QuestionQUESTION: I have a John Deere walk-behing push mower "MowMentum JS25". It is running rough. It starts but it doesn't stay running. After looking through the trouble shooting in my manual it is telling me that the speed needs to be adjusted. I am trying to locate the carburetor barrel and the float valve so that I can find the screws that require adjusting?
Product ID: GXJS5A116684
Model: JS25A
Date Code: 022409
UPC: 759936720260
S# 2013558248 (This number wasn't labeled serial number but since it was the only number left on the mower sticker, I assumed that this is what it is!)
Thank you!
ANSWER: Diane
When a engine runs rough that is usually a sign of bad gas, dirt or water in the carburetor.
How old is this mower as you may still be covered under warranty.
The John Deere JS 25 walk behind mower has a two year warranty. John Deere also offers a 30 day at home trial. If customers are not satisfied, they can return the John Deere JS 25 walk behind mower and either get their money back or exchange the lawn mower for another machine.
Also the numbers you gave me are of the equipment I will need the engine # to tell you about the Carburetor. You will not find any adjusting screws on this engine as the EPA now will not let anyone even us do any kind of adjusting for the fuel mixture of any carburetors.
Replace stale or contaminated fuel, clean or replace the air filter, and clean or replace the spark plug if the mower starts, but runs rough. If after correcting these issues, the mower still runs rough, have the unit serviced.
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QUESTION: Thanks Ben! I appreciate you getting back to me. I actually ended up disconnecting the carburetor and cleaning it although, it didn't need it. It was very clean. When I put it back together it ran beautifully. Then today, I pulled it out to mow and it was back to running poorly-Argh! I had already checked the air filter and spark plug before cleaning the carburetor. But, you mentioned the gas. The gas we are using has been sitting in the red gas container in our shed throughout the winter. Will that go stale over the winter? It would seem to make sense since it worked after I cleaned the carb then worked poorly again after sitting throughout the night. We purchased the mower from Lowes in May of 2009 so unfortunately, we are past warranty but thanks for that bit of info. I appreciate your help. We are going to have it looked at on Tuesday but I think I may try putting fresh gas in it first if you think that could be the problem. I didn't realize that gas went stale. Thanks for the education!
ANSWER: Diane
Yes gas does get bad what happens it will collect water in the fuel tank from condensation and then the fuel starts to gum up. I know what you're thinking. This stuff was stored in the ground, admittedly in unrefined form, for millions of years without losing its potency, but once topside it's got the shelf life of a tomato? Doubtless the risk of gas going stale is often exaggerated. Still, no getting around one basic truth: in principle gas can go bad.
The shelf life of gasoline depends on the type of gas and the storage conditions and can range from a couple months to a couple years. One wild card is that gas you buy at the pump may already have been in storage for anywhere from days to months Also, watch out for water contamination in open air storage. This also is why gasoline doesn't last as long in this type of storage. Another factor is ethanol. Since ethanol is added to most gasoline available, the fact that ethanol is hydrophilic (is essentially sucks water out of the air), means that gasoline with ethanol may have a shorter life as it becomes contaminated with water and other moisture.The best way to store gasoline is using containers or systems with tight caps. The type of container (metal, plastic, fiberglass) doesn't matter too much as long as you make sure the fiberglass container is deigned for use with alcohol based fuels (ethanol). Keep your container near full so that there's as little air in the container as possible. Also try to reduce or eliminate temperature swings where you're keeping the gasoline. Also, consider adding a product such as K100 or Stabil to your gasoline. K100 offers excellent anti-aging protection of gasoline as well as helps clean and remove fuel. Here is a link for this information.
http://www.k100fueltreatment.com/ we also sell this treatment we use it in all our engines,in fact some engines wont start we put this fuel stabilizer in and the engine will start and clean it self,most of my customers love it as they put it in the fuel tanks,gas cans during the off season to keep the fuel fresh.
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QUESTION: Thanks-AGAIN-for getting back with me. I do store the gas in red gas containers that are sealed tight however, I leave it in my shed which makes it subject to temperature changes. Thanks for filling me on that information because I wasn't aware of the factors that can make my gas go stale. I did go to the gas station and fill up a fresh can (plasitc) can. I emptied the old fuel from the lawn mower and then ran the lawn mower until it ran out of the old gas. I filled it with new fuel and let it run until my idle was where it needed to be. I mowed with it for about 1/2 hour when it started losing idle speed and then it eventually died-ARGH. I then put it back in storage and thought about it overnight. I had replaced the drive cable and thought that maybe I just had to adjust that a bit. Today, I got out my mower, adjusted the cable but it still sputtered and ran at an uneasy idle. I lost my job in November so money is tight. I've tried so hard to get my mower running and I am so dissapointed that I haven't succeeded. But I thank you so much for your patience and time. At the very least, I now know how to replace a drive cable, take apart a carburetor and clean it AND how to take care of my gas! Thanks a bunch.
AnswerDiane
You may have to clean out the carburetor again,Go to wal mart and buy a can of cab cleaner it's cheap take the carb apart again and spray all the nooks & crannys & ports,also make sure that the float lever is level with the base so that when it opens & shuts it will close & open properly. Good Luck
