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CC 1420 Hydro, 46" deck, purchased in 1990, serial 000188233. Kohler Magnum 14S engine (MV14S, serial 1835110854, spec no. 56513). Hours unknown (broken), but about 28, 2.5hr mowings each year.

It has gotten slowly harder to start over the last month. At first a little wetness on the left muffler, then some spray, now it shoots out and kills the grass. Right muffler is bone dry. The slope of the tractor seem to cause it to leak more or less, and contribute to if it will start or not.

Yesterday it was parked in shed face first, (sloping forward gently) and would not start. Battery cables were getting warm, clicking was there, motor turned slightly a few times, and then you could here.

I turned it around and it started right up last night, presumably because it was now facing up the slope of the shed. This is only a very gentle incline/decline, but makes sense since last week it ran out of gas on a much more steeper area of the yard with the nose facing down the slope. It was very tough tough to start and a lot of gas shot out of the left muffler.

Other noticeable issues: The right muffler seems to be popping/cracking more then the left. Left seems to sound more smooth. And there is a decent amount of smoke for a few seconds at startup. once it is going it runs fine.

Is it just the carb leaking?

Thanks,

Amtrak

You need a carb cleaning and I bet your hydro locked with fuel stuck in one of the cylinders .
Try rotating the engine by hand by turning the flywheel. You might have to rock it CC or clockwise to get the fuel out of the cylinder that CAN'T compress it .
Try and restart it .
The carb is gravity Fed so add a $2.00 full shut off knob before the filter .
Keep the carb empty when not in use .
Eliminates starting issues and carb rebuilds do to ethanol damage .

SONOFADOCKER said:

You need a carb cleaning and I bet your hydro locked with fuel stuck in one of the cylinders .
Try rotating the engine by hand by turning the flywheel. You might have to rock it CC or clockwise to get the fuel out of the cylinder that CAN'T compress it .
Try and restart it .
The carb is gravity Fed so add a $2.00 full shut off knob before the filter .
Keep the carb empty when not in use .
Eliminates starting issues and carb rebuilds do to ethanol damage .

Click to expand...

Cleaned/rebuilt carb with genuine Kohler kit. Now it appears to be leaking even worse. Now what?

What stops the fuel flow really is the float .
At my shop we find normal looking floats that have cracks or pin holes due to ethanol damage .
We submerge them in a can of carb cleaner for 20 minutes . Pull it out and shake it . Most times it has filled with fluid. So if the float sinks in your carb the has just keeps flowing into the exhaust or engine oil depending on with head valve is open.
The other reason fuel leaks into the carb and engine is the needle valve seat is ethanol damaged .
Take the carb off again and double check your work.
It's always a simple fix but a pain in the butt too

SONOFADOCKER said:

What stops the fuel flow really is the float .
At my shop we find normal looking floats that have cracks or pin holes due to ethanol damage .
We submerge them in a can of carb cleaner for 20 minutes . Pull it out and shake it . Most times it has filled with fluid. So if the float sinks in your carb the has just keeps flowing into the exhaust or engine oil depending on with head valve is open.
The other reason fuel leaks into the carb and engine is the needle valve seat is ethanol damaged .
Take the carb off again and double check your work.
It's always a simple fix but a pain in the butt too

Click to expand...

Will floating the float in water for 20 mins show if it is bad or not? I had it submerged and it still popped back up. No rattling, etc.. with from it sitting overnight.

There were two fuel inlet needles in the rebuild kit, one with a tiny spring attached and the other just like what was on the tractor, just blue tipped instead of red.

The one with the spring set the float more level, so that was the one that was in overnight. I just took it out and swapped the other one that matched the original back in. The float is close to parallel, but not quite.

Here are the two needles:

Just checked on it now. It appears that it is leaking from the choke pivot point and throttle pivot. Did the parts cleaner clean up too much junk?

Also, after letting the float sit at an angle for about an hour I can see a small dark drip that has accumulated in a corner. Would this definitely mean it is bad?

It is a Walbro #52 carb. Kohler #5205334, Walbro #WHG473278