Hello everyone! New to the forum and have an issue with my Kawasaki FR691V engine on my Cub Cadet RZT 50 zero turn mower. I do not have the serial number for the engine, can't seem to locate it. It was manufactured sometime between 12/2010 and 01/2011. This is a 24.0 HP 726cc engine.
This mower has run really well over the years and I have tried to keep it maintained. I started out this year earlier than normal and ran it before I serviced it and it worked great. I changed the oil and oil filter before my second run and it seem to run fine until the end of the cut, 3 acres. It started to sound like it was running out of gas so I filled it up and finished cutting the grass. The 3rd time to mow, it did the same thing, felt like it was running out of gas. Since it was full I knew something was up. First I thought it was bad gas, removed the gas tank and cleaned it out, replaced the fuel filter. (the top of the filter looked good but the bottom was full of junk.) At this point I figured trash got into the carburetor so I took it off, took it apart, as much as I could, cleaned and blasted all holes with carb cleaner, put it back together, re-installed, and replaced the air filter. Ran great for 20 to 30 minutes, then did the same thing, sounded like it was running out of gas, I have to choke it around 95% to get it to run. Even then it would run bad. OK So I did not get the carb cleaned good enough. Ordered and installed new carb, ran for about 5 minutes, same thing, like I was running out of gas. Used choke at about 95% to keep it running to get back to garage. Did some research and hear bad coils could be an issue. I started the mower, ran it until it started to run bad, I gloved up really good and pulled a spark plug wire and it ran even worse, put wire back on spark plug, engine ran back to the normal bad state, did the same to the other side, same thing. So the coils seem to be good. I did notice the magnet area on the fly wheel was a little rusty, cleaned that up. I took the coils off, cleaned the surface rust off them reinstalled, setting the gap at around .009". Started it back up and it seem to run great. Went out and started mowing and this time it ran ok for about 30 to 45 minutes. Same thing, sounded like it was running out of gas, had to use the choke to get it back to the garage. So I have clean gas, new carb, seemingly good spark... I am out of ideas of what could be causing this!
Thank you for reading this long post but I wanted to give as much details I could.
Does anyone out there know what to check next?
This mower has run really well over the years and I have tried to keep it maintained. I started out this year earlier than normal and ran it before I serviced it and it worked great. I changed the oil and oil filter before my second run and it seem to run fine until the end of the cut, 3 acres. It started to sound like it was running out of gas so I filled it up and finished cutting the grass. The 3rd time to mow, it did the same thing, felt like it was running out of gas. Since it was full I knew something was up. First I thought it was bad gas, removed the gas tank and cleaned it out, replaced the fuel filter. (the top of the filter looked good but the bottom was full of junk.) At this point I figured trash got into the carburetor so I took it off, took it apart, as much as I could, cleaned and blasted all holes with carb cleaner, put it back together, re-installed, and replaced the air filter. Ran great for 20 to 30 minutes, then did the same thing, sounded like it was running out of gas, I have to choke it around 95% to get it to run. Even then it would run bad. OK So I did not get the carb cleaned good enough. Ordered and installed new carb, ran for about 5 minutes, same thing, like I was running out of gas. Used choke at about 95% to keep it running to get back to garage. Did some research and hear bad coils could be an issue. I started the mower, ran it until it started to run bad, I gloved up really good and pulled a spark plug wire and it ran even worse, put wire back on spark plug, engine ran back to the normal bad state, did the same to the other side, same thing. So the coils seem to be good. I did notice the magnet area on the fly wheel was a little rusty, cleaned that up. I took the coils off, cleaned the surface rust off them reinstalled, setting the gap at around .009". Started it back up and it seem to run great. Went out and started mowing and this time it ran ok for about 30 to 45 minutes. Same thing, sounded like it was running out of gas, had to use the choke to get it back to the garage. So I have clean gas, new carb, seemingly good spark... I am out of ideas of what could be causing this!
Thank you for reading this long post but I wanted to give as much details I could.
Does anyone out there know what to check next?
