I have an old mower that I have been keeping alive for a few years. I bought it new in 2005 and have been working hard to keeps it running for the last few years. And as such, with the amount of effort I have put in to keeping her alive, I am not yet ready to give up...yet.
Here is today's situation.
Ryobi mower with Frankenstiens monster engine. (I think it was a briggs, but I cant remember)
Mower has gas, new spark plug (good spark). Endless amounts of pulls on the rope do nothing but make me sweat. As I said before, I checked for and found good spark. I thought maybe it was bad gas, so I replaced it with a fresh batch. Pull, pull, pull...nothing.
So, I decided to spray some carb cleaner into the carb as a quick fix to see if that would do it. Pull...mower starts, then immediately dies. So I think, "maybe its not getting fuel". So, I remove the carb and give it a good cleaning. I checked the bowl and float for freedom of movement and everything seems to operate as it should. None of the ports seem clogged.
So I try again. This time using gas in place of carb cleaner. I put the gas in a spray bottle and give it a couple squirts, and the mower starts...then dies.
I think maybe its the air filter, so remove it completely. No dice.
So it will run when I put gas in it manually, but not on its own....unless I press the primer button about 30 times, then it starts, runs for about 10 seconds, and dies.
If you have a fuel shutoff solenoid; remove & clean; they gum up. As mentioned above: clean carb; probably main jet clogged. Had this happen several times on Kohler & B&S while using ethanol gas. Mine would start on choke, then immediately shutoff. Took it apart and let it boil in hot soapy water in a small crock pot; blew dry all orifices; back together and worked fine. I have a TBilt that has been sitting for awhile; about to do the same thing with it. In the past, this Kohler Courage 25hp has had a problem with the fuel shutoff solenoid gumming up w/the ethanol type gas. I guess I do not learn about ethanol gas; so that is my first step before disassembling carb.
