Anyone work on lawn mowers?

[Jesse]

I have a 8 year old lawn tractor with a 15hp Briggs And Stratton engine,   It starts fine and runs fine for about 5 minutes til it gets warm then it either instantly dies or sputters back and fort until it finally dies.  Last week it died once, today it just wont stay running,. 

 

I have replaced the gas, the fuel filter,air filters and spark plug. I have done the fuel cap check and checked the fuel shut off solenoid. Fuel line is flowing good.   I have also checked wires and spark plug wire. I took the carb off and it looks clean from what I can see, the jet holes I cant tell.

 

Seems to act up when It runs for 5 minutes and the blades are engaged.  I cant even finish my yard today.

 

Does anyone have any experience and know what else I can try?  

 

 

[leroy]

Could be a plug power pack.  My Kohler (...long gone...) 18 hp twin would run on one cylinder every now and then.  Discovered it wuz a weak plug pac.  Just follow the high tension plug wire back to wherever it goes and ya can find the plug pac.  If it started all at once and does it reliably on heating up, i would bet that's it.  Havin said that; maybe the "real small engine mechanics" can chime in... I confess to bein an amateur.

 

Good luck..

leroy

[.357SIG]

Sounds like it could be the ECU. If there is a black wire (kill wire) coming off of the ignition coil, unplug it and if it doesn't die then you need to replace the ECU.

 

If you can't find the black wire, then you can use an inline spark plug tester to see if it is loosing spark.

[Jesse]

Well after i made this thread I went out and wirebrushed the rust off the coil and then blew out the carb jets with an air compressor. It ran good for 20 minutes in this heat and didnt die. I will go back out later and try to finish the yard.


Not sure which one addressed the problem but its looking positive for now.

[Guest Travtastik]

Sounds like you have a coil going bad. Most of the time they will still allow the plug to spark while your engine and the coil is cool, but will start to sputter and die once the coil gets hot. Most of the time it will take about 30 mins plus for the coil to start to fail. Not likely a fuel problem if it is not doing it from the start.

I have about 10 years in the lawn repair field and this is where I would suggest starting without being able to see it myself.

[gregintenn]

I know very little about lawn mowers, but for some reason I've been designated as the family lawn mower repairman by my in-laws. Not sure how that came about.

[leroy]

I know very little about lawn mowers, but for some reason I've been designated as the family lawn mower repairman by my in-laws. Not sure how that came about.

 

Ya got the tools and the in-laws know the wife will make ya fix the lawn mower no matter what.   That is the nature of things....

 

Keep up the good work (...and lawnmower repair...)

 

leroy

[Jesse]

I use the mower for another hour and it ran fine. Im happier than a camel on Wednesday.