OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines Need murray riding mower help..

I have a riding mower problem i need desperate help with. Its a 2004 murray select. Its black and a 40" cut and 13.5 Briggs and stratton I/C engine. Bought it brand new in 2004 and its been great. At the end of last season, i noticed a few times it would just die while i was mowing. It would fire right back up. It did it just a few times last year. Now this year, its doing it more and more and has gotten so bad it takes forever to mow. It will go along fine then just dies like i turned the key off or something. It usually will start back up but sometimes it takes a lot of cranking to get it started back. Then when it starts back, i might get 10 feet before it does it again, or i might go 10 minutes before it does it again, but its doing it more and more each time i mow. Ive kept the thing mint and do all the maintenance on it. I thought maybe the fuel hose or filter had some trash in it that was stopping the fuel flow sometimes but they are clear. There is a electrical 2 wire plug that connects to the bottom of the carburetor im wondering about. Ive never seen a lawnmower with any electrical gadgets on the carb but this one does and i noticed that if i unplug it, the mower will die, so im wondering if whatever that is on the carb that has wires going to it could be going bad? need help bad getting it going right, any lawnmower techs here that may be familiar with this murray mower?
thanks!

Does it fade away, or just stop firing as if it had been switched off? If it is a sharp, instantaneous cut-off, it would be an ignition fault. The first possibility to consider is that the engine stop device (deadman control) is what is causing this. That would make it an electrical system fault. You probably need access to the wiring diagram to sort that out, unless someone here is familiar with that engine type. Most likely Bruce can help you with the wiring diagram, and he or Joe may be familiar with the deadman control on your engine.

mopower440,

Ok the wires to the carby are a water sensor that will stop the engine if you have water in the fuel.

The sensor could be faulty as well and that is why you are having your problem.

well, i havnt messed with the carb yet, but i went out and started it up and messed with all the electrical connections and wires on it and couldnt make it quit. The ONLY thing i found was the key switch was loose in the dash and i tightened it up. I ran it for an hour and it never quit or even stumbled, could the loose key switch cause the quitting or is it not need to be grounded to the body?

If the problem is a drop of water in the bottom of the carburetor float bowl touching the water sensor, it may only cut out when you are lurching around mowing grass - it probably wouldn't happen while the machine is parked with the engine running unless there was quite a lot of water in there.

Most likely the cutting out is caused by the engine stop device getting grounded intermittently. There could be various ways that could happen, including the carburetor water sensor but also including safety devices intended to keep you from hurting yourself. Does it still cut out when you actually cut grass? If it does, will it still cut out if you temporarily bypass the carburetor water sensor? I think Bruce's diagnosis is very plausible - the symptoms you described sound just right for a small puddle of water bouncing around in the bottom of the float bowl and sometimes landing on the water sensor. However it could be anything that occasionally grounds that kill wire when the mower bounces over the turf.