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My john deere idles beautifully when I cover the intake manifold, I have to do the same thing to start it
does anyone know what is the cause so I can make repairs ?

Thanks Al

the engine is starving.
Either you have an air eak between the engine & carb
or the carb is not passing enough fuel into the engine.

Pull the fuel line off the carb & put it in a catch jar.
Crank the engine and look for a full flow of fuel.

If there is plenty of fuel getting to the carb then pull the carb off and clean it .

i suspect the carb main jet is clogged and will need a good carb cleaning.

Thank you gentlemen for all responding, I will bring you up to speed
I went and purchased a rebuild gasket kit, and installed it, but first I gave the carb a good cleaning with cleaner including all orfices
when I reinstalled the carb, I checked for good gas flow like suggested with a jar, and the flow was good
Now the mower will not fire at all, and I am seeing some raw gas coming out of the exhaust pipe, the battery is on a currently on a charger, since I ran it down
The mower has a briggs and straton engine if that helps
The spark plug is new, and the air cleaner seems to be in good shape

please advise, if you can see what I am missing or if I created a new problem without knowing I did something wrong

Regards Al

Some miscellaneous thoughts... Originally your hand became a choke butterfly , enriching mixture. Then it was starving as noted. Now with raw gas perhaps needle seat problem or float setting?

I was thinking (hoping) the float was malfunctioning, I will open carburetor again and keep trying to win this battle
I get a great sense of accomplishment whenever I can achieve success, so I will solicit all the input I can

thanks again

al new life said:

Thank you gentlemen for all responding, I will bring you up to speed
Big snip
Now the mower will not fire at all, and I am seeing some raw gas coming out of the exhaust pipe, the battery is on a currently on a charger, since I ran it down
The mower has a briggs and straton engine if that helps
The spark plug is new, and the air cleaner seems to be in good shape

please advise, if you can see what I am missing or if I created a new problem without knowing I did something wrong

Regards Al

Click to expand...

Is this liquid gas or vapour ?
Liquids do not burn, only gasses burn so if liquid is dripping out out of the muffler then the float is stuck and it is flooding.
Pull the carb off connect the fule lines to it and crank the engine.
no fuel should come out of the carb.
If you have a vacuum that blows, hold it to the intake of the carb and look at what comes out, should be a fine mist of fuel .
Note if all is well this will be a very flamiable fuel mist , so no sparks, cigarettes, naked flames etc.
If all checks out OK, try a fresh plug.
modern fuel which is nothing like petrol is highly conductive at cylinder pressures so can short out a plug in no time flat.

If fresh plug makes no difference check the flywheel.
There should be a 1/2 square slot in it and another in the shaft.
If the key is intact they should line up to form a square.
crank the motor a few times and see if it changes

Just checking but do you still have spark?

Thank you for all responses, it has definitely helped me stay on the correct path of action
As it turns out while I was cleaning the carburetor, the main jet came out and I was not aware, that I had lost it, (it took me two days to figure out it was missing)
and I believe that is why all the gas was passing thru the carburetor, and out the exhaust,
The plug is definitely fouled now, and I have had to order a new main jet, the new part is three days away
I will keep everyone informed after I have opportunity to install new jet
I"m sure y'all can tell by now that this is the first time, I have taken apart a carburetor

thanks again

Don't feel back even seasons techs have been known to loose that jet.

Guilty as charged.
I believe they go into a different tempral plane , along with all the vanishing left socks.
I have never actually found one laying about any where in the shop but have popped a few out when I forget & hit the carb with high pressure nozzle.

I received the new main jet today, and I installed it, the mower started, but, it smoked like a smoke stack and sputtered A LOT
I was told that there is probably gasoline in the crankcase, and that the oil and filter should be changed

Is it possible to install the main jet in upside down ? or will it only work if it is installed properly ?

I ran the mower for less than a minute, after I shut it off I pulled the spark plug and it was pretty wet from residual gas I assume

any advice out there ?

I am leaving town in the morning and will not have opportunity to tackle it again until Monday sometime

thanks Al

Having run the mower without a main jet it would have been pissing fuel into your engine so It might be a bit flooded for a while.
You have not told us which engine you have apart from being a Briggs and more important which carb.
You can put the main in upside down on a lot of carbs and in particular the Nikki fitted to Inteks where the main sits in the bottom of the plastic tube.
but upside down should work just the same provided it blocks off the fuel intake and restricts the maximum flow.
You may have fuel all through the engine + in the oil so if the oil smells funny, change it wih some cheap supermarket oil run the mower for 10 minutes or so then change the oil again.
If the main is not in the cut off solenoid can not work so if the float is not working properly then fuel will fill up the crank.

I have a Briggs & Stratton INTEK 18.5 OHV with a Nikki carb
I installed the main jet and I also installed some cheap supermarket oil and ran it for 10 minutes
all the symptoms from gas in the engine cylinder and in crankcase seem to have gone away
Now I have a new symptom,
I can only start the engine if I keep my hand on the carb and have the engine running at full throttle
Once i release it the carb it will start to sputter and a black smoke will come out of the exhaust and then the engine dies (it will not idle)
Seems like I am very close to finishing this project but it also seems like I am missing something in the way of a small detail

Any advice or tips ? do I need to repeat any steps ? carb still dirty ?

thanks

forgot to mention the model number of the B & S is 31P777, Type 0367 E1, Code 0503227D

I realized that what I have my hand on is the choke not the accelerator, that is how I am able to keep the engine running
but when I remove my hand the engine quickly dies

Carb is still dirty with a little hole still plugged with foreign material. A hole completely plugged won't look like a hole of course so try to find a schematic / picture that shows all the possible passages that could be the problem.

Success, Success, Success,
I had the spring on the choke installed so that the choke flapper was closed that is why I had to keep my hand on it,
once I reversed the spring tension to force the flapper into the open position,
my engine started and purred and purred and purred, and has not sounded or run so smooth in years ! yeeeeaaaahhhhh

thank you everyone who kept me pointed in the right direction, I had a lot of fun, and am now ready to tackle a very small roto tiller

yeeeeaaaahhhhh !!!!

y'all have fun now


thanks thanks thanks

Good to hear, Congratulations for persevering.
Now go mow with pride in the knowledge you have done it yourself.

We should do a T-shirt
"I fixed it - runs sweet "
or some thing like that.

al new life said:

Success, Success, Success,
I had the spring on the choke installed so that the choke flapper was closed that is why I had to keep my hand on it,
once I reversed the spring tension to force the flapper into the open position,
my engine started and purred and purred and purred, and has not sounded or run so smooth in years ! yeeeeaaaahhhhh

thank you everyone who kept me pointed in the right direction, I had a lot of fun, and am now ready to tackle a very small roto tiller

yeeeeaaaahhhhh !!!!

y'all have fun now


thanks thanks thanks

Click to expand...

Why some things just don't add up is beyond me. Choke flapper closed and you still had to block air. Strange

Senior Citizen, I may have confused you with my last post, the original problem was I had to block air, probably due to debris in the carb
then I attempted to rebuild the carb and I lost the main jet because I didn't know what I was doing (I ordered a new jet)
Then i installed a rebuild kit into the carb along with a new main jet, and when I reassembled the carb, I put the choke flapper spring in the wrong way causing the choke flap to be in the closed position
this was a new problem, so practically all my problems were due to the fact that I was doing reassembly on the carb incorrectly
but all is well now, and I am walking in tall cotton as they say
appreciate you jumping in there to assist me,
I might need some more help as I attempt to repair a troy bilt roto tiller

thanks again

Thanks for the explanation.

Something I learned long ago at work, but not on mowers, is to color code small spring ends, cable connections etc. with a little dab of paint. One spring that comes to mind on a briggs is the one that has a long straight end and a short end. It can be put on right without pondering and scratching our head or butt saying which way did that come off. An assortment of colors is necessary and the girls nail paint may need be accessed without them knowing. Just remember to do the color coding before anything is un-hooked.

SeniorCitizen said:

Thanks for the explanation.

Something I learned long ago at work, but not on mowers, is to color code small spring ends, cable connections etc. with a little dab of paint. One spring that comes to mind on a briggs is the one that has a long straight end and a short end. It can be put on right without pondering and scratching our head or butt saying which way did that come off. An assortment of colors is necessary and the girls nail paint may need be accessed without them knowing. Just remember to do the color coding before anything is un-hooked.

Click to expand...

Your showing your age.
Now days it is a happy snap with the I-Phone every time a part is removed.
Oddly enough it dosn't take as long as one would think.
When I had a bigger workshop & only wrenched for fun I had the old digital set up on top of the pull down bench with a long shutter cable clipped to the pegboard.