I have a John Deere 180 riding lawn mower. I think its about 30 years old. Anyway, it started losing power after warming up. The symptom would be that it would get weaker and when the blades were spinning, it would start to die. I turn off the blades, it seems to have power again. It progressively got worse and worse to the point I could only mow for about 5-10 minutes and it would get weaker and weaker and putter out and even backfire until I turned off the blades. (There's an electric switch to engage the mower blades).
Anyway, I looked up the symptoms and many sites said it was the ignition coil. So, I replaced the Ignition Coil and even the carburetor. I had previously replaced the fuel pump, all fuel lines, and the fuel filter. It seemed to start working again. I was able to mow my lawn, which had grown about 8 inches tall. It mowed it without wimping out.
However, after about 25 minutes, it started wimping out.. I had to use the choke just to keep it going. Also, I had to turn off the blades every once in a while to get the motor back up to speed because it was just choking and unable to keep running.
Any ideas what ELSE the problem could be? Seems to be fine when I start it up, but starts losing power and dying after about 25 minutes of use.
Anyway, I looked up the symptoms and many sites said it was the ignition coil. So, I replaced the Ignition Coil and even the carburetor. I had previously replaced the fuel pump, all fuel lines, and the fuel filter. It seemed to start working again. I was able to mow my lawn, which had grown about 8 inches tall. It mowed it without wimping out.
However, after about 25 minutes, it started wimping out.. I had to use the choke just to keep it going. Also, I had to turn off the blades every once in a while to get the motor back up to speed because it was just choking and unable to keep running.
Any ideas what ELSE the problem could be? Seems to be fine when I start it up, but starts losing power and dying after about 25 minutes of use.