tallman wrote:
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



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

"tallman" wrote in message
...
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


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.

tallman wrote:

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?

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

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

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

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).


GFRfan wrote in message
What'd he do? Pour gas in the carb?

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 ****er....



"Srgnt Billko" wrote in message
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.

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??



DaveL wrote in message ...

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

Remove the carb. bowl and clean the needle and seat and reinstall. Also make
sure the float still "floats" and is stopping the fuel flow in the up
position.
Next little test is to pinch off the fuel hose going to the carb. If it
starts and runs for just a minute, with no excess fuel, then you definitely
have a fuel delivery problem in the carb.
"tallman" wrote in message
...
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

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

does a single cylinder engine have a timing belt?

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

My 1994 White LT15 with the 15.5hp B&S engine wouldn't crank about two
months ago. The caburator float must have stuck and gas poured out the air
filter assembly. Changed the oil(which was also polluted with about a 1/2
gallon of gas), air filter, gas filter, and spark plug. Fired right up, and
still runs strong.
"tallman" wrote in message
...
thanks for sticking with this - I'll have a look at these suggestions.
wish me luck

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..


---------------------
www.askalandscaper.com


"Srgnt Billko" wrote in message
...

"tallman" wrote in message
...
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


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.