Thought I might ask for a little help on this one...
I've got a little John Deere lawn tractor with a 2 cyl Kawasaki motor in it, 10 years old.
This spring when I fired it up it had no power to speak of... with the deck engaged and me on it mowing is almost impossible.
This is after I did the regular maintenance. Oil, fuel filter, air filter, plugs, etc.
The fuel filter was full of crud. Turns out the grommet in the fuel tank for the fuel pick up had disintegrated. Replaced that and blew out the fuel lines and cleaned the tank out.
When it runs it blows white smoke. Not a huge cloud but definitely noticeable.
There's no coolant in the oil and no oil in the coolant. Doesn't burn oil either.
I'm thinking its not getting enough fuel.

The inline fuel filter doesn't fill up with gas when I run it. But I don't know if that's normal cuz I never drove it around with the hood off before?

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks,
Mike

 

try cleaning the carb, maybe a tiny piece made it through filter and is sticking on the needle valve

 

Try this site it is all JD lawnmowers http://www.weekendfreedommachines.com/

 

Thanks for the link. Did some browsing through other posts there and it points towards the carb alright.

I wanted some validation before I tore into it cause its looks to be a pita to get at...

Mike

 

Don't worry about the fuel filter, mine doesn't fill up all of the way either. Are both plugs firing? With the engine running pull off one spark plug wire (If good, the engine should drop in rpm's) put the first wire back on and pull off the second wire, same thing should happen. If the rpms don't fall when you pull a wire then that spark plug isn't firing.

 

Scott,
Thanks for the filter info! I did that plug check and it came out sat.
Since I posted I've actually ran the mower for about 16 hours. Threw a mix of octane boost and injector cleaner in cuz I was pretty sure it was fuel related - as in the high speed jet was fouled with tarnish. Running it didn't help.
I was hoping for some positive re-inforcement on the carb since its kind of a pain to get at...
But finally decided it was not going to fix itself...
Yesterday tore it down to get to the carb and lo and behold there's a formed 1/4" hose, about 1.5" long that was connected to a port on the carb on one end but not to the valve port on the other. Looks like a piece might be missing.
Called the JD dealer and parts could see the hose but not what it was connected to when they were looking at the exploded view of the carb.
So I'll have to drive down and look myself tomorrow.
Here's what I find irritating...
If I have a problem with any appliance in my house I can go to a number of websites, download an exploded parts view of any assembly, pull the part number, order it online, and it shows up at my door in a couple of days.
But if it's something with an internal combustion engine you have to buy a manual or go someplace where they have a manual. Then occasionally you still get the wrong part.
If its not a scam it certainly isn't convenient.
Mike

 

Hmmm.
I actually had not done the sparkplug check as Scott suggested. What I did was pull the plugs and just watched for spark. Which is there.

So back to the carb. Turns out the little hose is a vent hose and not supposed to be attached to anything. So I cleaned out the carb and put everything back together and no change in performance.

So I did Scott's spark test and when I pulled the first plug wire the tractor died. Turns out the other cylinder has spark but isn't getting fuel - doesn't even get wet with the plug wire off.

So that's not good...

 

Not knowing much about JD lawn tractors myself but if the fuel tank is in the rear, check the fuel pump.

 

i'm pretty sure jd has a site you can get exploded views of things on, i know i've used it for a jd mower, uh, last summer. Yeah, the one i was working on had some serious chain-case problems and they had all the parts lists, exploded views, etc. i'll see if i can find it agian....

 

dorkpunch you were correct! the JD site does have exploded parts views. It was helpful. Kicking myself a bit cause I was there but didn't find it before.
I pulled the valve cover off the bad cylinder and voila', one push rod's off a tappet. Put it back on and the thing runs good! Makes a little valve noise on that side though. The push rod might be bent.
I can't believe I spent all that time on the carburetor... the pushrod took maybe 5 minutes.
But it runs and I didn't pay a couple hundred to have it fixed, so all in all its good.
Thanks to those who posted! I figured I'd get some good advice here... You folks and this site are great!
Mike