typical small engine carb issues

well, i found a little coved out area on a bracket that the coil of the spring fit nicely into. i hooked it up and found it barely provided any tension at all. that was the correct spring, choke return spring # 690354, but it seems it should have a touch more tension. however, the mower is running without having the choke flop around like a fish out of water. there is still some surging, but i managed to smooth it out a bit with the fuel/air mix and a throttle cable adjustment. i would like to get a bit more RPM out of the unit, i guess we are limited these days in terms of adjustment.

it should do the job for now. thanks for the picture.

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

Glad you got it fixed. As I said they engineered this choke setup where you cant get max governed rpm without choke closing which of course floods the engine. Without somehow making choke adjustment totally independent of the throttle adjustment, you just live with lower rpm. If you get into it and tinker with that metal lever that pushes the plastic cam on top of choke shaft you can eventually get an ok compromise.

Yes forgot about that plastic air cleaner housing. It cracked big time on my mower letting grass clippings get in with the filter. After tiring of reapplying the duct tape solution over and over, and the stupid high price of these air filters, I rigged my own air cleaner out of metal using a much cheaper and bigger automotive air filter. Looks a little funky but it works fine. I also found it very beneficial to add a fuel cut off valve in the fuel line. Briggs sells these cut off valves for 1/4 inch fuel line as an aftermarket item. Should have been included at the factory like on the Hondas. Its bad when even the Chinese knockoffs of the Honda work better than the Briggs.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

well, not so fast. it ran for about a half hour before it started starving for gas again. the bowl has gas. i sprayed carb cleaner and saw it blast out all the ports. removed the mix screw and blasted that out and saw cleaner passing through. if the bowl has gas and every orafice is clear, i am lost.

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

Check the condition of the gaskets, it could be sucking in air.

With bowl off and float hanging (needle valve open), do you get a nice steady stream of gas or just drip, drip, drip?? I've had starvation problem in past with mine. Plenty of gas from fuel line when disconnected but slow drip out the needle valve into the bowl. Enough gas getting though it would work ok at idle or very slow engine speed, but starve at faster speed. And that stupid auto choke kinda hid the problem. Oh do you have fuel filter in the fuel line? It could be plugged. I have full size automotive filter in mine (not mini lawn mower filter) and plenty gas getting though it.

Had to use drill bit to open up passage to the needle valve and since it was right angle had to come at it from both directions with drill bit. Carb cleaner alone did nothing in this instance. Once I got nice stream gas through needle valve, put bowl back on and no more starving. I think gas over the years had evaporated leaving deposits in this area. That again is why a shutoff valve in the fuel line is a good idea. Otherwise with gas in tank and engine setting unused, gas slowly evaporates out of bowl and is replaced by new gas that also slowly evaporates. Anyway the slow evaporation process leaves varnish and gum deposits. Have to say this is first time I've seen such in the little neck passage before getting to needle valve, but that was the problem.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Try Seafoam.

Hmm, lets see:

cost of using small drill bit = $0.00 It physically opens the restricted passage.

cost of using Seafoam = $8.50 It may or may not do anything, the company doesnt promise that it does anything specific For all I know Windex or Mr.Bubble or Skippy peanutbutter may do just as good of a job....

Sorry, you may be on payroll of Seafoam company, but I prefer going cheap and easy route. And if I was going to soak the carb, I would buy one of those gallon pails of carb cleaner that says thats what it is for. Seafoam doesnt say anything about cleaning carburetors, they just say their product may improve performance if you willy nilly add it to your crankcase and gas tank..... They are all about selling a feel good product, not selling a product for a specific purpose.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

"For all I know Windex or Mr.Bubble or Skippy peanutbutter may do just as good of a job...."

Exactly.

i just fixed (crossing fingers) the murray push mower with the tecumseh engine. i got the rebuild kit which had the spring for the needle operated by the float. some joy has been achieved.

so, i thought i also bought a rebuild kit for the briggs carb, but i only came home with a gasket kit. small engine shop number 2 is run by a real carmudgen who was especially impatient today, lol. below is a picture of the float and needle from the briggs carb. i think it is missing a spring. the tecumseh had a paper clip looking spring. does anyone know what type of spring i may need for this one? is it another paper clip looking deal, or is it a small compression spring?

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

Hey.

Metal fuel tanks are prone to rusting. Sometimes rust particles plug up the screen at the end of the carb fuel stem that goes in the tank.

RF

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i brought home a can of seafoam today. thanks for the tip.

the guy at the parts store couldn't say enough good things about it, said it flies off the shelves. he said it was originally made for tug boats and other marine uses. then they found out it works on all engines- anything that uses gas and oil.

worth $10 if it saves me a repair bill.

i'll let you know how it works.:-)

plastic tanks on both mowers.


so, what spring goes with this float and valve?

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

All these clips for needle valve to float are simular, even automotive carburetors. As I said before this simply forces needle out of its seat if it happens to stick as float lowers in bowl as gas is used up. Less of a problem with carb engines that use a fuel pump instead of relying on gravity. It wont be as elegant but you can make your own out of a paper clip or something.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

apparently my instinct was right...i never saw a spring/clip and according to the carmudgen (who was in a better mood today), there is no spring/clip for this float and valve. i took the whole carb along to the shop today and got a new valve and seat. yawn...this is getting monotonous. when last i assembled this carb, the valve allowed gas to continue to flow and i saw it running out of the carb. hopefully this will fix that issue. whether or not the mower will pull the darn gas in and burn the stuff, i have no idea, lol.

the tecumseh joy (the other mower) was a mixed bag. it now runs pretty good. there is a problem, though. when i replaced the air filter the other day, i noticed liquid in the filter housing. i assumed it was oil from when i added too much oil. i got a q-tip and sampled the liquid and it was gas. it's ironic another person just posted about floats with open valves leaking gas into the oil (diluted oil thread) because that is what is going on here. having just replaced the float, valve and seat, the only thing i can think to do is to adjust the float by bending the tang that pushes the valve. this unit has a brass float and the tang can be bent.

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."