John Deere 111 Engine Problem

[ToolcatWonka5610]

Hi all. I have a 1984 John Deere 111 Hydrostatic 11hp Briggs & Stratton engine with a 38" Mower that I've owned for 2 years this month. Since about last fall I've had an engine problem with it. It will run for about 20-30 minutes and just stall and will not start back up for about 15-20 minutes. I was told 2 different things could be wrong; 1.The coil could be bad. 2.The points could be bad. Which one do you guys think it is?

 

[KML]

I thought Briggs (and John Deere) changed from points to the "electronic" ignition in 82 but my memmory isn't what it once was, either way the easiest fix is to replace the ignition with the electronic (newer) one.

At some point in the '80s Briggs stopped using points and developed an electronic ignition module. It's a coil and pick-up all in one and makes the points unnecessary. It came on all of their engines from that point on, but they made it a direct plug and play for the earlier points engines also. It bolts right to where the original one was, then you cut the wire from the points and leave them in place. No muss, no fuss, no pulling the flywheel to mess with the points. It really is a 15 minute job.

Call any decent small engine shop around you and they'll probably have a used module they'll sell you for ~ $15 and even tell you how to install it.

This may help also:

http://faqs.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/fa...F9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1wb2ludHM*&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

[ToolcatWonka5610]

My 111 is a 1984. Hopefully it has electronic ignition because I do not want to pull that flywheel off. I'd almost definitely need a flywheel puller, who know how rusted on that thing will be. But I want a new coil.
Another thing thats been bugging me. I have a Twin Bagger for it with High Lift blades. But whenever I mow with the high lift blades it slows the engine down some, even in dry short grass. Is the 11hp engine underpowered for running those big high lift blades? I need to mow my grandpa's neighbor's lawn and I wanna vacuum up those dang dandelions.