Mower deck 23 Hours and Need to Choke a Warm Mower to Get Blades Going??

Hi Friends,

SO my Z-Force L54 now has a mere 23 hours on it. And I can start the thing up just fine, then let it warm up for a minute or two, have the engine going 'bout half-throttle (or full.. either way), and engage the PTO, and it shuts the mower off. I sent it in for a lookover, and they said they sped up the RPMs a bit and that it works fine. They brought it back to me yesterday. It did the same thing. They said I just need to choke it about halfway and then the PTO will not shut down the engine. So I tried that, and it works great. OK...

SO... as you have probably figured out by now, I don't understand how this stuff works. My concern is.. is it a sign of something else wrong that needs to be addressed when a brand new mower with just 23 hours has to be choked to get the PTO going, even after it's nice and warmed up?

Thanks for any input you can give on this.

Is it a kohler engine? What ever engine is on it we need the numbers so it can be looked up to help fine your issue

Luffydog said:

Is it a kohler engine? What ever engine is on it we need the numbers so it can be looked up to help fine your issue

Click to expand...

I would put some kind of a carb cleaner in the in the gasoline sounds like you're high speed circuit is clogged.

When you engage the blades, it puts an abrupt, heavy load on the engine and rpm begins to decrease. The governor senses this decrease in rpm and opens the throttle to bring the engine back up to the rpm the throttle was set for.

When the throttle plate opens in the carburetor, it lets in a lot more air than was previously needed. The carburetor's job is to mix gas with this additional air, and quick. Auto carburetors used to have something called an accelerator pump just for this very reason. Small engines don't. To compensate, they high speed mixture is usually a little richer than needed for steady-state operation to make up for sudden changes in rpm. If this has not be done, the choke performs the same job as the accelerator pump in a carburetor so equipped.

It may be a matter of just adjusting the high-speed jet for a slightly richer mixture if you don't want to choke the engine when you engage the blades. Or, the carburetor may need cleaning so that the right amount of gas is going through the jets. It shouldn't, at only 23 hours, but stranger things have happened.

FWIW, I always engage the blades at the lowest rpm possible and have done away with anything that disengages the blades other than me. Saves wear and tear on the blade clutch.

Thanks all for the replies. I had wondered why I wasn't getting notifications about this thread. Just checked and they're in my Spam. Ha!

Anyway, so this is a kohler engine, yes. I don't have the numbers handy at the moment, but I'll try to get them later if I think of it.

As far as a clog, I would hope not. They already replaced the carburetor in this thing once!

cpurvis, I appreciate your explanation of how things work! As far as adjusting stuff or cleaning the carb, I'd like to learn that stuff but not comfortable yet. But I also just got it back from the shop and they didn't do any of that stuff, plus they always keep it for weeks. Only good thing is they don't charge me anything, probably because it's still so new and they know that would be absurd.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place.. I just wanted to make sure this problem isn't an indicator of a deeper, bigger issue.

jtphenom said:

Thanks all for the replies. I had wondered why I wasn't getting notifications about this thread. Just checked and they're in my Spam. Ha!

Anyway, so this is a kohler engine, yes. I don't have the numbers handy at the moment, but I'll try to get them later if I think of it.

As far as a clog, I would hope not. They already replaced the carburetor in this thing once!

cpurvis, I appreciate your explanation of how things work! As far as adjusting stuff or cleaning the carb, I'd like to learn that stuff but not comfortable yet. But I also just got it back from the shop and they didn't do any of that stuff, plus they always keep it for weeks. Only good thing is they don't charge me anything, probably because it's still so new and they know that would be absurd.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place.. I just wanted to make sure this problem isn't an indicator of a deeper, bigger issue.

Click to expand...

Have you seen the crap in the gas nowadays? Let alone the ethanol.

jtphenom said:

Thanks all for the replies. I had wondered why I wasn't getting notifications about this thread. Just checked and they're in my Spam. Ha!

Anyway, so this is a kohler engine, yes. I don't have the numbers handy at the moment, but I'll try to get them later if I think of it.

As far as a clog, I would hope not. They already replaced the carburetor in this thing once!

cpurvis, I appreciate your explanation of how things work! As far as adjusting stuff or cleaning the carb, I'd like to learn that stuff but not comfortable yet. But I also just got it back from the shop and they didn't do any of that stuff, plus they always keep it for weeks. Only good thing is they don't charge me anything, probably because it's still so new and they know that would be absurd.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place.. I just wanted to make sure this problem isn't an indicator of a deeper, bigger issue.

Click to expand...

It doesn't make any sense to me that you'd need to use the choke to engage the blades without killing the engine. Sounds like either a carburetor issue or maybe even a governor issue.
I think the shop is trying to pull a fast one by telling you to just use the choke. That's BS. And this is an instance where it's so good to be able to tell them with a straight face that you have not played with any of the settings whatsoever. They can't turn it around on you and claim you're the one that messed it up.

Kohler put out an update on some of these engines.

Luffydog said:

Kohler put out an update on some of these engines.

Click to expand...

Really? Can you please be more specific?

Luffydog said:

Is it a kohler engine? What ever engine is on it we need the numbers so it can be looked up to help fine your issue

Click to expand...

Engine is a KT740-725cc