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I got my mower out for the first time of the season back in April to mow and I made a few laps around the yard until my Craftsman riding mower started to sputter. I thought perhaps the 6 year old fuel filter was clogged so I siphoned out the fuel and was going to let what was left in the tank hit the pavement. When I pulled the hose off past the filter, I noticed gas just dripping from it. When I removed the filter altogether then a solid stream of gas came out. HMMM.

So I installed a brand new filter. I mowed for about three hours and put it up. Two weeks later same deal.

Here is the second filter. Do you see anything in it?





Once again, if I held the filter upright so the filtered gas would drain it, it just dripped.

Thinking perhaps there might have been water in the fuel, I combined my leftover fuel from my 5 gallon gas can and the fuel from my mower's fuel tank into one 5 gallon container then poured it through one of those Mr. Filter funnels which is also supposed to remove water.

Fuel filter #3.

So I mowed again with no trouble.

2 weeks later, no troubles at all.

So my question is if there is any water in fuel, will water clog a fuel filter and won't let gasoline pass through it.

I'm using non-ethanol gas by the way. The only thing that I can think of is normally after my final mow of the season, I top off the tank. Last fall I did not and i wonder if condensation built up in the tank and that was how water introduced into the fuel.

Luckily water did not get into the carburetor itself.

The filter element in most fuel filters changes color when water soaks into the element. With water in the element, it swells and slows the flow of gasoline thru it to the point of stopping fuel flow.

As mack has said.
Very common reason why hand helds won't run.
The customer refuses to replace the filter because they can blow through it so I am obviously doing some "secret trick" to make the gear work.