XT2 LX46 sputterin and dyin under load, fuel side you reckon?

R

RustyWrench

Active member
Got an XT2 LX46 with the Kawasaki FR651V on it, somewhere around 340 hours on the meter. Bought it used a few summers back off. Ran like a top up til this summer.
Heres whats goin on. Fires right up cold, idles smooth as you please, rolls out of the shed no complaints. Soon as I put it under any real load though, hillside, thick patch, tight turn with the deck engaged, she starts stumblin. Sometimes just a hiccup, sometimes shell die outright. Let off the pedal a second and she picks right back up like nothin happened.
Already been through the easy stuff. New air filter last month. Pulled the plugs and they look fine, nice tan color, no fouling. Fuel in the tank is fresh, ran a bottle of stabilizer through it too.
My gut says fuel starvation. Either the pumps gettin tired or theres somethin partial in the filter line. But I dont wanna throw parts at it if one of yall has seen this exact behavior on the FR651V and knows which one to hit first.
Anybody been down this road? Appreciate it.
 
most small engines end up with fuel issues, try cleaning the jets in the carb, they are tiny and plug up easy
 
Gary Dotson said:
I agree with Tim, I’d clean the carb before throwing any parts at it.
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Agree, clean, no blended fresh fuel with stabilizer/cleaner is my standard for small engines for every fillup. Also if it's not to be used for a period of time, run the carb dry of fuel and empty the tank (B&S recommends this in the Owner's Manual for storage instructions). Fuels available now-days start to break down after about 30 days. One other possibility is the fuel line might be collapsing inside from age. My son had a similar situation on a LM engine that replacing the flexible fuel line from the tank to the carb fixed the problem. JMHO Stan
 
If you’re running ethanol fuel, throw the carb away and buy another one. Modern small engine carbs are nearly impossible to clean of ethanol jelly. If not, look for debris in the carb bowl. It could also be a pulse pump problem or a fuel tank vent problem affecting the pulse pump.
 
S2H said:
If you’re running ethanol fuel, throw the carb away and buy another one. Modern small engine carbs are nearly impossible to clean of ethanol jelly. If not, look for debris in the carb bowl. It could also be a pulse pump problem or a fuel tank vent problem affecting the pulse pump.
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I live in Northeast Ohio and only use 90 Octane non ethanol fuel. for my "Working Gas". It is available at some gas stations. You can locate them with a Google search. I would expect other States besides Ohio have this non ethanol gas.
 
JohnMihevic said:
I live in Northeast Ohio and only use 90 Octane non ethanol fuel. for my "Working Gas". It is available at some gas stations. You can locate them with a Google search. I would expect other States besides Ohio have this non ethanol gas.
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Lower AL/ MS too. Costs a little more per gallon but worth it to me.... Stan
 
Thanks to all of you very much. Sounds like fuel side is the consensus, matches my gut too.
Startin cheapest first, gonna run her tomorrow with the gas cap cracked loose per S2H. If she still acts up, pullin the fuel line to check for soft spots like Stan said, then droppin the carb bowl. Been runnin 87 with ethanol, so lesson learned there. Will report back.
 
Update! Cap trick didnt fix it, but pullin the fuel line I found a soft spongy section near the pump end, collapsin under suction just like Stan called it. Dropped the carb bowl too, found gummy residue in the main jet. Ordered a fuel line and carb kit off FridayParts since they had both. Got everything torn down, cleaned the jets out proper, and put it all back together.

Fired right up on the second pull. Idles smooth, no more stumbling under throttle, and she's holding revs like she should. Switching over to non-ethanol from here on out, lesson learned the hard way. Appreciate all the input fellas!
 
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