109 question
 

So I've been loving my new 109. Cut the grass the other day for an hour and half and suddenly the tractor acts like its out of gas and dies. Check the tank, half full. Starts right up, runs awhile and does it again. Starts up again, start cutting, starts to die out so I disengage the pto and keeps running. Started cutting again and it was fine. But it did this for a few times. Not sure what caused that. Thought overheating, but its been cool here and ran like a top all along. Any thoughts from you experienced folks?
Oh yeah, do the brakes not work on these tractors? I'm getting good at using the hydro to slow down and stop on hills, but in a panic...it takes a bit of getting used to.

Sounds like you either have a slightly clogged line or a sticky float..

Or maybe some crud in the tank or filter...

Your 109 should have external disk brakes, unless worn out, they normally work very well. Might need to be adjusted. However you are correct, I rarely ever use the brakes on a hydro and I've got a BUNCH of them.

Had that same problem with my # 122, 12hp..

When I bought it the gentleman told me that about the last month he had it there was a problem with the engine.

His story was that you could be running & it just craps out. Starts right up again & a 2/3 minutes later it would die. But starts up again with no problem.

So when I get it home I start cutting my grass & BOOM, it just die's off. After 3 or 4 times of this happening I start playing with the choke & then it sputter & get rpm's, again.

So the next day I drain the tank & give it a visual, O.K..

I do the same with my bowl, O.K.?

Start it up & run it around & it wants to die??????????

I added exactly a gallon of gas & added Sea Foam to it & it's NEVER happened since I did that. I also added a gravity paper filter after the bowl, for a little added protection for my engine.

Not saying this will clear up your problem, but it did for me. I like Sea Foam but there are those on this very site that are against it?

A friend of mine with a 7 year old Ford Van did not pass h the emission test. Talking about it I told him to try a can of Sea Foam. He did & BOOM, 4 days later squeeked by & passed the test.

Now Sea Foam IS NOT a 'MIRACLE ANSWER" for problems in any gas engine. But as a cheap start start to initially try it might just help????????? So if it does'nt go on from there.

Nik

Had the same problem on my dads 129. We checked everything twice and still no luck. Ended up the fitting where the bolw screws on to the gas tank was getting clogged with rust scale. We couldn't see the clog by looking through the tank or when we took off the sediment bolw assembly. We removed the tank and cleaned it out and haven't have a problem since. Hope this helps.

Go down to Autozone, or some other local auto parts store and pick up a can of "PB Tune-up in a Can". Follow the instructions, as I recall it's simply spraying a blast of a few seconds into the carb (remove the air cleaner) and letting it run at full-throttle until things clear up. Do that two or three times and it should be running fine, unless you have parts that are actually worn out in the carb, or a situation like the previous post. If my experience was typical, it is really great stuff!

You might wnt to check the vent in the gas cap also.

Next time it does this, pull the choke a bit when it tries to die and see if that keeps it running. If so, it's time to remove the carb and clean and rebuild it, as well as check the tank for debris. Seafoam and 'Tune-up in a can' are not going to clean out a gunked up carb. The only way to do it right is to disassemble, clean, and reassemble it with a new carb kit.

Pulled my 125 out of a barn after years of sitting there, and had almost the same trouble you have going on. I did what Matt said, rebuild the carb, now that tractor runs like a fine tuned watch now. And it's very easy to do, and it's also very inexpensive, and well worth your time.

Update
 

Thanks all for the comments. I did drain and clean the tank. Looked at the carb and its clean and good. Cut grass for two hours straight with no problems until the last 15 minutes and it started acting like it had no gas or a huge load. Pulled the choke and it did nothing, but it keeps running if I disengage the PTO and put in neutral. Go back to cutting again grass again and then it does it again a few times but I manage to finish the grass.
But it still runs like a top otherwise and starts right up. It's got me stumped.

On another note, I've read some folks think the 109 hasn't that much power. I'm seeing that when I go up a big hill it kind of bogs down and I see smoke coming out the left side, but if I just slow down and take it easy going uphill its fine.
Carl