and starve the engine for fuel
 
Carolinatlc said:
I'll probably drain everything tomorrow as both tanks are under 1/4 full. New fuel filter is a clear plastic one and it look fine though. The last time I drained them and flushed them was around 5 years ago when switching to ethanol free gas.
Click to expand...
The fact that it starts and runs at all - most likely eliminates any issues with the valves - that’s a OHV engine
Post the model number of the engine
 
BrettB said:
The fact that it starts and runs at all - most likely eliminates any issues with the valves - that’s a OHV engine
Post the model number of the engine
Click to expand...
It’s a Kawasaki FH500V.

I let it sit in the yard for an hour or so after it was running rough. Cranked right up but didn’t have much power. I drove it over and parked it under the shed and will look at it again tomorrow.
 
I was hoping to work on it some today but some older friends called and needed a hand with a few things this morning. Got home a little after lunch and wanted to try and finish cutting the backyard. Ran fine until the last strip and lost power. I got it finished by running super slow and parked it. I'll plan on draining and cleaning out the tanks and lines this weekend as a first step. I do see a little trash in the new gas filter so hopefully that is all it is.
 
Carolinatlc said:
I was hoping to work on it some today but some older friends called and needed a hand with a few things this morning. Got home a little after lunch and wanted to try and finish cutting the backyard. Ran fine until the last strip and lost power. I got it finished by running super slow and parked it. I'll plan on draining and cleaning out the tanks and lines this weekend as a first step. I do see a little trash in the new gas filter so hopefully that is all it is.
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Have you checked the air filter?
That was the issue with mine that I found this spring.
New filter and it's running great.
 
ronn47 said:
Have you checked the air filter?
That was the issue with mine that I found this spring.
New filter and it's running great.
Click to expand...
I replaced the air filter and prefilter last weekend when doing a tune up. The old one actually looked really good but I replaced it anyway.
 
I also think that it sounds like a heat related coil failure. Could be dropping a cylinder. Put a spark tester on it after it runs rough when hot.
I always replace in pairs and use oem ignition coils.
 
Ethanol degradation of the fuel lines and/or carb?
Due to the machine's age, the fuel system components may not like the E15 gasoline
 
Had the same experience a few years ago with a fx921v engine. It would start and run great, after a while it would lose power like it was missing/skipping. If I parked for a bit, it would run good again for a bit and then lose power again. Replacing the coils solved that problem
 
I cleaned out both tanks and flushed the whole system with fresh gas. Surprisingly, I got very little trash out of it. One tank was perfect with nothing draining into a white container. The other had a few specs but did have a few pieces of trash in the elbow connecter coming out the bottom of the tank. Not really sure what it was but they were stuck and that tank took much longer to drain. I went ahead and replaced both elbow fitting and the fuel filter. Added fresh gas to one tank and cranked it. Cranked fine and seemed to have good power but went back to little power quickly.

I shut it off and pulled the airfilter assembly to see the carb. It's filthy back there but on the outside. Plugged the carb intake up and have been cleaning up some. Here's the first questions for now. I do have the fuel shutoff solenoid on the bottom. Figured I'd go ahead and pull it to drain the carb. While it is off, I wanted to test it. I stuck it in my vice and put power to it and nothing. If I barely touch the needle coming out of the solenoid, it retracks while I have power on it. With no power, I can easily push the needle in since it is under small spring tension. I've cycled it multiple times by hand seeing if it would free up. I don't feel any tension when cycling by hand other than the spring. Could this be the issue?

I ordered a set of coils yesterday that should be here tomorrow. Any issues testing the fuel shutoff as a problem by just sticking a screw in place of the solenoid? It's a M8x1.0. Doubt I have anything here but could run up to the hardware store.
 
Carolinatlc said:
I cleaned out both tanks and flushed the whole system with fresh gas. Surprisingly, I got very little trash out of it. One tank was perfect with nothing draining into a white container. The other had a few specs but did have a few pieces of trash in the elbow connecter coming out the bottom of the tank. Not really sure what it was but they were stuck and that tank took much longer to drain. I went ahead and replaced both elbow fitting and the fuel filter. Added fresh gas to one tank and cranked it. Cranked fine and seemed to have good power but went back to little power quickly.

I shut it off and pulled the airfilter assembly to see the carb. It's filthy back there but on the outside. Plugged the carb intake up and have been cleaning up some. Here's the first questions for now. I do have the fuel shutoff solenoid on the bottom. Figured I'd go ahead and pull it to drain the carb. While it is off, I wanted to test it. I stuck it in my vice and put power to it and nothing. If I barely touch the needle coming out of the solenoid, it retracks while I have power on it. With no power, I can easily push the needle in since it is under small spring tension. I've cycled it multiple times by hand seeing if it would free up. I don't feel any tension when cycling by hand other than the spring. Could this be the issue?

I ordered a set of coils yesterday that should be here tomorrow. Any issues testing the fuel shutoff as a problem by just sticking a screw in place of the solenoid? It's a M8x1.0. Doubt I have anything here but could run up to the hardware store.
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Just cut the plunger off. It's useless IMHO.
 
What you're describing sounds like fuel delivery problem. It may not be related to temperature, even if it seems to be happening only after the engine warms up. Lots of things can contribute to this. Such as debris in the tank which only moves around when the mower is running/moving. Or vibration related issues.

Replace that fuel shutoff solenoid. They're only a few bucks anyway according to my Google-fu ($10 to $15).
 
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