Expert: Jason Place - 7/8/2009

Question
I have a john deer z225 that will not start.  It will turn over and blows out dark smoke but we can never get it to start. We cleaned the carb and put in fresh gas but it still won't start.

Any idea on what would cause this to happen?

Thanks,
Babs

Answer
It sound to me that you are getting a lot of oil in the cylinder. That would explain the dark smoke because oil is not explosive like gas when mixed it would try to start but be flooded out by to much oil to start.I would suggest bringing it to your local small engine repair because I am just guessing that it needs a rebuild(Rings,valves,etc)
But you might have hit something with it and that would cause to break the keyway on the flywheel witch would mean its out of timing and wont run! If that is the case your in luck,they are cheap to replace as long as you do it yourself. If you need anymore help,feel free to ask!

Jason