Srgnt Billko wrote:

Get a carburetor rebuilding kit -- about $10. Take apart the carb, clean
it with some sort of organic solvent.


A 3 yr old carb certainly shouldn't need a "rebuild kit" - but taking the
fuel bowl off and cleaning it (after the fuel filter thing), making sure the
float is free, cleaning the inlet should take care of any "dirty" gas that
got in there.

"Shouldn't"????? Right. But you have to make certain the carburetor
understands that.

A common practice is to run the fuel dry in the Fall. That lets the
gaskets, diaphragms, etc harden during the Winter. And then it won't
start or run right in the Spring. Next, the owner starts tightening all
the adjustment screws, leading to more problems.

Changing the fuel filter is fine, but it's been many years since I have
actually needed to do that. Back then, I found the filter clogged with
some red powder that someone said was additives put in by the supplier,
not dirt or water.

My old car suffered a stuck float valve once. Gas kept on pouring into
the carburetor and one in to flood the engine. I paniced and the dealer
sold me a $1200 replacement. Later on I was reading an old engine
repair book that said the first thing to do is whack the carburetor up
the side with a rubber mallet to dislodge stuck floats. I'll bet that
would have worked and no disassembly would have been required.