1997 Yard Man 42a707 No Start

[OkieOFT]

Hi folks, i've got an old 1997 YM garden tractor with the Briggs 42a707 18.5hp motor that wont start on gas. Starts right up with a squirt of ether down the carb. Today I rebuilt the carb with a Stens kit, cleaned all the little orifices in the carb and all that. Bolted it back up still no start. I've got fuel coming out of the carb, but no fire unless I squirt some ether in there, then it runs for a few seconds and dies.

The only thing I can think of is that some water got in the tank while it has been sitting, I will drain that tomorrow and give it another go, but in the meantime is there anything else I can check?

 

[Parkmower]

Is it a twin cylinder? One of the spark plugs may be bad.
But the valves prob need adjusting.

 

[Carscw]

I have the same mower with the same engine.

Sometimes it runs fine sometimes don't want to start. Your going to think I am full of poop but take out one plug and ground it next to the plug hole and I bet it starts.
I took it to 2 shops and both said you can't adjust the valves.
I put a new carb and coil on it and still the same

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[OkieOFT]

Just thought I would add alittle more info it's been sitting for about two years, got tired of fighting with the safety switches and just parked it. It ran fine then, always started up fairly easy. Alittle hard to turn over, probably due to the compression release but nothing a good battery can't overcome. Today I rewired it for a push button start to get rid of all the safety switches.

Hopefully this is just bad gas, I put alittle fresh gas in there but that doesn't mean anything. Tomorrow i'll drain/clean the tank out and put some nice fresh stuff in there.

 

[OkieOFT]

Went out just now and ran the fuel line into a can of fresh gas. It took alot of cranking but she finally started up. Seems my solenoid is busted because I hear it click when I push the starter button but get no voltage coming out to the starter. But at least she's running.