Lawn mower engine repair.

[swampratt]

My mother had issues every year with her mower.I removed that carb and cleaned black rust out all the time.
She always said it is new gas.
Yea but the gas can was 45 year old steel can with rust all in it.
Water plays bad games also.
I had an issue with some debris in the fuel inlet on a carb 1 tiny piece of rubber that would lay flat sometimes and other times go sideways and allow fuel to flow.
Had to remove the seat to find it. That was a motorcraft 2 barrel in the desert when it finally quit.
I had the carb off and all apart spread out on paper towels in front of my E150 Van.
Not a single car went by in the 30 minutes or so it took me to find and fix the issue.

Do not want to be stranded there.

 

[RickN]

My mother had issues every year with her mower.I removed that carb and cleaned black rust out all the time.
She always said it is new gas.
Yea but the gas can was 45 year old steel can with rust all in it.
Water plays bad games also.
I had an issue with some debris in the fuel inlet on a carb 1 tiny piece of rubber that would lay flat sometimes and other times go sideways and allow fuel to flow.
Had to remove the seat to find it. That was a motorcraft 2 barrel in the desert when it finally quit.
I had the carb off and all apart spread out on paper towels in front of my E150 Van.
Not a single car went by in the 30 minutes or so it took me to find and fix the issue.

Do not want to be stranded there.

Plastic gas can and I drain the mower and the can every year when I stop mowing for the year. New gas every spring in a 1 gallon can so that it does not have a chance to get old.

 

[John6185]

Float could be stuck or needle stuck. Fix it and put Stabil in the tank and run it that way all season. Once you get it repaired and running it'll start right up next spring if you use a gas stabilizer. Run the engine until all the gas is out of the carb at the end of a season.

 

[mr ed]

Change oil and filter? I've got an older craftsman (2000) that has an oil cutoff feature not mentioned in manual.
If it gets low or really dirty it cuts off the engine to protect it.
Found that little tidbit on Youtube.
Fire it up, run a couple minutes and sounds like its running out of gas and dies.
Let it sit a while , all the oil runs back to crankcase. Start it and it will do it again.
Now I check oil level every time I use it.

 

[PBramble]

Yep runs for maybe 2 minutes before dying. To me it acts like it is not getting fuel. I can even spray starting fluid in the carb and it will run until that is all used up then it dies.

Ding ding ding, fuel issue. Pull the line off the carb and see if fuel comes out. No? Problem is between the tank and carb. Yes, problem at the carb. Pull the fuel bowl off first and check the inlet for crud (the bolt holding the bowl on, it's got holes in it to allow gas into the carb). I got a perfectly good power washer that did the same and found the inlet gunked up. Check the float while you've got this off. You should get gas from the tank while it's down and it should stop flowing when you push it up.

 

[TeleStratMan]

My mother had issues every year with her mower.I removed that carb and cleaned black rust out all the time.
She always said it is new gas.
Yea but the gas can was 45 year old steel can with rust all in it.
Water plays bad games also.
I had an issue with some debris in the fuel inlet on a carb 1 tiny piece of rubber that would lay flat sometimes and other times go sideways and allow fuel to flow.
Had to remove the seat to find it. That was a motorcraft 2 barrel in the desert when it finally quit.
I had the carb off and all apart spread out on paper towels in front of my E150 Van.
Not a single car went by in the 30 minutes or so it took me to find and fix the issue.

Do not want to be stranded there.

I use a healthy dose of Fuel Stabilizer [Sta-Bil] when I fill up the lawn mower can the last time for the season.Don't have any problems starting my lawn mower in the Spring. I do try to start and run it a couple of times during the winter.

 

[Glock 40]

Ding ding ding, fuel issue. Pull the line off the carb and see if fuel comes out. No? Problem is between the tank and carb. Yes, problem at the carb. Pull the fuel bowl off first and check the inlet for crud (the bolt holding the bowl on, it's got holes in it to allow gas into the carb). I got a perfectly good power washer that did the same and found the inlet gunked up. Check the float while you've got this off. You should get gas from the tank while it's down and it should stop flowing when you push it up.

I agree I would have a look in the carb. If you are careful you can probably reuse the existing gaskets. I would have a look before ordering anything. If you cut a gasket then you can get a gasket kit. As for Chinese carbs. It may already be chinese but the replacements on ebay and amazon if not actual ZAMA or name brand I wouldn't waste my money on.

 

[CHenry]

Many riding mowers have a vented gas cap yours should also and that vented cap will clog and not allow gas to flow from the tank.
Check the vent hole in the gas cap first before anything.
Then retest if it is clogged and you unclog it.

This. When its started , unscrew the fall cap a bit to allow air in. If it runs good for over 2 minuts then the vent cap is plugged and can be blown out or replaced cheap.

Edit: I missed the post you wrote about already trying this.

 

[KOPBET]

My bet would normally be on the needle valve/seat, but the engine guy should have checked that. If the bowl isn't run out of gas when put up and left to sit, the needle will compress against the seat and may eventually form a depression around it from pressing against the seat. Once that occurs then the needle will often stick in the seat.

 

[dlbleak]

Rick, did you take it to the guy east of downtown on Main?