Garden Tractor Tech is Chit Chat

[Grnd93]

I’ve got a 10 year old Husqvarna GT52XLS with the Kawasaki engine that has been giving me some trouble this season.

Last weekend I replaced the carburetor due to some surging. Still had issues getting it to run, and found that I had water in the fuel. Finally after completely draining the tank and replacing the fuel filter I got it running pretty well last weekend.

I took it out today to mow, and after about an hour it started to loose power and the only way to keep it going was to close the choke. After I topped the gas back off it seemed to be ok again.

It has had a fresh turn up this season, and also got a new fuel pump.

Vent in the fuel cap is not plugged.

Does anyone know of any common issues with these?

 

[PoBoy84]

Carb new or not, that tells me there is crud in the jet

 

[Grnd93]

Carb new or not, that tells me there is crud in the jet

I suppose that’s easy enough to check

 

[70 tp]

Try some fresh non ethanol gas after checking carb jets?

 

[BillyBronco]

Surging is a lean condition caused by an intake leak. I always try to clean the factory carb first because I assume they have better tolerances than the china ones. That said I have not really had a bad china one yet. Yours sounds fuel related though. Put a bit of heet red bottle to remove any remaining moisture in the fuel system.

Adjust valves. Clean contacts on magneto/coils. Those are my usual troubleshooting steps. I have only had one small engine I couldn’t get running correctly but it was a push mower and I didnt see it worth putting more time in it.

 

[Grnd93]

Try some fresh non ethanol gas after checking carb jets?

Gas is fresh 93 octane (ethanol free).

To be clear, it runs excellent for an hour or so, then rpm’s drop until I close the choke. Then if I top off the tank it’s back to running excellent again.

I’m thinking either the fuel pump is weak, or the vacuum source for it is weak, or maybe has a leak. My theory is that with a full tank there is enough pressure to help the pump keep up, but after it drops to 2/3 -1/2 tank the pump isn’t drawing enough fuel. I’m tempted to throw a cheap electric pump on it.

 

[BillyBronco]

The vacuum pumps they use are cheap enough. If that is what you think it is I would just replace that with an OEM one. The Chinese ones are crap.

 

[Grnd93]

The vacuum pumps they use are cheap enough. If that is what you think it is I would just replace that with an OEM one. The Chinese ones are crap.

the one I got is a John Deere part that supposedly crossed from my original part number. I think I'm going to try a Kawasaki pump along with a good cleaning of the original carb. Might run all new fuel hose as well just to eliminate that.

 

[71PA_Highboy]

I used a Yamaha pump... runs their smaller V star (?) 1.2 PSI so I know I won't push past needle and seat.

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Easy to wire and mount and took care of all the problems.

 

[Grnd93]

I used a Yamaha pump... runs their smaller V star (?) 1.2 PSI so I know I won't push past needle and seat.

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Easy to wire and mount and took care of all the problems.

Thanks, I put an order in for the factory Yamaha pump, but they aren't in stock. I might just cancel that and go this route.

 

[Grnd93]

After work today I blew out both fuel pick ups and the primary/reserve selector valve. I also replaced every bit of rubber fuel hose and did the best I could at cleaning the original carb. It is still backfiring and surging at idle, but I was able to run it long enough to get my entire yard mowed (1.5-2 hours).

I’ll put the Amazon carb back on tomorrow to see if that helps the idle at all. There’s still an acre that needs to be mowed, and 1/2 of that is probably knee high or taller.
So that should be a good test.

I’m still waiting for the husqvarna fuel pump to ship, but hopefully today’s work did something.

 

[magnatrac]

I have Kawasakis on all my mowers.
Have you changed the inline fuel filter ?
That is the most common cause of a surging motor.

They can look totally clean and be the issue. It's worth a try and really cheap.

 

[Grnd93]

I have Kawasakis on all my mowers.
Have you changed the inline fuel filter ?
That is the most common cause of a surging motor.

They can look totally clean and be the issue. It's worth a try and really cheap.

The filter on it now has less than 10 hours on it. I changed it when I found weather in the fuel and once more after that.

I’ll pick one up anyway in case the carb swap doesn’t clear up the surge.

I originally changed the carb because of a surging issue. If my memory is correct the idle cleaned up with the new carb, but then I had the random loss of power after a couple hours of running. Fingers crossed.

 

[Grnd93]

Swapped back to the Amazon carb today and put a fresh fuel filter on. No more backfiring, but it still had an occasional stumble during operation.

I’m not super happy with the fuel hose I bought. It’s very soft, so there’s a possibility it’s collapsing on itself. I’ll probably get some better hose and replace everything…again.

I need to check on the status of that fuel pump and try to get the needle valve out of the original carb. The way it was acting yesterday makes me think there’s still something stuck in the carb somewhere. Might be time to spring for an ultrasonic cleaners and give it a good soaking.

I was able to mow for over two hours and had some spectators. At one point I counted a total of 9 hanging out

 

[Grnd93]

Last update, hopefully.

Replaced all the fuel hose again with something that was a little stiffer. Also put a Husqvarna fuel pump on at the same time. Was able to mow for over 2 hours without issues.

Pretty sure it’s finally fixed.