What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Gravely ZTR Mower - won't stay running

fear_nothing

fear_nothing

1/2 ton status
 Premium
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Posts
2,599
Reaction score
7,975
Location
USA
Gritting my teeth as I type this. Earlier this summer after a lot of searching I found a ZTR. It’s a Gravely 60”, super low hours it had 19 hours on it. I have 5 acres and mow about 4 of it. With about 34 hours on it its decided to act up. It runs for a few minutes, sputters like its fuel starved and dies. It starts back up, but repeats the same pattern.
  • Tried a new fuel filter
  • Bypassed the fuel filer
  • Replaced the air filter
  • Drained the carb
  • Cleaned out the carb (haven’t take it apart yet)
The problem started with a random shutdown a few weeks when I was mowing & its progressively gotten worse. I have alot invested in this mower, needless to say I’m very pissed off at the moment. Any ideas?

Thanks
 
Maybe the coil or pickup is crapping out? No warranty on it?
 
A few ideas.

Try removing the fuel cap. If the fuel tank vent is plugged, it won't let enough fuel flow to the carb.

Make sure the fuel line isn't collapsing and cutting off flow.

I would also remove the float bowl and make sure the float isn't sticking.
 
Successful combustion requires sufficient air mixed with a proper amount of fuel with heat added at the proper time. Either you have insufficient air (unlikely) insufficient fuel, insufficient spark or incorrect timing.

It is unlikely to be timing related, so verify that you have a hot blue spark then get to work on that carburetor which is most likely the problem.
 
Got to be a fuel issue. Take the carb off and give it a good cleaning. Blow out the fuel lines.
A carb rebuild or reseal kit going back together.

See where your at.
 
First thing I'd do is get a in-line spark tester and leave it hooked up or handy,so as soon as it dies,you can check for spark..

Many newer small engines use coils with magnetic pick up coils and they can crap out when they get too hot..on an old engine ,often blocked up cooling fins and mice making nests in the blower housing often cooks things like coils and modules..
(I had one Kohler get its coil chewed on by mice and it would die randomly when hot..the windings inside got damaged and corroded.)


If it has good spark after stalling--and your using ethanol laced gas,I'd try draining it out completely and get a can of "Tru-Fuel" and see if it does it using that--many stations selling ethanol gas that is often way above the 10% content level or has absorbed water from condensation in the storage tanks and we all know how well engines run on watered down fuel..ethanol evaporates rapidly and is much more likely to boil and vapor lock in hot weather,especially if a fuel system component is close to the exhaust or other hot parts..
Air cooled carbed engines are not as tolerant with ethanol gas compared to vehicles with EFI..
 
fear_nothing said:
Gritting my teeth as I type this. Earlier this summer after a lot of searching I found a ZTR. It’s a Gravely 60”, super low hours it had 19 hours on it. I have 5 acres and mow about 4 of it. With about 34 hours on it its decided to act up. It runs for a few minutes, sputters like its fuel starved and dies. It starts back up, but repeats the same pattern.
  • Tried a new fuel filter
  • Bypassed the fuel filer
  • Replaced the air filter
  • Drained the carb
  • Cleaned out the carb (haven’t take it apart yet)
The problem started with a random shutdown a few weeks when I was mowing & its progressively gotten worse. I have alot invested in this mower, needless to say I’m very pissed off at the moment. Any ideas?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Your issue is the same as my small mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine.
It's only a couple of years old and was running fine and sat for the winter and the gas cap cracked because I leave it out in the sun.
It starts very easily and dies within seconds, sometimes 10 seconds and sometimes as low as 2.
Still trying to figure it out.
Mine has clean new fuel, new spark plug and nothing seems off other than a cracked fuel cap which I know it used to run with the cap open no problem.
Watching this.
 
diesel4me said:
First thing I'd do is get a in-line spark tester and leave it hooked up or handy,so as soon as it dies,you can check for spark..

Many newer small engines use coils with magnetic pick up coils and they can crap out when they get too hot..on an old engine ,often blocked up cooling fins and mice making nests in the blower housing often cooks things like coils and modules..
(I had one Kohler get its coil chewed on by mice and it would die randomly when hot..the windings inside got damaged and corroded.)


If it has good spark after stalling--and your using ethanol laced gas,I'd try draining it out completely and get a can of "Tru-Fuel" and see if it does it using that--many stations selling ethanol gas that is often way above the 10% content level or has absorbed water from condensation in the storage tanks and we all know how well engines run on watered down fuel..ethanol evaporates rapidly and is much more likely to boil and vapor lock in hot weather,especially if a fuel system component is close to the exhaust or other hot parts..
Air cooled carbed engines are not as tolerant with ethanol gas compared to vehicles with EFI..
Click to expand...
I know on mine that is not it but because it only runs a few seconds, not enough to get hot
 
I had a Briggs that had start run issues. Took me a year to find it, but it was the valve lash was off just a tad. All my small engines get non ethanol.
 
K5Jimmy said:
I had a Briggs that had start run issues. Took me a year to find it, but it was the valve lash was off just a tad. All my small engines get non ethanol.
Click to expand...
Yeah well no ethanol free within hours here so we run what we got.
Will eventually figure it out.
 
K5Jimmy said:
I had a Briggs that had start run issues. Took me a year to find it, but it was the valve lash was off just a tad. All my small engines get non ethanol.
Click to expand...
Valve lash is a really good thought. That shit gets overlooked alot nowadays.
 
diesel4me said:
First thing I'd do is get a in-line spark tester and leave it hooked up or handy,so as soon as it dies,you can check for spark..

Many newer small engines use coils with magnetic pick up coils and they can crap out when they get too hot..on an old engine ,often blocked up cooling fins and mice making nests in the blower housing often cooks things like coils and modules..
(I had one Kohler get its coil chewed on by mice and it would die randomly when hot..the windings inside got damaged and corroded.)


If it has good spark after stalling--and your using ethanol laced gas,I'd try draining it out completely and get a can of "Tru-Fuel" and see if it does it using that--many stations selling ethanol gas that is often way above the 10% content level or has absorbed water from condensation in the storage tanks and we all know how well engines run on watered down fuel..ethanol evaporates rapidly and is much more likely to boil and vapor lock in hot weather,especially if a fuel system component is close to the exhaust or other hot parts..
Air cooled carbed engines are not as tolerant with ethanol gas compared to vehicles with EFI..
Click to expand...
That tru-fuel crap is complete shit. I wouldn't touch that crap with a 10 foot pole again.
 
I would drain the carb and fuel start with fresh fuel and add some sea foam to it. We have great success here at my work with seafoam and small engines. Also does it have a oil sensor on it ? A lot of them do now. I would bypass that and try it.
 
Oil level sensors do act up or are too sensitive often and that'll kill the spark...if it craps out on hills,this may be suspect..

I run my engines on the crap pump gas sold here--it is a gamble whether you'll get a good "batch" --I have filled my tractor with gas fresh from the station before and instantly had rough running,sputtering,etc,and I dumped the fuel out,went to a different gas station and bought another 5 gallons,put that in it and it ran lousy for a few minutes till the other fuel all burned off,then it went back to normal.
The first batch of gas was cloudy looking when I put some in a jar --ethanol keeps water suspended better and often water wont settle out to the bottom like it did with non-ethanol gas..

I suggested Tru-Fuel or similar gas alternatives only as a test,if no non-ethanol gas was available in his area..personally I have used it only once,in my 2 stroke chain saws and weed whackers,and it made them run sweet in comparison to pump gasoline..but at $8 a quart,I am not buying any more..

Valve lash is important in air cooled engines,but usually it takes years of wear for one to lose enough clearance to become an issue--you would notice a big drop in power after the valve heated up enough to have zero lash,it wouldn't let that cylinder build up enough compression..if its a one cylinder engine,it'd stall--a twin cylinder might run off the other cylinder..

I like Seafoam too,but its pricey and shouldn't be needed on a regular basis..a little diesel fuel in the gas does much the same thing and is a lot cheaper..you only need a few teaspoons per gallon..I like to add a small amount of 30W motor oil even in my 4 cycle engines gas tanks..it seems to help prevent sticky valves and keeps the gas for going stale or turning to varnish longer too--I like Marvel Mystery Oil too ,to do the same thing..
 
Thanks for talking me off the ledge a little :cool:

As far as warranty, its probably not transferable but the original order didn't register the mower so maybe I'll get lucky. AT the present any fix will have to be handled by yours truly as my truck is the shop for clutch issues and the blazer is down at the moment due to all things ironic the carb in desperate need of a rebuild. Murphies law is strong at the moment.
 
I bought some tru fuel and put it in my chainsaw. I figure since it was mixed it would be a good test. My normally one pull sthil wouldn't even start or run.
I thought it was spark plug. After changing it and then deciding to dump the gas it ran. I swapped back to the old plug just as a check.
Ran fine.

Decided to dump the rest of the gallon I bought in my regular lawn mower. What a joke. Even with another fresh 5 gallons eve that ran like shit.
Until I was able to put more fuel back in.

That shit is snake oil.
 
Funny,my experiences with it were the opposite..

My weed whacker had sat too long between uses with some fuel left in it,and I had to use starting fluid to get it to start,and it would run only a few seconds--kept doing this until it finally would idle on its own,but stall if I opened the throttle,so I let it idle 3-4 minutes--once it warmed up it would bog when you tried revving it up,but eventually would "catch" and rev up..once you got it up to high rpms it worked OK..
Let it cool off and next time you'd go thru the same crap again..

I dumped the fuel out and filled it with the Tru-Fuel stuff and after about 6 pulls it started,and revved right up like I put nitromethane in it instead of 2 stroke mix!..thing never ran so strong..put it away and 2 weeks later it fired right up in 2 pulls,and ran excellent..

After using some in my chain saw with similar results ,I soon had used up the quart..went back to pump gas & oil mix and they went back to starting hard and running crappy until they got good and hot..
I had to richen up the mixture screws to get decent performance from gas after all the Tru-Fuel was used up..

Some guys claim 91 or higher octane has less ethanol in some cases and seems to work better in small engines--I've never tried any,I don't see why a 50 year old Briggs & Stratton needs hi-test gas,when it was designed to run on leaded 87 octane,one step above lighter fluid..it only has like 6:1 compression..

In other news--Briggs & Stratton filed for Bankruptcy last week..soon to be no more I bet..a dam shame,they used to make great engines,not so much in the last 20 years or so though..
 
We have non ethanol pretty readily available at several farm co op, and a couple local gas stations. Lucky I guess.

Could a restricted exhaust cause it to act like this?
 
Pull the carb and remove the main jet. I guarantee you it is plugged. 99% of the stuff I work on has this issue. $50 a pop to fix them is what I charge.

Non ethanol fuel for the win. We have a station 1 mile from my house house that has 87 and 95 octane gas. $2.29 a gallon for the 95 octane. Eileen's Corvette runs so much better on that stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom