Every time I attempt to cold start my LA-135 it has to turn over with or without choke at least 30 seconds or so to start. After it has run even a few minutes it will start instantly after that, the rest of the day. Almost like the gas has drained from the carb. Is there a check valve in the line that may be stuck open so maybe it's feeding back to the tank???? There's no dripping or wet spots under the carb. I have tried starter fluid before turning over and with that it starts instantly. Gas is not getting to the cylinders on cold start. Any suggestions? I keep a trickle charger connected since the hard starting has run down the battery in the past. Also I change the plugs every year along with oil & filter changes every 25 hours. Any suggestions??
After adjusting the choke several times on my LA-135 to be certain that was correct it became so aggravating I made my own gasoline primer system so the air filter cover didn't need removing to prime. It made a world of difference in starting.
There are a lot of things that can cause hard cold starting from a malfunctioning choke to blocked idle circuit to low fuel level in float bowl to sticky valve worn rings & blown head gasket
May have found the problem. The internals of the fuel cap have some sort of check valve or some type of shield and it's not venting. It looks like a vacuum is building in the tank when it's run. When the engine is shut off for a length of time the fuel seems to be sucked back into the tank till the pressure equalizes. I removed all the internal parts on the cap and so far after two days it seems to be starting correctly after a couple revolutions of the crank.
Problem solved. Just to check my suspicion I put the gas cap parts back in and ran the tractor for a while. Vacuum built up in the tank. Ran it again and then let it sit. Sure enough, it started hard. Not sure why the cap was built so complicated when only a vent hole was needed. Maybe it had the wrong cap installed from the factory. You
This has been the problem since the tractor was new. Have to keep a eye on it though. Afraid the gas is going find a way to leak. Those engineers at John Deere didn't add those parts to the cap for nothing. I'll keep you posted.
Still starting fine since gutting the internals on the gas cap. Once in a while I get a sniff of gasoline but haven't seen any leaking or wet areas around tank. Calling this case closed.:smile:
On the Califonia models some AYP made mowers had a loose thread on the cap.
The tank breathed via he loose threads.
The reason ?
If they had a real breather it had to be fitted with a check valve and charcoal filter.
Thus if you tightenend the cap too much you goat a vacuum seal