Gas Leaking Into Air Filter

[megaman123]

Well, I got the needle replacement and put it in. Reassembled the carb after a cleaning and the mower started on the third pull, which was an improvement from the dozen + attempts previously. But took out the filter afterwards to look and I have gas pooled like as shown in the first couple of pics. I left the same filter in that I put in two mowings ago and I left the dirty side down. So next time I'll put the clean side of it down and see what it looks like. Though the mower sounded better than the previous few uses.

When I picked up the part from the local shop, I brought in the carb. He said the needle looked fine but it's usually the culprit so I got the new needle anyway. He said the seat in there is made of brass while the needle has a rubber tip (existing and new one). He said sometimes the seat is rubber while needle is all metal. He didn't see anything wrong with the seat but he'd have to order one as they don't have in stock. I could also try polishing it with metal polish and qtip as I saw in some videos. Or order a whole new carb, which I will check on now regarding the price.

He also said he was surprised to see a brass seat. He asked if I had modified it before. I haven't touched it since I bought this in 2015.

 

[megaman123]

I have mowed twice since. The clean side of the filter remains clean. And it starts first or second pull. Before both times I soaked up the gas that pooled like in the pic. But when I was done I looked and there was no gas pooled. But out of curiosity, the next day I would pull off the filter and look again and both times gas is pooled. No idea if that is normal.