I've had my L2501 since new, almost 3 years now, and about 70 hours on the meter. It was a pretty dry winter here, so it didn't get used much. a few days ago I hooked up the rear rotary cutter and headed out to mow today. I let the tractor idle up to temperature, and then I drove out to the pasture. When I throttled up to PTO speed (PTO not engaged yet) the motor sounded like it was missing on 1 cylinder and I got a lot of black soot out the exhaust. I idled it back down and drove to the garage to inspect.
Air filter is 90% clean, plenty of oil, no warning lights lit, no leaks or odd signs.
Fired the tractor back up, this time it ran fine. Drove to pasture, engaged PTO on the cutter and began mowing. The motor was running a little rough, but not too bad. However the available power was too low to drive in middle gear (hydraulic transmission). I switched to low gear, still not enough power to pull a mild hill. I disengaged the PTO, and the motor was barely running at this point. RPM's would not change with throttle. It's basically limping at 1200 RPM.
Where do I begin my inspections as to why the motor won't make any power? Would this kind of issue be covered under power train warranty? I've got a few months left on the factor power train warrant (36 months).
Air filter is 90% clean, plenty of oil, no warning lights lit, no leaks or odd signs.
Fired the tractor back up, this time it ran fine. Drove to pasture, engaged PTO on the cutter and began mowing. The motor was running a little rough, but not too bad. However the available power was too low to drive in middle gear (hydraulic transmission). I switched to low gear, still not enough power to pull a mild hill. I disengaged the PTO, and the motor was barely running at this point. RPM's would not change with throttle. It's basically limping at 1200 RPM.
Where do I begin my inspections as to why the motor won't make any power? Would this kind of issue be covered under power train warranty? I've got a few months left on the factor power train warrant (36 months).