John Deere Ls 100 safety switch

mimilkman1 · Aug 20, 2009

I have a John Deere Ls 100 lawn tractor and I am having trouble with the motor dying as soon as I engage the blades. The motor shuts off and I have trouble getting it started back up again. It does this two or three times and then is fine. When I engage the blades I am sitting on the seat with the gear selector in forward gear. I unhooked the seat switch a couple of weeks ago, but hooked it back up again. Is the seat switch going bad?

Kyle

cjk · Aug 21, 2009

Try letting the engine warm up before engaging the blades to see if it makes a difference.

If it worked with the seat switch unhooked before, test it again to see if it works now.

jinman · Aug 21, 2009

Does it have a reverse operation switch? If so, hold that down while engaging the blade. If the engine remains running, that switch is not bad, but the reverse sensing for the transmission could be. Is it a hydrostatic transmission? If so, it could be a simple problem with the position of the HST pedal.

mimilkman1 · Aug 21, 2009

It is a gear drive and has a reverse operation switch. I mowed with it again today and the same thing happened, I engaged the blades, drove 20 feet or so and the motor quit. I started it up again and started driving with blades on and it started to stall, so I disengaged the blades and was able to coax it back to stay running. After that it worked fine for the rest of the lawn, I backed up with the blades running using the reverse switch with no problems. I just may have to let it warm up a little more, but I've never had it do that before.

Kyle

jinman · Aug 22, 2009

Kyle, it does sound like a fuel starvation problem from your description. If choking the engine a little doesn't work, I'd consider getting a new fuel filter and maybe even a new fuel pump. I think the fuel pump on my 1-1/2 year old LA145 is a bit weak. If I let the fuel get down to 1/4 full in the tank, my mower starts to spit and sputter and die. I have to refill the tank and then prime the carburetor to get it going again. I'm pretty sure I will be buying a new fuel pump (about $17) soon.

mimilkman1 · Aug 24, 2009

jinman said:
Kyle, it does sound like a fuel starvation problem from your description. If choking the engine a little doesn't work, I'd consider getting a new fuel filter and maybe even a new fuel pump. I think the fuel pump on my 1-1/2 year old LA145 is a bit weak. If I let the fuel get down to 1/4 full in the tank, my mower starts to spit and sputter and die. I have to refill the tank and then prime the carburetor to get it going again. I'm pretty sure I will be buying a new fuel pump (about $17) soon.

Thanks for the info.
Kyle