Will crank with starting fluid, but dies immediately

[Scrubcadet10]

Sounds like Rivets was right, float was stuck shut.

 

[Rivets]

Wrong Scrub, you know I’m never right, ask Star. Just got lucky pointing him in a direction which helped him. Going by his last post, I would try the following before pulling the carb. Get a can of good carb cleaner (SeaFoam, GumOut etc) and on the day before I was going to cut add about 6 ounces to the tank. Run the unit for about 5 minutes and let it stand for 24 hours. Then go out and cut the lawn. When the old farts around me come for cheap help, I’ve had fairly good luck doing this after they’ve let their units sit over the winter. If it doesn’t help, then pull and rebuild the carb. Disclaimer; many techs on this site will say I’m nuts and throwing $$$ away doing this, so read my signature before attempting.

 

[sgkent]

if it runs right now, leave it alone. Every time someone works on something that is not broken they run the risk of damaging it. On another forum there is a guy who about now would be saying rebuild the engine because the old fuel caused a varnish build up. Just don't leave fuel to sit for a long time without using it. Drain it at the end of the season and burn it in the car or something that can use it before it goes bad.