John Deere X300 Running rough Quitting while mowing

[MajMac392]

I have a 2009 X300 Rider and after cutting the grass for 20-30 minutes it starts surging real bad and finally will quit. Sometimes if I push up and hold the choke lever it will continue to run but only for a short while. The x300 with a Kawasaki motor only has 90+ hours on it. When this happened earlier this year I changed the fuel filter thinking that was the culprit but now it's doing it again. The fuel filter never seems to be more than 1/4 full of gas is this normal for a JD? I pulled the fuel line off from the pump to the carb and fuel comes out but not in to great a stream. Does this indicate a bad pump or is a small stream of gas normal? From the parts diagram the fuel pump appears to be a JDUC16533 pump. Any ideas?

 

[Diggin It]

Have you checked flow from the tank before the pump? Obstruction in the tank maybe? Do you add any kind of treatments to the gas? Seafoam, MMO, StaBil, etc.?

I don't understand how you only have 90 hours on a 12 year old machine. I have close to 1,200 hours on mine and I don't use it very much.

 

[MajMac392]

I always use Stabil in my gas so I don't think that could be it. I'm not sure how I would check the flow from the tank unless just as a gravity flow? I thought about an obstruction in the tank but wondered what it could be. I looked at taking the tank out completely but it wasn't real clear to me how easily it would come out.

Yes, the mower only has 93 hours on it. The area I mow I wouldn't cut more than 8-10 times a season and the last two years have been very dry and I haven't used it much.

 

[bmg88201]

I have 2010 X300 with 610 hours on it. Mine did about the same thing but a bad fuel filter was the culprit. I hate Sta-bil it gums everything up, local small engine guy said he would never use that crap. Seafoam works better anyway. I would pull the bowl off the carb and check it for trash and check flow of gas prior to fuel pump as mentioned above. Last resort is getting a new fuel pump. Good luck and let us know the solution you found.

 

[MajMac392]

Does the gas filter on your X300 stay full of gas or does just a small amount stay in it? I may pull the carb bowl off but it seems odd it will run fine for 30 minutes or longer sometimes and then it starts chugging and running rough.

Interesting about your comments on Stabil. I’ve used it religiously here in Maine for probably the last 20 or so years on both my 2 cycle and 4 cycle gas, ever since our gas changed. I did switch to the blue Marine grade of Stabil 4-5 years or so ago from something I read I believe.

I’ve never experienced any problem “yet”! I have a wheeled Honda Generator for my house that I keep full of gas. Every Fall I pull it out and start it up and it starts on the first or second pull every time. Some years it has sat all year with no use, so I run it under load for 30 minutes or so, then drain that gas out and put fresh Stabil gas back in.

 

[tomplum]

I sound like a broken record here, but grab a few feet of 1/4" fuel line- hook to the fuel pump and drop the line into a small gas can and see if you have a fuel delivery issue. I have to pull the tanks these to clean for this same condition more often than I would like. One thing that you should be aware of is that putting 8 hours a year on this requires that you be extra diligent on fuel care and selection.

 

[tibadoe]

I ran across a similar issue on my mower not long ago. Ran fine for a little while, then it would start acting like it was running out of gas. It had a new fuel filter so I knew that was fine. I disconnected the fuel line at the gas filter and blew air back into the tank to clear out the line. After 20 years I guess I had some trash in the tank. Has worked fine ever since. One day I may have to clean the tank out if it happens again.

As far as your gas filter. All of them on my small engines do not stay full. They only show a little in it at any time. Doesn't seem like it would be enough gas running through, but it is.

 

[MajMac392]

I sound like a broken record here, but grab a few feet of 1/4" fuel line- hook to the fuel pump and drop the line into a small gas can and see if you have a fuel delivery issue. I have to pull the tanks these to clean for this same condition more often than I would like. One thing that you should be aware of is that putting 8 hours a year on this requires that you be extra diligent on fuel care and selection.

Tom, I did pull the fuel line to the carb, put on a piece of hose and cranked it into a container. It pumped fuel but it wasn’t much of a flow, definitely wasn’t a fire hose gushing.

 

[tomplum]

Your fuel pump test is not what was suggested. Very frequently the pick up tube in the tank gets debris which partially blocks the tube. As it runs the pump can either pick up more debris or pack the debris in line and you can't maintain fuel flow. These pumps are not very strong and can't overcome this blockage.

 

[MajMac392]

So if I disconnect the fuel line before the filter can I safely blow air back into the tank without doing any damage? I was going to try this but I was afraid there might be an orifice or something else that might be damaged.

 

[Diggin It]

I don't remember what this tank pick up looks like. I looked it up on the parts diagrams once, but I didn't really understand what I was looking at. It isn't just a typical gravity feed as far as I remember, so I don't know if pulling a line will let it flow freely.

And I agree that at 8 hours a year using corn squeezin's, you may have some kernels of goo somewhere.

One other thing that caused me trouble was the valves and push rods, but I can't see that with so few hours, unless something is carboned up.

 

[beenthere]

So if I disconnect the fuel line before the filter can I safely blow air back into the tank without doing any damage? I was going to try this but I was afraid there might be an orifice or something else that might be damaged.

Don't take a deep breath, but just blow not too hard. Won't hurt anything.

 

[MajMac392]

Well I dove into the X300 yesterday to see how far I could get. My goal was to get the tank out, drain it real good, check the fuel pickup tube, etc. The tank comes out of the X300 fairly easy. Remove the seat, two bolts on the back of the rear fender deck and two bolts in the front under the foot rest, remove the deck height plastic dial, remove both forward and reverse hydro pedals on the right. The worst part was having enough oomph to loosen the bolts on the pedals, really torqued. I would guess it is no more than a 15-20 minute job as long as the bolts come out ok. Then it is just removing a rod holding the tank and disconnecting the fuel line and wire to the seat.

I couldn’t get much fuel out of the tank syphoning it so most of it I dumped after removing the tank. The gas was quite yellow, about the color of urine. So, I washed the chassis and everything else I could get to and then removed the pick-up tube from the tank. It’s just a firm piece of open tubing about 20” long or so that sticks down into the middle of the tank or so. It doesn’t reach all the way into very front bottom of the tank so it doubtful it would ever pick up anything unless it was floating at just the right level of the tube.

I blew the fuel line out, then reassembled everything. After getting all the big pieces together, I attacked the carburetor. I removed it from the attaching rods/bolts and left the linkage connected then pulled off the bowl and solenoid device on the bottom. Sprayed some brake cleaner up into all the holes I could find and put it all back together. It started up fine but I couldn’t get it to move back and forth. I was scratching my head until I remembered the little Hydro rod in the back was pulled out. I know better too! Pushed the rod back in and "Voila" it moved.

I ran it probably 30 minutes or so, did a quick grass cutting and left the hood off during this. I wanted to watch fuel filter to see how fuel was flowing and also in case any signs of leaks appeared. It ran fine so I’ll see how it is the next time I have it out. Pictures included.

 

[Diggin It]

The gas was quite yellow, about the color of urine.

Left over corn squeezin's.

This is why so many people use various additives.

 

[tomplum]

Good deal. But yes, these tubes often get plugged with plant debris. Needles are the worst. The leafy stuff doesn't pack in near as bad. I allow an hour and a half to RnR the tank and flush and flush and flush as long as needed to get the krap out.