Kawasaki FC540V

I didn’t get far enough to really dig in after the carb had to go to another side job.

I took the carb completely apart and cleaned it then adjusted it according to the manual. It’s clean as in clean.

I won’t do much more till the new valves show up and then go from there.

 

I don’t know if it was messed with before or not I’ve found multiple wire nuts and a taped wires the last few days. Whoever worked on it really shouldn’t have...

 

Your no crank issue/bad key switch is a fairly well known issue with these. Deere put out a “relay kit” that fixes the problem. But I’m sure an enterprising individual such as yourself could easily duplicate the end result.





Tractor Forum

 

And those were a pretty dang good model. If it’s got issues, it’s likely cause a human got involved....

 

I like a 7/16” flat head screwdriver myself. One hand on the screwdriver, the other on the fuel shutoff lever.....

 

If I understand the idea right it’s creatung a bridge because the solenoid and factory start relay get weaker as it’s older?

It doesn’t do the click click click thing like a low battery but rather clunk once then nothing. When I took the starter off non of the teeth where bad and it worked fine.

Sounds like the starter assist creates a bridge to bypass the safety’s on the mower. My guess is that it goes wire to ground, wire to constant, wire to Solonoid from switch and then I’m guessing wire from solenoid post to relay and remove a wire from the key?

That sound right. I could probably do that with a 12 volt relay from Carquest. What amp would that require on the 185?

 

As the safety circuit components age, dirty contacts make for more voltage drop across each connection and switch. Run the ignition switch, PTO switch, seat switch, brake switch, trans neutral switch all in series and you get a significant drop that gets worse when you add the load from the starter motor to the mix. The relay doesn’t -functionally- bypass anything. But it severely reduces the number of connections/devices in the start switch circuit down to just one, the relay itself. It takes a lot less current to hold the relay in, so less load on the safety circuit, less voltage drop while cranking. That relay won’t see more than 5 amps. Standard relay will work just fine.

 

Worth mentioning that the Deere relay kit is available on Amazon and is a plug and play install. Sure a generic relay is cheap but they give you a relay base and all the schmancy connectors to make ‘er chooch. Just sayin’.

 

O it is gone now. I honestly don’t remember what I did with it. I bought a nice craftsman GT3500 but I sold that because I found out what it was worth and I haven’t had time to look for another mower.

I’m really looking for a quad now but I don’t need one it’s more of a toy… I’m just eyeballing things right now

 

Shoot that's way to nice for me... I haven't even talked myself into a 4*4 truck yet I keep driving the old rusty 2001 Silverado

 

This is more like what id end up with.

 

Things have been rocky this last year or so and I have really taken a huge break from technology in general but I am doing good now! Making a big crock pot of pot roast and trying some apples in to this morning.

How ya doing?