fuel coming from exhaust pipe & air filter

[tallman]

Today I loaned my cheapo Murray Home Depot special lawn tractor to the dirtbag neighbor. When he was running it I heard it start to run a little strange. Soon he finished up and parked it.

Later, I try to start it and I notice fuel dripping from the air filter, and more fuel dripping from the exhaust pipe. Not deterred, I try to crank it a couple times and lo & behold - more fuel comes out. No start & the grass continues to grow. In the realm of small engine repair, I'm hopeless.

Are the symptoms above "signs" of something terminal?

[OHV 16.5 HP B&S engine, fueled by gravity not a pump]

Any advice as to what I can try to do soon as I get done charging the battery? (yeah, I forgot to mention that earlier).

Thx in advance

[GFRfan]

What'd he do? Pour gas in the carb?

[Srgnt Billko]

So it's getting fuel and not firing ? I wonder if he enriched the carbueator - or was running it with the choke half closed. First thing I would do would be replace the spark plug - they're only $1.23 and easy to change. Then you might want to check / clean the air filter. If that is clogged it would also have amde the fuel / air mixture too rich. Thes things are easy to do and cost practically nothing. Then let us know what is happening. Another thought is there may have been water in the gas - that could make it sound real funny and then difficult to start.

[DaveL]

Sounds to me like a stuck or defective float valve in the carb.

[Michael C De Vito]

Hello dave & every one, all good advice on that tractor mower engine. If the Engine is 2 cycle (oil added to gasoline), problem could be a crached cylinde head or gasket. If it's a 4 cycle eng. (gas %oil seperate), problem could be timeing chain, gear, any way there's a lose of compression, thus no start. Gas out of carb. & exhaust, valve timing off. Mike D

[tallman]

Thanks - will replace both today & see what happens... Water in gas might also be the culprit.

[tall]

he definitely did not. I really don't think it's related to him at all; just coincidence (that & he's got the curse of being a complete loser).

[tall]

New plug, new air filter, charged battery. I cranked it, and it spit fuel once again. Choke it and more of the same. Crank a little more for good measure and once again the battery (new 4 months ago) is dead. Charging it now.

When I cranked it, it spun & spun with zero ambition to fire (from the sound of it). So badly that I checked the wire on my new plug - which was connected soundly.

This is a pisser....

[tall]

Is this something that fails all the sudden, or slowly? In my case, it seems to have failed suddenly.

On this size of engine, 16.5 single cylinder OHV Briggs - is the carb something to fix, or toss??

[Gemini]

[Michael C De Vito]

Hello all, Timing belt or gear has to be the culprit, gas out the carb.& exhaust,valve timing off. Mike D

[tallman]

does a single cylinder engine have a timing belt?

[tallman]

thanks for sticking with this - I'll have a look at these suggestions. wish me luck

[George Skarupa]

[Danny]

It sounds like the float is stuck and needs to be cleaned.

First, shut the gas to OFF on the tank, or on the fuel line

Take the carb off the machine, put it on your bench. Flip it over and look at the carb and you will see a piece on it that looks like a cup (usually a screw at the bottom of it.) Unscrew it and take off the cup, carefully.

You will see the float at this point.

Observe the float, move it around and you may see it sticking somewhere.. Clean all of that area up. You may have to take the float off, their is usually a pin in it holding the float on.Make sure to notice all the little moving parts to the float, should have a tiny spring and a pointy thing in it.

Make sure all this area is clean.. Reassemble it and you should be good to go...

If you need more detail, give me a shout..

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