Four years ago, I purchased a new Z589 -- fuel injection, water cooled Kaw 29 hp engine and the first year it ran great and then Missouri and Kansas passed laws that required motorgrade gasolines to have a minimum of 10% ethanol. The second year of use (starting at 38 hours) it would run for 15-20 minutes and then start backfiring and the engine would die. The dealership had changed owners and he estimated at least a month for this commercial unit before he could even get to it as my 3 acres looked more and more like it needed to be baled, so I took it back home and would mow as much of my 3 acres as I could until it died -- it was apparently vaporlocking since the fuel filter would empty and then it would cut out, backfire and die. After cooling for an hour, I could cut for another 15-20 minutes. Luckily, I found another dealer that took this on as a personal project -- imagine a dealer whose workers all still wear uniforms!!!! Old fashioned!!!! Service oriented!!!! He had the mower off and on all of the second summer (would pick it up on his way to work and drop it off a week or two later) and I went back to mowing with my JD 4400 HST tractor. Letters and calls to Toro Customer Support were futile -- nobody at Toro or Kawasaki seemed to care and that dealer kept after Kawasaki and Toro and tried a number of fixes, but NONE worked. At the end of the mowing season, I started looking at litigation and about the same time, I actually found somebody at Toro that was willing to try to make things right -- they could NOT fix their product under warranty and I had a $13000 boat anchor. Finally, they agreed to swap that POS for a new G3 (not injected or water-cooled and without the deluxe seat if I kicked in a couple of thousand dollars -- like I had a choice). The G3 has been great, but as I kept telling them, it was the alcohol-blend fuel and am wondering if anyone else had that problem with a 589?
Customer support was extremely poor from Toro but my G3 finishing its second year has been excellent although being burned on the first ZTR from Toro means I will never go that route again.
ALSO -- I have been purchasing all of the fuel for my lawn maintenance equipment from a local marina -- NO ethanol!!!
MikeSp
Customer support was extremely poor from Toro but my G3 finishing its second year has been excellent although being burned on the first ZTR from Toro means I will never go that route again.
ALSO -- I have been purchasing all of the fuel for my lawn maintenance equipment from a local marina -- NO ethanol!!!
MikeSp