312 Hydro Engine Problem

[RichL 0]

Hello all,

New to the forum. I have a Wheel Horse 312 Hydro with the following on the ID tag under the seat: ID# 3112KE01   10828, and 9303 under these numbers. I have been having a problem recently where the tractor seemed to be running fine and then the engine would just quit. It would crank and not start. When this first happened, it started again after it had cooled down for and hour or so. But then after running for another 20-30 minutes, it would quit again. Then it would not start at all. In talking to my neighbor and one of his sons, they told me that they had a tractor that had done the same thing. They came over and looked at my Wheel Horse and said that it had the exact same Kohler motor as his and he had replace the fuel pump and it solved his problem. He offered to buy and replace the fuel pump which he did this past weekend. This evening, I went out to cut the grass. I got about a quarter of my 1.5 acres cut when the engine did the exact same thing. I pushed it back into the garage. Part of my frustration is that the dealer I purchased the tractor from, and have had work done on it several times over the years has not been any help this time. The dealer is a 1 man operation and he is now 80 yrs. old and says, "The fun is gone.". I had tried several times to see if he could get my tractor and troubleshoot it and get it fixed. Basically I got no response for a couple weeks before I got some help from my neighbor.

Anyway, does anyone have any ideas what the problem and solution may be?    Any suggestions on finding a reputable repair person or shop in or near the Imperial/Clinton PA area?

Thanks in advance for any help you to this newbie to the forum!

RichL

[Ed Kennell 42,108]

The two most important requirements are a proper fuel and air delivery to the cylinder and a good spark at the correct time to ignite the fuel.
The first step is to determine if either or both of these  are missing.

Remove the air cleaner and try squirting starting fluid directly into the carburetor  while cranking the engine.  This will insure fuel and air are getting to the cylinder.  If the engine runs while squirting the fluid in, then it has spark. 
If it stops running when you stop squirting the fluid in, you do not have a good fuel supply.

If it will not run while squirting the fluid in, you probably do not have spark.

After you determine which is missing, fuel or spark,  then we can make further tests.

[tunahead72 2,551]

Before you do what Ed suggested, see if you can get it started and running again normally.  If it runs OK for a while and then starts to die, try to open your gas cap a little (quickly, before it stalls) and see if it stays running.  If it does, you may simply have a clogged fuel cap vent.
 

[skrusins 128]

With the heat we're having I would think vapor lock.

[953 nut 60,241]

Fuel Cap!  I had the same problem a couple of years ago, when the vent isn't working the fuel pump begins to pull a vacuum on the tank. After it sits for a while the pump is able to move a little fuel and then the vacuum occurs again. buy a new cap and life will be good.

[RichL 0]

Thanks for the replies.

We put in a new spark plug and then determined that the "new" fuel pump we put on was not working properly. My neighbor took the fuel pump that was only a year old off his motor and put it on mine and mine is now running. I still will have to run it one of these days to cut my grass which usually takes about 1 1/2 hours to feel relatively sure that we have the problem solved. I am also going to see if I can locate and replace the gas cap as it does look pretty cruddy and could also be contributing to the problem.

Thanks again!
RichL

[Ed Kennell 42,108]

Good to hear She's running, Rich.        This kinda verifies it's better to determine what is missing in the combustion process (fuel and spark) before randomly replacing parts.
Even replacing with "new" parts can actually compound the problem.