I know this thread was awhile ago, but I am having this problem, Briggs and Stratton engine serial number 140818-51-43913. Purchased used from Eq co. Carb problems. They keep saying water in the gas. But I just bought the “clear” gas and have added stabilizer. They took it in once and fixed it, I cannot afford it again. I have owned this thing three months and have had success mowing my lawn 3 times. What is the deal!? Halo!
Sorry - I can't determine the engine model from serial number - perhaps the real experts can <?> From the rest of your description you might be on a 14 HP riding mower or pushing a 3.5 HP mower. .. what is " clear " gas ? The repair guy fixes it and tells you there was water in the gas - - maybe that really IS the problem ? John T.
Disconnect the gas line from the carb with a bottle handy and see if gas easily flows. If so, problem is likely the carb again. If you identify the carb, there are carb rebuild kits on Ebay for $10 or less. They give you the gaskets, needle valve, welch plugs, etc. They generally don't include the gasket between the carb and manifold, if that's not in good condition you need to order one of those. Take apart the carb, clean it out with brake cleaner or similar, blow out all passages, a compressor helps with that if you have it. When taking out the adjustment screws, count the turns and put them back in to the same number of turns. There may be welch plugs covering some openings, if you have the new ones from the kit, carefully remove the old ones, clean, then install the new ones. You put a little nail polish around the edge after to help seal it. Then it should work. I would add gas stabilizer to the gas you are using and don't keep it for longer than a month or so. There are youtube videos on all this to help.
Seems that water in the gas or old gas is a standard answer.
I bought a new John Deere rider and it would go about 100 feet and the engine would quit. I stopped in and asked the Deere people if there was something that I may be doing wrong. He mentioined water in my gas. I told him I did not think so. I had just bought a new gas can, stopped in a station and filled it up and drove home and filled up the mower. Did not see how gas could get any fresher than that.
Turned out it was a defective switch in the seat so they replaced the seat.
Defective fuel or fuel delivery problems would provide a different set of symptoms - than an intermittent safety switch cutting off the spark ... donch'ya think ? eg: difficult starting ; sputtering before it stalls ; John T.
It probably would, however as the mower was new I did not really care to locate the problem. Just let the dealer worry about that. The mower did have a 90 day no questions asked and I could have simply told them to take it back and give me my money back. However I would still need a mower. So they picked it up took it to the shop, repaired it and brought it back all at their expense.
One thing related to that. Around 1970 a friend bought a 1956 or so Chevy station wagon. We took it out for about an hour test ride. Every thing was fine. The next night it was doing about like my lawn mower. Run about half a mile and the engine would stop. We looked it over and I noticed the gas sediment bowl was backwards. We turned it around and it ran fine ever after. Not sure why it ran fine the first night and would quit the next with that backward sediment bowl. I thing that is what it was called back then insted of a fuel filter.
My one experience with < old school car > dirty fuel filter was : : start fine : idle fine : rev-the engine several times - smooth. : take off driving - no problem at city speeds Highway speed for ~ a minute - cough sputter stall. The added flow-rate would draw the contaminent/particles up to block the filter - my theory .. I haven't had any auto fuel filter problems for decades. John T.
That's what you would think. But my MB diesel was idling terrible, stalling at idle. Ran fine at highway speeds. Turned out it was a clogged fuel filter. I figure that at idle the pump couldn't develop enough flow, but at higher RPMs it's ability to pump went up faster than the demand for fuel.
Similar experience on a 1000 mi trip in 1977 with a 73 Plymouth. OK except when pulling a hill or accelerating.
Stopped for the night and next day went to dealer shop who wanted to rebuild the carb. No time for that, and on hunch went to a parts store, bought filter, swapped in motel parking lot, ran fine after.
On trying to blow thru old filter, could tell it was partially clogged.
I've picked up several REALLY NICE low-hour lawn mowers on the kerb over the years with water in the tank. Did you by chance leave it sitting outside in the rain - even ONCE since it was fixed??? Doesn't matter WHAT gas you use, or how much stabilizer, if you leave it out in the rain you wil VERY LIKELY end up with water in the gas (or if long enough, mabee gasoline in the water - - - )
Sorry to highjack this thread, I am experiencing similar problem with my lawnmower. I've got a Briggs&Stratton engine 12S505-3856-B1 riding on Husqvarna 87521res. Just like the subject of this thread indicates, having issue with starting the lawnmower without starting fluid. My carb is brand new, along with spark plug, air filter and new gas. Validated that I have a good spark, gas is flowing from the tube when disconnecting from the carb end. When I remove the air filter, and spray starting fluid instead, it seems more willing to start after 2-3 pulls. On the gas-only 3x prime method, it doesn't show any signs of starting...
What else could this be? Should I check for compression PSI on the engine?
Thanks!
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