Hard start and stalls with a MULE ...

Hello all. During the really nasty cold weather we've had here, I've noticed its difficult to start and keep running on my Kawasaki MULE (1999, gasoline-powered, 4wd). It was the worst during the snow, though some of the wet periods were bad too. It would often taken many time to get it started, but worse was the engine would often stall and die. Once actually fired up, it runs fine, but its odd and more than a little annoying to have the aforementioned happen.

Any ideas on what I should check? Any solutions I can try as an end-user? Thanks much.

 

Thanks much for the note. Its appreciated.

Agreed on the battery; not only does it fire-up, its newish (early last year). As to fuel, I do use the stabilizer Sta-Bil with non-ethanol fuel. Regarding how often its run, I'd say, conservatively, between every one to three weeks. I only really noticed this problem when it got crazy cold. I have not checked the carburetor yet and that may indeed be the issue.

Thanks again and if anyone has additional thoughts, I would indeed value said.

 

I don't know anything about those, but they are truly something I want when I get my ranch in the country...someday!

 

For whatever it is worth, I've found these vehicle very helpful in running the homestead. Its very hilly where I live, so logging, gardening, etc., would get pretty old without some wheels.

 

Somewhat bizarrely, it seems to, more or less, solved itself. It still a little hard on the starting, but I am not getting the constant stalls like before. To be completely honest, I haven't the foggiest on what happened. The only difference is it has warmed up significantly here (teens with snow versus 40-50s F with wet) since when I was having trouble. The last time I ran it (couple days ago) I pretty much emptied the tank, so fresh, treated, and ethanol-free gasoline is the tank now. We'll see how it goes the next time I fire it up.

 

The story reminds me very much of a car my dad once owned when I was a child. I believe it was an Austin or Hunter. I recall him getting ready for work and then going out to start the car. He would then come back inside and do other things while the engine builds up. If he was in a haste and try to go, he would have to have someone help him push it out of the yard and turn it down the hill.

 

I read that the ethanol that is added to the gas is set for use in warmer weather, and when it gets cold, then they have to change something about the mixture. This winter was an especially cold one for us , and I was having trouble with my station wagon not wanting to start and keep running, and some days, it would take me several tries to even get it going.
After I read that it might be the gas, I spent the extra money to fill up the tank with gas that did not have any ethanol in it; and that helped it a whole lot.

Another thing that might help, is a gas additive. Years ago, I had trouble with my (usually trustworthy) Mazda pickup, and it would sput and putt, and barely run. I made it , limping along, to the gas station, and the mechanic said it probably needed gas additive. We put some in, and he had me just sit there and let it idle for 10 minutes or so; and after that, it ran perfectly again. He told me to add it at least every other fill-up during the winter, so that is what I did. I never had any more trouble with it not running smoothly as long as I used the gas additive, especially in the coldest part of the winter.

 

I normally run non-ethanol gas that has been treated with Sta-Bil.