Kawasaki FC150V on John Deere 14SE no start, fuel and ignition system seem ok

I posted here last year about my 14SE when I worked on overhauling the carb. I went to fire it up this year and it wouldn't start, of course, even with fuel stabilizer, the gas went bad. So I tried with new fuel and also replaced the plug, still very little luck.

The slow idle on this mower has always had a surging idle and would often die, but now when it did fire it did the same on fast and with the blade engaged until it died again. I figured the carb got varnished up over the winter and bought another kit, tore it apart, cleaned it, inspected the slow idle screw and made sure to blow out all the passages and jets. I put it back on and found out the fuel filter was clogged before I put the lines on so replaced that with a clear inline.

I got everything back together and backed out the idle screw 1 turn, adjusted the governor, fast throttle cable and choke. Went to start it with the choke on, it started briefly but ended up with a wet plug. Cleaned the plug, rechecked the gap, put it in fast position only to have no luck at all. The entire fuel system has been gone through now, and I checked the gap on the mag which was just fine at 0.032. Tried a spark tester, got a good spark, so I am at a loss.

I have been trying to get this going for 2 weeks including waiting on parts at John Deere as they list it all as obsolete. Does anyone have any ideas on this? I am baffled on this one and I even got the service manual for it.

Well, I now have it firing up sometimes, on choke it starts but floods, on slow idle it will try to start, at fast though, the one time I got it to start it wrapped way up and I had to shut it down before damaging anything. in looking at the exhaust, it has had a black sooty build up in the exhaust, yet the plug from last year was the perfect color. I may have to break down and take it to a dealer:frown:

you have a fuel delivery issue, if you turn the fuel shut off valve off and crank it, it should start breifly and run the fuel out of the bowl, just before it dies turn the shut off valve back on and it should stay running. Something is not happy in the carb still, also try 1 1/4 turns on the carb screw. I have several of these 14 SB's.

I have tried that, actually replaced the lines and filter. when I run fuel from the bowl it looks just fine. My concern is that I ended up having to take off the control plate, and got it back together no problem, but will need to readjust everything again.

Also, when going through the fuel system, I did have to remove the fuel valve to replace the o-ring, but made sure everything was in place with reassembly. I will give it a try though, but I know it gets fuel to the carb and no air leaks. Thanks for the info though.

I too have a JD 14s(b) that stalls out after it starts...maybe we are connected....? :laughing:

Mine is at the shop as we speak, (so to speak), should be back monday, will post my results.

Please do the same.

I will do that, tomorrow gonna try disassembling the carb "again" to see if I made a dumb mistake

Finally found the problem, it turns out that over time the carb was no longer flush and to make it worse, the spacer that came with the kit was even worse. I had to take some fine sandpaper on a sheet of glass to level it out, put it all back together and the thing ran perfect, in fact, the slow idle problem it had for years is gone now too, runs like new.

Happy you got it fixed,have a good time mowing

I, too found the problem....so maybe we are connected....:laughing::laughing::laughing:.

Anyway, it was the jet in the middle of the carb. (My mech.) said. Does everything its supposed to except idle. I can live with that.
Also was advised that the rear tires, abet of a difference color are available at Lowe's for $14.