[Forestry Guy]

I bought a mid 80's John Deere 314 when my wife and I bought our house about 2 years ago. The first fall and summer it ran pretty good, had one small issues that I got fixed at the local shop. This summer I started mowing with it and started having repeats of what we had fixed as well as new things. It would run 15 or 20 minutes and then act like it was running out of fuel sputtering and die. We thought perhaps since I had a crappy cap on my fuel tank that junk had gotten in the tank. So this spring he removed the entire fuel tank, cleaned it all out, replaced the shutoff valve on the tank as well as all the fuel line and the fuel cap. That didn't fix the problem. We then discovered that the electronic clutch was shorting and back feeding into the coil. So we then replaced that and thought we were all good. He ran it and it seems to be fine, but he dropped it off at the house and I started mowing with it and it did the same thing. The two solutions he came up with with the fuel pump being faulty, which I seemed to have ruled by gravity feeding it from a Gatorade bottle and it is still doing the same thing. The other thing he though it might be was a baffle in the muffler loose which would bounce around and block the outflow of exhaust which would coke it out, but took the muffler off and it didn't seem to help much. Ive dumped like $500 into this thing this year and I want to get it running but I am kind of tired of these wild goose chases and dumping money into things that I'm sure have helped but aren't the underlying issue. I have the service manual but too be perfectly honest I'm not the most mechanically inclined guy. I can make just about anything out of wood but when it comes to metal or engines I struggle. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm about at whits end with this. Thankfully I have a finish mower for my tractor so my yard isn't 8' tall yet.......

 

[biker3777]

You have eliminated the fuel issue so now it is electrical,when it quits will it crank over?2 things it could be is ignition switch,coil,switches are cheap and being way old it most likely needs replaced,the coil is pricy but it can be getting hot and failing.

 

[Rydplrs]

have you replaced the condenser?

 

[Forestry Guy]

When it dies I have to wait normally 30 seconds to a minute and it will fire right back up and run for another 15 or 20 minutes. The coil we replaced with a Kohler coil when we had the issue with the clutch back feeding. I hadn't thought of the ignition switch. I believe the condenser was replaced when the coil was replaced this spring but I'd have to check the receipts and or check with my mechanic

 

[biker3777]

Sounds like the circuit breaker is bad,it's under the battery,little oblong thing with 2 wires.

 

[Forestry Guy]

Is that a general part that I can pick up anywhere or is it specific to the 314?

 

[biker3777]

It can be got at a auto parts,I think it 30 amp but if JD is close they could get the original part.

 

[FuzzFace2]

Yes it could be something electrical like condenser or coil heating up and failing.
Cant see the breaker the cause as it would be open (not running) or closed (running). Could jump it out for testing.

I read everything in the fuel system checked or replaced but nothing about the carb being cleaned out or rebuilt. May want to check the carb closer?
Dave ----

 

[Forestry Guy]

I have changed the breaker and still getting the same issue. Will have to talk to the repair guy about the carb. That's over my head and don't want to do any damage to something. Is it possible that I have a short or something that is causing this issue?

 

[RT75]

I've had a similar issue with a Honda walk behind mower. I tried everything I could think of, carb, fuel line, valves. The problem was the spark plug. When the engine was cold, it would run for 10-15 minutes then act like it ran out of gas. It would not restart until it cooled off, then repeat the problem. Replaced the spark plug and problem gone.

 

[biker3777]

If it were mine,I would go get a cheap coil,any coil will work but some won't last long,if it runs then get the right coil,coils just sometime fail,there's been a lot of discussion about coils on Kohler,I only use Kohler but others have used coils of a different brand and it works,my neighbor has a 210 that did the same as yours and kept replacing it with auto cool,it would fail again,I put him a real Kohler on and all is well.uou can check it but I don't know how.

 

[martincom]

From your symptoms, it sounds more like an electrical issue than a fuel issue. Typically, if it was fuel, it would do it all the time, not just 30 minutes after start up. I'd speculate it is the ignition switch, but it would be great to know for sure.

What I would do for a test is to disconnect the positive side of the coil from the wiring harness and connect directly to the battery through a current limiting resistor. This would bypass everything and if it ran without failing, you have dramatically narrowed it down to the primary ignition feed to the coil. If not, you have eliminated that as a cause.

The issue is locating a current limiting resistor. Back in the days of 0.30 a gallon gasoline and when everything had points, they were a dime a dozen at the auto salvage yards. I still have one in my collection of special tools, but if memory serves me correctly they were 5 ohms, but about a 50 watt rating. They were about 2" long and 3/8" square on the end and cast in porcelain (Chrysler products, of course). You need the resistor to keep from burning the points. Using ohms laws, you'd need at least a 30 watt resistor (at 5 ohms) to keep it from burning up.

You could do it without one, but you may end up ruining the points, or worse yet, burning open the coil. Some coils have that resistor internal to them, perhaps the Kohler did? Someone else may know.

 

[1969140]

Yes, the factory Kohler coils, at least on the older John Deeres like a 314, had an internal resistor. With nothing attached to the col, the resistance between the two small terminals is supposed to be about 3.6 ohms. An automotive coil, without the internal resistor, will test about 1.8 ohms.

 

[Rydplrs]

I buy automotive coils, with the internal resistor. I haven't had issues. Bosch blue coils are highly recommended though, along with original kohler, but at $25, I can buy 2-3 for the cost of one of either.

 

[martincom]

Based on 1969140 knowledge that the Kohler coil has an internal resistor, you can disconnect the positive lead from the coil (tape over the terminal as it will be hot when the key is turned to "start" to run the starter motor) and connect a test lead from that terminal directly to the positive post of the battery. Start and run it. If it runs wells past the previous failure time, your problem is in the primary ignition circuit, likely the ignition switch. If not, you've made another step in the process of elimination.