Phantom Menace problem killing me.

My v twin powered El Diablo keeps shutting off. The last couple of weeks its got worse, from 1-2 times per couple of days to now 3-4 times per job! It starts right back up. runs for awhile the cuts out. Replaced the fuel filter- no help. I am leaning towards Low oil pressure switch or engine stop diode. I am thinking of TEMPORARILY disconnecting sending unit and then connecting the two leads to the diode together in order to remove it from the electrical loop. Thoughts?

Sounds like a sensor going bad, but which one? My guess would be a temperature sensor or maybe even the tank full shut-off.

On Butler systems, that tank full shut-off is a chronic problem that often gets bypassed. I bypassed mine years ago on the Butler since the waste tank is 230 gallons, so it pretty much never gets full on a day's worth of jobs.

As long as it isn't an oil pressure problem, I would just start checking current at each sensor when it shuts down again. I hate demons like that, but it will only get worse until it is found.

I second Bob's opinion on checking the waste tank shut off valve, sometimes hairs and debris can get stuck on there causing it to not goes down all the way, after that I would start bypassing sensors ( if it's possible ), if not just buy one of each sensors, only 3 I think, high temp sensor, low oil pressure and high oil pressure ( this one is pretty rare to go out as far as I know ) ?
Now there was also an issue I had with my old blue line Thermalwave II that I can't remember the cause now, I should've wrote that down, but then thank goodness this is not blue line Thermalwave, lol.
Good luck Charles.

I had this problem afew years ago. Kept getting worse. Can't remember what the part is called. There are 2, one on each side of the front of my Kohler. A sensor or something.
I'm gonna search my post to see if I can find it.

I was getting my old snow blowers serviced up for the winter storms forecasted for this week and started thinking about your problem again. I think you are right now, look to the fuel system.

If it were me, I would replace your fuel lines (they might be collapsing when hot or degraded to the point of clogging the system), the filter, and fresh fuel (drain out the old fuel). Do you ever see any bubbles in the fuel filter?

On both of my snow blowers, all my troubles were traced back to fuel line issues or a bad vent cap. The fuel solenoid could be at fault as well, but this would be a prime time to replace the easy stuff and go from there. IF you need to replace the solenoid, you will want to drain the tank and pull the hoses anyway.

Problems like that would really be a pita for a solo operator. Even worse is that one of these times, it will not recover and leave you mid-job with no machine.

Thanks for all the advice. 1st thing i did was take the lr21 float valve and remove it from the "electrical loop. Problem still occured. All the gas lines are new as well as all the filters replaced. What I did was find the low oil shutdown wire from the bottom right side of the engine and disconnected it. I ran the unit for an hour straight. No problems. I hope I found the problem, but you never know.

Ran another hour this afternoon,changed oil and filter, fingers crossed......

Interesting....the Kohler manual suggested the same thing (low oil shutdown), but it just didn't seem right to me that it would recover so fast if it was the problem

Sounds like you may have found the devil then. Could it be the brand or grade of oil being used? Are you running the Kohler brand oil and filter?

I run Amsoil 4 stroke small engine oil. A bit pricey at $10 a quart but it's only 2 quarts. I have heard that it has additives that are good for these types of motors: ie: anti foaming etc.

Amsoil makes great stuff, but maybe it is throwing off the sensor? Full-synthetic flows like a full grade thinner than dino oil.

Check the red wire on the ignition sw, it could be a loose connection from vibration.

Problem is back again, going outside now to figure this out. Checked Ignition switch seems fine. Motor is isolated from cleaning unit as far as float swtiches etc. Motor seems to cut out after a couple of hours running. No sputtering just dies instantly. Seems to be electrical. Can a coil act up? Or do they just die? Thinking of checking carb solenoid. Motor starts right up and runs fine, then dies, starts right up again, runs for a while then dies. Bad ground? Any other suggetions would help, Thanks!

The red wire from the sw goes to the kill circuit on the unit. But if you can power the carb solenoid from the battery separate from the sw and if it still cuts off then it's either coils or sw. I haven't seen both coils go bad at the same time. Does the engine have a oil pressure sw on the side of the engine usually close to the filter. That could be the issue also.

I can't see the coils going at the same time, you should be good there. Clearly electrical....worst kind as they can be hell to trace. You have already isolated some of the major ones, just have to keep going.

Good luck, I know how that can suck. I had a good friend fight that sort of thing with an Everest, it would just shut down for no apparent reason. He fought with it all year....nobody could find the gremlin. He eventually sold it.

Thanks you again! I disconnected the low oil shutoff already. Didn't work. I took the front cowling off and found this. It seems that the main fuel line to the carb was almost bent in half. Maybee as the unit got warmer and it was under load the line kinked and prevented gas from getting to the carb. The line in question has a different inside diameter on both ends. I have another of these motors that I use for parts. The fuel line on the parts motor was molded into shape and not just a bent piece of fuel line. I swapped them out. Wondering if the motor would die so abruptly if this was the problem. It is 3 inches from the carb. I will see on Monday as I head out to clean a local estate in a probable sleet/snow storm, has to be done, customer heading out of country on Wed. Fingers crossed, yet skeptical.........

If the line collapses, then yes, it would shut off, although you would still expect it to sputter a little first as the fuel in the carb was burned off.

Still, there should never be a bend like that in a fuel line.

Was not the gas line, can you believe it? I finally swapped out the voltage regulator. then disconnected the stop diode from the 2 coils. I dont know which thing it was, but as soon as it slows down I will swap in the old voltage regulator and see if that was indeed the problem. I just want to know, rather have low oil and carb solenoid working if possible. THANKS foe all your suggestions. The good thing is i now have new filters, gas line etc...., lol.

Glad to hear you have the issue resolved for now. I am curious which one it was as well, but being able to operate is more important right now.

Nothing looks worse to me than seeing a cleaner deal with breakdowns in a customer's driveway. I have a sub that helps on some of the larger jobs when it needs to be done quickly and he is always spending 15 minutes just trying to get the machine to start. The last time he asked me for a jump-start for his van as well due to his battery having a bad cell.

I ended up telling him to fix his crap or I will have to find another sub for those jobs. I can't have an unreliable machine on my contract.