Walk behind Craftsman push mower will not start after being underwater

[sterracina]

My Craftsman 5.5 HP (917.378501) mower with a Honda engine was partially underwater for a few days. I've replaced the oil, gas, spark plug, carburetor, air filter and ignition. It will run for a few seconds when I pour a gas into the carburetor but will not start on its own. Gas is fresh and flows freely into the carburetor. The gas tank was completely dried out before adding the new gas. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[bertsmobile1]

Not meanng to sound trivial but are you sure that fuel is getting into the carb by removing the drain bolt ?
On some of the aftermarket carbs the fuel tap on the side works backwards to the honda one.
I did a mower a while back and fitted an aftermarkt carb to it.
The owner kept complaining it would not start & I kept finding no problem.
This went on for an embarassingly long time before I twigged to it.

 

[bertsmobile1]

TO reply to your message,
The bolt that sits at an angle is the drain so undo that one with a dish of some sort under it to collect the contents.
Look for fuel and for water in the fuel.
The bolt i the middle that points right down is the bowl nut that holds the bowl on.


The reason why you can not post is a problem with the server softwear not allowing urls in the test.
So chop off any http or www in your post and it will work.
To post web links, some of us put it on a line all by itself then change the colour so it stands out.

 

[sterracina]

Thanks for the reply. Only gas came out and it continued to flow until I turned off the Fuel Valve Lever. Does this indicate that the aftermarket carb is not backwards from Honda carbs? Anything else I should try?

Thanks,
Sam