I have a John Deere riding mower, 42" L110 with the Kohler engine. 1 1/2 season old. This season when I tried to start the engine if fires up immediately and runs at high rpm for 1 second, then shuts off. It doesn't matter whether left in full chock or moved off choke. Nor does it matter if pulled off choke and while still spinning a high rate the choke is reingaged. It still dies after 1 second of smooth acceleration to maximum RPM. I've checked the fuel, filter, fuel pump, carb, replaced the solenoid shut off with a new one. No change.

It seems that either there is consisently enough fuel for 1 second of smooth running and then it is out of fuel regardless of throttle position. And, immediately will start again for 1 second, by starter engagement only, even while still spinning with the choke engaged but for 1 second only. It will do this 50 times but no improvement is seen. It also could be that there is an electrical shut off malfunctioning for some reason but I have no idea what.

Any ides or has anyone run into this before?

If that is a twin cylinder remove a plug wire and hook a plug to it, any plug but leave a plug in cylinder. Ground plug against block and start engine watch for spark to see if it quits with engine, they will run on one cylinder. If I am hearing you correctly it is as if someone turns the key off, and that would be spark, maybe a safety switch is bad but they do not normally let you start the engine.

Don

Well I solved the problem. I called the John Deere dealer and asked to speak to their best mechanic. Of course the guy that answered said that would be he. So I explained the problem and he told me how to check the fuel flow at the fuel filter on the engine side of the fuel pump. I told him the filter was before the fuel pump. Expert?? Anyway his best advice was to get a new spark plug. I did, the problem continued.

I began taking the carb apart and found the bowl full of fuel, the carb clean as a whistle so I decided to check the new $60 fuel shut off solenoid. It worked fine when grounded with the wiring touched to the positive side of the battery. The only problem, when it was installed it would click open one notch too early on the ignition switch and then close when the starter was engaged and the key released from the start position. I took the ignition apart, cleaned it, repositioned the parts, securely fastened the tabs that hold it together. It now works fine. Note: The solenoid should not click open, (you can clearly hear it if opening too soon) prior to engaging the starter and it must stay open once the key is released for the engine to run.

Very good, sounds as if mission accomplished and you gave the rare response so others can benefit.

Don