JD GT 235 - Two Stall Incidents

[gabdow]

hi,

while traversing a slope (tractor parallel to the slope), the machine has stalled twice this season. it does start back up with a longer than usual crank. the machine has the kawasaki 18 hp twin (fh580v) with about 550 hours. the machine starts instantly on a cold crank and a normal warm crank. i do use a fuel stabilizer with each fill up of the gas can. it's an excellent machine into its 15th season. is it time to clean or overhaul the carb?

thanks.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

Let's get the obvious question out of the way... how much gradient is the slope, which side of the tractor was down-slope and how much fuel is in the tank when this happens?

Enjoy the site.

 

[gabdow]

thanks. gradient is about 7 to 10 degrees (but i'm lousy at that kind of estimation). fuel filter was on the high side and oil filter was on the low side. i believe the tank was 3/4 to full. i change out the fuel filter every other year (about 80 hours).

 

[Ron of Va]

Here are my guesses.
Engine stalls can be caused by many things. If your carburetor needed to be rebuilt and cleaned it would probably run like crap all the time.
Most likely is fuel starvation followed by a safety switch malfunction.

Fuel starvation can come from many things.
Water collecting in the fuel bowl. See if has a drain screw, if not take off the carburetor bowl check for water and empty it. I have had this happen several times to my GT235, but my engine is a Briggs. Stalling on a slope would send me to the carb bowl first thing. Water in the gas tank sloshing around would send water to the carburetor.

Fuel pump and fuel filter could also cause fuel starvation, however since it starts right up, those are probably OK.

There are other reasons, but not very likely ones

 

[crazyal]

There are two different types of safety devices. The first is the one that shuts the mower off immediately if your butt comes off the seat. There's a second that shuts off fuel to the carb in case you roll. The roll safety device is not fast acting as there is fuel in the carb that needs to be used up before the engine dies. I would try repeating the same thing several times just to see if the engine dies in nearly the same spot each time.

 

[sarbo]

I had a Kawasaki that had an oil level switch. On a particular hillside, if the oil was not abolutely topped off, the engine would stop on this safety switch. Maybe you have such a device and the oil level combined with the hill gradient is enough to cause the safety switch to close and cut ignition?