Engine power loss

[Kris3919 2]

Hi everyone  just bought my first Wheel Horse. 312-8 and im very happy and excited to have it. Today i really used it for the first time and it ran great for the first hour or so and then i started having issues. The engine started to cut out and loss power. So i stopped for a few seconds and then it regained power. I'm thinking fuel related. Maybe needs a carb cleaning. Any ideas would be great. Thank everyone.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Kris3919

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,168]

  First thing you should do with a “new to you” machine is change out fluids (motor and tranny oil), new spark plug and air filter, new in-line fuel filter and also the one in the underseat fuel tank (this one is always neglected) and in most cases all new rubber fuel line.  

  Of course you may need to do a carb cleaning or at least run a tank of fuel/sea foam mixture thru it. 

[roadapples 6,983]

Carb. cleaning, new fuel lines and filter wold be a good start.

 

And 

Sparky types faster than me...

Edited July 13, 2019 by roadapples

[953 nut 60,086]

Another important consideration on garden tractors is the type of fuel used. Ethanol in today's fuel kills fuel systems. go to this site to find real gas near you. https://www.pure-gas.org/

Once you do the maintenance suggested by @Sparky you probably could benefit by running some Seafoam fuel additive to help remove contaminants from the system.

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,492]

First thing that came to my mind was you possibly have a broken baffle in the muffler. The inlet tube goes almost to the outside where it is capped. There are a series of holes in the tube for the exhaust to exit. The tube will burn off at the holes and the loose piece has the uncanny ability to plug the hole in the next baffle which greatly restricts the exhaust. Tap the muffler with a rubber hammer to see if you can hear the baffle rattling loose in there.

 

Garry

[Weshorse 5]

Kris im the new guy here on the forum..there is no easy answer to your issue..troubleshooting from Ato z is required..fuel issue is possible of course...as are hot and cold compression as well as spark..i say check the basics before changing out a bunch of parts..ive even seen pulleys overheating..putting drag on belt then engine..wish you well..

[Kris3919 2]

thank you all. i do use non ethanol fuel in all my equipment. the previous owner claimed he changed all the fluids and after actually meeting him i'm likely to believe him just by the way we talked about this tractor. But you never know.  i will try the rest of the suggestions and see where it leads me. i'm excite to finally have a quality machine.