I have a 2015 Z950R that I bought in Jan 2016 so the good news is that it is still under warranty and currently at the dealer. I have racked up a whopping 150 hrs on it. Actually a little less than that. It is my personal mower for my yard so it doesn't see commercial use. The PTO has been acting up and I was wondering if anyone else has seen this issue. I apologize for holding the camera at the wrong angle but I caught it in action on my phone.
https://youtu.be/aYUEUG8JtsA
It seems fine when it is first started up cold. The PTO engages as it should. This is happening after mowing for maybe 30-45 minutes. If I keep cutting it is fine and once I get it to stabilize it is fine. However once things heat up, if I get off the machine to move a stick or chat with a neighbor, there are times the PTO will not start at all or it does what is in the video where it starts and stops on its own. Once I get it running again I can finish the yard. I wouldn't say it does this every time which is why I am glad I caught it on video to share with them. In fact I had to record it four times before I caught it. The Service Manager was shocked when I said I would send him a link to a video of it as I was concerned they couldn't reproduce it. He went on to say how much technology can help them see an issue.
Of course the dealer is busy this time of year as they have a lot of turf (golf courses) customers but they have been working on it for the last week. I could put my mower deck back on the X585 but I would rather not. I probably would ask for a loaner before getting out my old deck.
So far they have replaced the PTO Clutch but the issue was still there. At least they can reproduce it. They are now thinking it is electrical. They inspected the wiring harness and that looks good. So now they ordered a new PTO switch which is what I initially said I thought might be. However he said it might also be a safety switch. I doubt it is a safety switch as when they open it would kill it and not allow the PTO to restart unless I reset (turn off and back on) the PTO switch. I would have to look at the wiring schematics again but once it opens the safety relay a full reset of the switch is the only way to reset the relay. Same goes for the PTO kill switch on the control stick. I also want to say the safety will also trigger a diagnostic code. Though I don't recall if that is only on start. For instance if I have the parking brake set and try and start the PTO I think it flashes a code on the hour meter. There are no fault codes being displayed.
I did notice that on the newer ones (2016+) they changed the PTO switch to a rocker style. I asked that since they are changing the PTO switch, can it be changed to the rocker style if there have been problems with the push/pull style. He said he didn't think it could be because the cutout would be different. He went on to say that while they did have some issues with the push/pull switches that the one I had was the updated one which resolved those issues.
So far I like this dealer better than my old one still. While it is a longer haul to bring a machine in for stuff like this, I don't plan on doing it often as I normally do my own maint and rebuild work unless I am absolutely swamped. I say it isn't a big deal because it is a couple miles from my office and I drive by it every day vs a couple miles from my house. The only problem with stopping in is I keep drooling over the new machines. I was talking with the sales manager yesterday about trading in my X585 for a new 2038R. My wife would kill me though.
https://youtu.be/aYUEUG8JtsA
It seems fine when it is first started up cold. The PTO engages as it should. This is happening after mowing for maybe 30-45 minutes. If I keep cutting it is fine and once I get it to stabilize it is fine. However once things heat up, if I get off the machine to move a stick or chat with a neighbor, there are times the PTO will not start at all or it does what is in the video where it starts and stops on its own. Once I get it running again I can finish the yard. I wouldn't say it does this every time which is why I am glad I caught it on video to share with them. In fact I had to record it four times before I caught it. The Service Manager was shocked when I said I would send him a link to a video of it as I was concerned they couldn't reproduce it. He went on to say how much technology can help them see an issue.
Of course the dealer is busy this time of year as they have a lot of turf (golf courses) customers but they have been working on it for the last week. I could put my mower deck back on the X585 but I would rather not. I probably would ask for a loaner before getting out my old deck.
So far they have replaced the PTO Clutch but the issue was still there. At least they can reproduce it. They are now thinking it is electrical. They inspected the wiring harness and that looks good. So now they ordered a new PTO switch which is what I initially said I thought might be. However he said it might also be a safety switch. I doubt it is a safety switch as when they open it would kill it and not allow the PTO to restart unless I reset (turn off and back on) the PTO switch. I would have to look at the wiring schematics again but once it opens the safety relay a full reset of the switch is the only way to reset the relay. Same goes for the PTO kill switch on the control stick. I also want to say the safety will also trigger a diagnostic code. Though I don't recall if that is only on start. For instance if I have the parking brake set and try and start the PTO I think it flashes a code on the hour meter. There are no fault codes being displayed.
I did notice that on the newer ones (2016+) they changed the PTO switch to a rocker style. I asked that since they are changing the PTO switch, can it be changed to the rocker style if there have been problems with the push/pull style. He said he didn't think it could be because the cutout would be different. He went on to say that while they did have some issues with the push/pull switches that the one I had was the updated one which resolved those issues.
So far I like this dealer better than my old one still. While it is a longer haul to bring a machine in for stuff like this, I don't plan on doing it often as I normally do my own maint and rebuild work unless I am absolutely swamped. I say it isn't a big deal because it is a couple miles from my office and I drive by it every day vs a couple miles from my house. The only problem with stopping in is I keep drooling over the new machines. I was talking with the sales manager yesterday about trading in my X585 for a new 2038R. My wife would kill me though.
