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I bought a Craftsman Eager-1 6.5hp self propelled mower (917.377951) a few months ago from a nice old man on craigslist. He buys old mowers, cleans them up, and sells them as a hobby.

Just recently the mower started acting up, out of nowhere - and I didn't write that guys number down.

It used to start on the first-second pull, and run with no problems. It barely took any gas, which surprised me, but now with the way it's acting up, I'm starting to think maybe the carb wasn't getting enough gas.

It will start after being primed, rev up, down, up, down, up, down, almost like clockwork. Then it will just die, after 6 or 7 goes. If you hold in the red prime button, it will stay running, but starts going up and down once you let off, until it dies.

I found the rod connected to the butterfly valve in the carb, and tried playing with that when it was revving up/down, but pulling it open makes it die immediately. Yet again, I suspect bad fuel delivery.

I pinched off the fuel line, drained the bowl, unclipped the bowl off, and cleaned out as much as I could. The float seems to work just fine, I took out the yellow plastic jet...thing in the middle and cleaned it out. The rubber gasket at the bottom was in three pieces, so I went to Lowe's and found another as close to the same size as possible. I sprayed everything real good with B12 carb cleaner, used my little brushes on every hole and tube I could find, and put everything back together. Still does the same exact thing.

Any ideas or suggestions? Should I just bite the bullet and buy a repair kit on amazon?

If it came into the shop I would be doing this procedure. I am assuming you have a Tecumseh engine on your mower, so the needle/seat kit you will need is part number 631021B.

Needle and seat replacement

Remove the carb, and then remove the float bowl. Check the float bowl jet (which is the bowl screw) and make sure the jets both horizontal and vertical are clean and open. Tip the carb upside down and remove the float pin and float with needle attached. Look in the float needle passage and you should see the red float seat at the bottom of the passage. This is where a #5 crotchet hook would come in handy as you need to remove this seat. If you have no hook, but compressed air, you can blow through the fuel inlet and try to pop the seat out. Put your thumb over the passage to prevent the seat from flying who knows where. No air or hook try bending a stiff paper clip to dig the seat out.

I would either give the carb a good 24 hour soaking or have it ultrasonically cleaned at this time.

With the seat out clean the passage way with carb cleaner. Now you must find a drill bit slightly smaller than the passage way, to be used to press in the new seat. Apply a very, very small amount of a very light lube to the new seat. 3-1 oil or lighter, to help seat it better. Carefully insert the new seat in the passage way with the rings on the seat down toward the carb body. Slowly and carefully force the seat down with the back end of the drill bit. Once it is seated, check to see that it did not flip and the rings are up. *Next check to make sure that the float does not have any liquid in it. *If it does, replace. *If everything looks correct, attach the new needle to the float and install with the float pin centered. It everything is correct, the float should seat level to the carb body, when looking at it upside down. If everything looks good reattach the float bowl, making sure that both the bowl gasket and the nut gasket seal properly. Reinstall on the engine and test unit. Remember to have patience and take your time. Good luck, but I don't think you'll need it.

PS: *On the side of some Tecumseh carbs you will find a plastic cover. *Under this cover will be an idle jet. *Remove it and check to see that the jet is open both horizontally and vertically. *You should be able to push the old float needle wire through the vertical opening.

Thanks for your detailed reply! After looking at the part number, I realized you're talking about the other model I've seen when googling - the one with the metal bowl. I have the plastic bowl assembly on mine, seen here : Amazon.com : Oregon 49-240, Kit, Bowl Assy Tecumseh 7 : Lawn Mower Parts : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Here's a few pics I took while trying to clean everything up:

The first time I took it all apart, I noticed a broken rubber seal around the bottom of the yellow needle. It was in 2-3 pieces and soaked in gas. I went to home depot to try and find a similar sized rubber o-ring, but I'm not sure if it's the right size, or if it even goes on there.





Assembled:



Metal carb assembly



Float works fine



Down under the yellow needle was only a spring, nothing else. In the side where you drain the float bowl was this:




After the rubber o ring didn't work, I figured this chopped up gasket might have been causing an issue, so I went to tractor supply to get some high-temp gasket material to make another one, but it still did the same thing after using the new gasket.

The part you need is a float bowl kit number 730637A. Follow the directions which come with the kit. Give the metal part of the carb a 24 bath and cleaning before reassembly.