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John Deere L110 Service Questions

I have a 2 year old John Deere L110 mower with 40 hours. 2 questions today. I am ready to change blades on the deck, and the owner's manual is not overly helpful. When loosening the blade bolts, do you loosen them counter clockwise for removal?

Second question: After about 45 minutes of mowing, the engine generally sputters and then stalls. I have checked gas, changed to new gas, checked cooling fins, changed fuel filter and called John Deere service locally for advice. Nothing seems to remedy this. If you let it sit for about 10 minutes, it then will run long enough to finish the lawn. It is stored over winter in North Dakota with Stable in tank to avoid gummy deposits.

Help if you can because I'm ready to get rid of it if I don't find a solution!

Lefty loosey, righty tighty. Yep counterclockwise looking up at the blades. I would flush the tank and lines with carb cleaner. If you can reach it remove and clean the carb bowl and needle. Stabul isn't always the greatest.

Is it a Kohler engine? There have been issues with the ignition coils when warm. Even on a briggs for that matter.

Don

Quote:

Originally Posted by newaukumdon

Is it a Kohler engine? There have been issues with the ignition coils when warm. Even on a briggs for that matter.

Don

Yes, it's a 17.5 HP Kohler.

Get it hot and remove the coil wire while running, careful sparky! Then see if the engine changes tone.

Don

This sounds like the problem I am having. Though mine can stall a couple of times. I guess if it changes tone the coil is fine?

If you remove the wire and absolutely nothing happens then the coil is probably bad. If you remove it and the engine dies the OTHER coil is bad, if you remove it and you hear a change in tone neither one is bad.

Don

I believe these are single cylinder engines. Are there two coils? I had a problem with the fuel shut off solenoid and the problem was in the ignition switch. It somehow got to where it wasn't energizing/holding the solenoid open when running and it won't run when the fuel is cut off.

I had the same problem and discovered the gas cap was the culprit. It wasn't venting properly, creating a vaccuum in the tank, impeding the flow of gas into the engine. When I took it apart and made sure the holes were all patent, it resolved all of my stalling issues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clonbaken

I have a 2 year old John Deere L110 mower with 40 hours. 2 questions today. I am ready to change blades on the deck, and the owner's manual is not overly helpful. When loosening the blade bolts, do you loosen them counter clockwise for removal?

Second question: After about 45 minutes of mowing, the engine generally sputters and then stalls. I have checked gas, changed to new gas, checked cooling fins, changed fuel filter and called John Deere service locally for advice. Nothing seems to remedy this. If you let it sit for about 10 minutes, it then will run long enough to finish the lawn. It is stored over winter in North Dakota with Stable in tank to avoid gummy deposits.

Help if you can because I'm ready to get rid of it if I don't find a solution!

Yes, the blade nuts will come off by turning them counterclockwise: righty tighty, lefty loosey. You may need to get an impact wrench and socket to break the nuts loose. And when you reinstall the blades and nuts. Tighten them , but do not over tighten. If you put them back on with the impact and really shower down on it, you will have a hard time getting them back off.
As far as it running for about 45 minutes. Then sputtering and dying and then after cooling down will restart sounds like the coil is breaking down due to heat. The only solution to this is to replace the coil if it is found that the coil is not firing when it finally does die after 45 minutes. To test this remove the spark plug, reconnect to the spark plug wire, hold against the block of the engine and turn the key to start. If you see no spark, the coil is breaking down and is bad. If you do see spark come back and we will try again. But I think this is the problem. ALSO, IF YOU HAVE A PACEMAKER OF DEFIBILLATOR IN YOUR CHEST, DO NOT DO THIS TEST. AN ELECTRICAL SHOCK COULD BE HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CV_Gas

I had the same problem and discovered the gas cap was the culprit. It wasn't venting properly, creating a vaccuum in the tank, impeding the flow of gas into the engine. When I took it apart and made sure the holes were all patent, it resolved all of my stalling issues.

Cheers, I never would have thought of that:D My problem turned out to be the solenoid, but fortuitously this started happening last week and I was about to take to the mower with a sledge hammer. After reading this though my new problem has been solved. Flushed and cleaned everything from fill point to mixing chamber just to make sure and now runs like a dream (until next time:mad: )

Thanks for all the advice guys

Good job, I am glad it got fixed. Diagnosis online is kind of like golf, you can not always get a hole in one. Ha ha ah ah ha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CV_Gas

I had the same problem and discovered the gas cap was the culprit. It wasn't venting properly, creating a vacuum in the tank, impeding the flow of gas into the engine. When I took it apart and made sure the holes were all patent, it resolved all of my stalling issues.

Yes, I had the same problem, and the vent hole in my gas cap was plug, cleared the vent, and wal-la... no problems whatsoever since.

I had the same problem, and it was the gas cap. The air vent on the top was plugged. Once I cleaned the hole, it worked perfectly and that has been 3 years ago.