# Sonofa



## treemandan (Oct 6, 2010)




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## treemandan (Oct 6, 2010)

Just so happens I pulled that out of a friend of mine's lawn tractor the other day. He had just got it from CL. A decent enough mower with a big Kohler and deck and a nice bagger for 6 hundred.
He said it had just died. I had to drag it back to my place to mess with. At one point I had power but then it went away then it came back. I was checking the fuse with a test light and had power on both sides so it kinda fooled me but since there really isn't much to a mower it didn't take long to find it. It was fine after I changed the fuse though, cut my lawn. 
But I also saw this:

















First of all I think what that red wire goes to is a fuel heater which i have never seen before. Now also look closely at the area above the bowl and around the fuel line. That is mold. I have never seen that before either. What is that?


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## Toddppm (Oct 10, 2010)

Must of been stored inside a closed tight garage or something? Maybe the condensation from the gas in the bowl was feeding the mold?

Fuel heater? Or a convenient place to mount whatever that is? Condensor? Fuel bowl always seems to leak a little wouldn't take much and boom!


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## brokenbudget (Oct 10, 2010)

taint no heater
it's a solonoid to shut the fuel circut off so the engine don't run on (diesel) and/or backfire after being shut down.


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## stihl sawing (Oct 11, 2010)

brokenbudget said:


> taint no heater
> it's a solonoid to shut the fuel circut off so the engine don't run on (diesel) and/or backfire after being shut down.


Yep, An EPA requirment. Got one on a lawnmower we have and it has gone bad twice. It's a POS that is just stuck on there to cost you more to fix.


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## treemandan (Oct 12, 2010)

stihl sawing said:


> Yep, An EPA requirment. Got one on a lawnmower we have and it has gone bad twice. It's a POS that is just stuck on there to cost you more to fix.



Dam SS, you got all those guns and still you let them make you fix the fuel shut off solenoid on your lawn tractor? Twice? What gives man?

When i was poking around I saw the solenoid had power and was rather warm itself. I thought, " is this some kind of heater that is making the mold grow? Maybe just the factory installed fire hazzard?" I wasn't sure and had no manual to go by.
I could see by how the wiring harness was layed out that solenoid receive constant power and believed it to power the other safety switch's relays. Anyway, stupid mowers huh? I still have spare parts from that one sitting around, the guy has been using it just fine. Has a real nice bagging unit.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 12, 2010)

brokenbudget said:


> taint no heater
> it's a solonoid to shut the fuel circut off so the engine don't run on (diesel) and/or backfire after being shut down.





Yep. 


The mold is just from grass dust collecting around there, and with the mower stored in a humid environment, you get mold.


Mystery solved. Case closed.


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## chowdozer (Oct 15, 2010)

It looks more like electrolysis than mold. If it was mold I would expect to see it other places than that one part. That carb body is made of pot metal and susceptible to corrosion. I would just spray it down with some WD40 and go.


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## treemandan (Oct 18, 2010)

chowdozer said:


> It looks more like electrolysis than mold. If it was mold I would expect to see it other places than that one part. That carb body is made of pot metal and susceptible to corrosion. I would just spray it down with some WD40 and go.



I am not sure what you mean be electrolysis. I gave the stuff a poke with stick and it sure looked like mold to me.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 18, 2010)

Well, electrolysis a PROCESS, not a substance, so I think what me means is that it's *corrosion* that has been *caused by* electrolysis.

I don't think so, but it's hard to be sure from a picture. I just don't think it's likely in that location.


BTW, that carb body is aluminum. The bowl is brass or brass coated steel.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 18, 2010)

treemandan said:


> I gave the stuff a poke with stick and it sure looked like mold to me.





You should be more careful, Dan. You might make it mad, and who knows what it might do then! You don't want to be the star in the opening scene of a cheap horror movie, do you?


_*
The Mold That Ate Cincinatti (and Parts of Downtown Toledo)!
*_


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## treemandan (Oct 18, 2010)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> Well, electrolysis a PROCESS, not a substance, so I think what me means is that it's *corrosion* that has been *caused by* electrolysis.
> 
> I don't think so, but it's hard to be sure from a picture. I just don't think it's likely in that location.
> 
> ...



It was furry and fluffy like mold rather that crystaline like electrolysis might be. 
Now I have to get another look at it! The pic is not as good in real time and I don't recall ever seeing anything like this before which I am pretty sure I would have or at least remember it. I have to get a sample and send it off.


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