July 30, 2008 the X534 John Deere lawn tractor stopped, blowing clouds of white smoke, ONE DAY AFTER THE WARRANTY ENDED! The right hand cylinder of the 2-cylinder Kawasaki engine totally disintegrated, blowing parts into the muffler.
520 hours on th meter, some 20 hours past warranty.
The dealership responded quickly and found that the engine cover was packed full of dead grass, probably the cause of the “meltdown”.
$2500 for a new engine as the rest of the tractor was in good shape and it is also used to blow snow.
Dealership allowed as the reason for the right hand cylinder lack of cooling was possibly caused by me not having the plastic flap on the mower discharge, allowing more of a cloud of dust on the right hand side of the tractor. I partly buy that, as I often ride in a cloud of dust, especially when the wind is off from the right side.
I have not used the flap thing for years on the 200 series JD’s as I am always squeezing through tight spaces. Besides this high volume capability mower has need of all the outlet space to do it’s work.
The engine cooling slots did not show need of cleaning, at least to my inexperienced eye.
Oil and filter changes every 50 hours, some warm-up before mowing, a little cool-down after stopping.
This story a bit long, but may be of interest to some else running this kind of machine.
Leo
520 hours on th meter, some 20 hours past warranty.
The dealership responded quickly and found that the engine cover was packed full of dead grass, probably the cause of the “meltdown”.
$2500 for a new engine as the rest of the tractor was in good shape and it is also used to blow snow.
Dealership allowed as the reason for the right hand cylinder lack of cooling was possibly caused by me not having the plastic flap on the mower discharge, allowing more of a cloud of dust on the right hand side of the tractor. I partly buy that, as I often ride in a cloud of dust, especially when the wind is off from the right side.
I have not used the flap thing for years on the 200 series JD’s as I am always squeezing through tight spaces. Besides this high volume capability mower has need of all the outlet space to do it’s work.
The engine cooling slots did not show need of cleaning, at least to my inexperienced eye.
Oil and filter changes every 50 hours, some warm-up before mowing, a little cool-down after stopping.
This story a bit long, but may be of interest to some else running this kind of machine.
Leo