Mower Keeps Dying

[Auto Doc's]

Hello H.,

If they did not engineer components to fail, we would not have much work at all.

Of course, on the other side of the situation is the customer(s) who thinks you are trying to rip them off because a fuel cap seal/ flapper has disintegrated and cluttered up the fuel lines all the way from the tank to the carb.

As it is, most customers in my area will avoid major repairs, junk their mowing machines and go buy another new one (which is more failure prone) with their credit card.

I think newer riders are simply not designed to last more than 5-7 seasons.

Fortunately, I have been working on side by sides and ATVs more. People generally don't mind spending the money to fix weekend/ranch their toys.

 

[slomo]

Oh yes for water in the fuel system use Sea Foam

Just drain it out and push fresh 100% unleaded in.

 

[Auto Doc's]

Hello S.,

Where do you get 100% unleaded? I thought all gas had to be unleaded since the 70's.

I think you mean non-Ethanol. Some people call it recreational fuel.

 

[sgkent]

There is a whole market for canned fuels here in CA now. Almost impossible to find non-ethanol pump gas except at the airport for small aircraft. The irony is that the environmentalists wanted it and a couple years ago, like 2022 I think, The National Academy of Sciences did a detailed peer-reviewed study on ethanol in fuels. The conclusion is that it neither saves the planet from CO2 or pollutants. In fact if makes much more CO2 and is poisoning the soil, water and air in places on the planet it is used. The process takes considerable more to make it than basic crude oil, and this is what results in the greater contamination. Last laugh is on all the people who promoted ethanol as a bio-friendly renewable fuel.

 

[MParr]

There is a whole market for canned fuels here in CA now. Almost impossible to find non-ethanol pump gas except at the airport for small aircraft. The irony is that the environmentalists wanted it and a couple years ago, like 2022 I think, The National Academy of Sciences did a detailed peer-reviewed study on ethanol in fuels. The conclusion is that it neither saves the planet from CO2 or pollutants. In fact if makes much more CO2 and is poisoning the soil, water and air in places on the planet it is used. The process takes considerable more to make it than basic crude oil, and this is what results in the greater contamination. Last laugh is on all the people who promoted ethanol as a bio-friendly renewable fuel.

Pure-gas.org - ethanol-free gasoline in the U.S. and Canada

Pure-gas.org is the definitive web site listing stations that sell pure gasoline in the U.S. and Canada.

www.pure-gas.org

 

[Auto Doc's]

Heck, they are ramping up to E-15 now. The save the world tree huggers are patiently ramping up the program to do away with (starving out) anything that runs on fossil fuels. Of course, their solution is batteries and that is already shaping up to be a worse environmental disaster in a short span of time.

 

[slomo]

Hello S.,

Where do you get 100% unleaded? I thought all gas had to be unleaded since the 70's.

I think you mean non-Ethanol. Some people call it recreational fuel.

I call them real gas and fake gas. Real being 100% unleaded and fake, any form of added Ethanol.

 

[Dirtfan15]

Find out WHY you have no fuel doing this test. Something is stopping it from moving forward.

I wasn't clear on that. There was no water in the fuel.

 

[Dirtfan15]

Here is where I'm at so that everything is in one spot. All of the fuel lines have been replaced. The gas was emptied and replaced as well. I ran a line from the tank and bypassed the saddle tank switch to eliminate that being an issue. Ran that line to the inline strainer and on to the pump. Turned the key and it pumped a health stream of gas. Reinstalled the carburetor and hooked the fuel line back up. Cranked the motor and it started. Ran a little rough to start but then ran smooth. Got back to that 5-10 min mark and it sputtered and died. Restarted it and the same spitting and sputtering cycle ran. At this point I think it has to be something with the carburetor itself. Ordered a new one but it didn't show up until the day before my knee surgery. Hoping to get that on this weekend and see what happens

 

[Mark H_NO]

Ok, I reviewed the thread. You've got fuel flow, and engine running, then dying. When you emptied the tank, did you do anything to remove crud from the tank? When it quit running well, did you pull the fuel line and check flow? Crud in the tank can do exactly what you're describing. In one of your earlier pics, you showed a fuel pickup. Those have an check valve, that can get sticky and not flow consistently. The valve is a one way valve, keeping the fuel pump from pushing back into the tank. If you fish it out, and remove the screen you can clean it, and make sure it flows consistently. Could be carb, but sounds like you're gonna change that. Hope the knee is healing well.