JD 445 running rich?

[Mr Mower Man]

KE4AVB isn't the only one with a 445 in the shop. A customer brought me one that lacked power. It has an EFI FD620D Kawasaki. I don't know the spec number. Customer says it ran fine one day, and then the next time he tried to use it, it was suddenly running like it didn't have any power. He took a wild stab at the problem and got a new MAP sensor for it, but that didn't fix anything. He told me that the hose coming from the MAP sensor needed to be plugged or else it wouldn't run at all. It runs poorly enough as it is. John Deere told him it sounded like a control board gone bad, which is $1500 from them. So he brought it to me to see if I could do anything with it. Long story short, I disconnected the muffler, and it runs MUCH better, plenty of power. So I'm thinking the only problem was restricted exhaust. But I noticed that the engine ran pretty rich with the muffler off. Is this because I have the muffler off, or is a rich running condition the cause of the exhaust becoming restricted? I guess it's kind of a chicken/egg conundrum (though I'm pretty sure the chicken came first).

Or I guess it could be the plugged hose from the MAP sensor, which I forgot to even look for. Not too swift on EFI systems, so I don't know if that would have anything to do with this or not. What do you think?

[KE4AVB]

The Map sensor will on the metal plate that holds the throttle body down on left side attached by screw. Will have a red, white, and black wire with either strips or dots or both. With the Map sensor air line plug it see no intake vacuum hence thinks it is at wide open throttle so running rich could be very caused by this. Plugged muffler may or may not caused by the over rich condition.

Service manual not very good on troubleshooting either but if you need a copy I can send you a copy. Just PM me your email address.

MAP = Manifold Absolute Pressure (Usually a vacuum)

[KE4AVB]

It also could be a leaky injector or o-ring. To check pressure test throttle body with the injector in place. Apply 20-25 psi to fuel in side while the out flow side sealed off and look for leakage. Can be the small o-ring on the injector if leakage is present which a heck cheaper than the injector. And the injector is around $300.

For the injector and spark controller I went with an used one off Ebay that a 30 day return policy. Normally I don't buy off Evilbay but in this case I know it was an used tested item. It did fix my ignition problem but I still had running problem which turn out to be bad fuel line at the fuel pump and the fuel filter severely clogged. Hopefully the new line and filter will fix that when they get in later today.

[Mr Mower Man]

OK, so I found the hose that's supposed to be hooked up to the MAP sensor and plugged it in. Instantly started running different. But now it's really lean instead of rich. Is that possibly because the muffler is disconnected? Or do I likely have another problem? I already replaced the fuel in it with fresh fuel, and the pump moves a good volume of fuel through the line, so I don't suspect that's the problem. However, I haven't measured fuel pressure, which I suppose may be an issue I can't see without proper tools. The air filter also is off, but that usually doesn't effect performance much at all. Before I removed the exhaust, I adjusted the valves to .010" (the spec in the service manual).

[KE4AVB]

All new ground for me too.

Yes a low fuel pressure can cause a lean condition.

An tester adapter is something I got to come with here as JD nor Kawasaki thought putting a test port on the system but the manual does it needs to be 25 psi at idle.

[Mr Mower Man]

This engine has restricted exhaust, so I know I'm gonna need a new muffler at least. Does anyone know if the Kawasaki 49070-2593-9Y muffler will fit, or will I have to go with the JD muffler? Many times I've bought JD engine parts and it's just a Kawasaki packaged part with a JD sticker on it.

[KE4AVB]

Which Kawasaki is it? Spec number. I the FD620D-ES01 that I just got delivered uses the 49070-2626-9Y according to IPL. It has a different config.

[Mr Mower Man]

I didn't see an IPL for the FD620D-_S01, which is what this engine is. I don't see any spec ID on the engine, so I'm not sure what the first letter of the spec is. Looks like it's gotta be A-F. The lowest spec number I was able to look up parts for was the _S03. The JD parts lookup I was able to access says the _S01 is on the 445 and the _S02 is on the 425. Where did you get the IPL for the ES01? I just looked up the muffler part number you gave me, and there aren't any of those available, so I'll probably have to go with the JD part anyway.

[KE4AVB]

I send my vendor an email asking they can they still get them as they them available but with a 7-10 delay.

As the parts lookup I drop you a PM with website link that I am using. I just don't want JD easily figuring out how I am getting around their part numbers numbers.

[KE4AVB]

Vendor replied NLA through the Kawasaki so it might be that JD now has them as a propriety item in the US. I know that what they on the fuel filter I needed. It was a Kawasaki part in the package with the Kawasaki part number on it.