I guess it's time to give up on my lawn tractor

[theholycow]

I wish mine was that nice. I love how you put it in the Garage here...

[theclencher]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

leave the head alone, most mowers leave black deposits on em, its a lawnmower not a car....

Well he said it was oily and it smokes to beat hell.

Flatheads come off so easily you almost can't not do it, to check what I mentioned above.

Don't know what you have though. OHV? Twin or single? Is it consuming oil? Is the smoke gas or oil?

[theholycow]

OHV single.

I don't know if it's consuming oil. I don't use it enough to know, and I've been changing the oil a lot due to the problem it had with gas getting into the oil. I think maybe I still have that problem and need to service the carburetor more than just installing the shutoff valve.

The smoke isn't oil, it's not blue.

[theclencher]

Oh. Leave the head on then and fix that carb

[GasSavers_Erik]

It should be a pushrod engine (easy to take the head on and off), but I agree with the others that you should leave the head on for now- there's nothing under there that can be easily serviced and the carb will be the simplest place to start.

If you think that it is flooding while parked, then you can splice a fuel shut off valve into the line and always turn it off when it is not running.

Dirt in the float valve will cause it to flood while sitting and running- which would explain the smoke.

Does it have plenty of power and run smoothly? Or does is cough and sputter and puff out black smoke when mowing high grass? (sign of flooding/running rich)

Perhaps your overfull, gasoline thinned oil slipped past the rings and fouled the spark plug.

Most lawn mower shops will sell you the float valve needle, you just need to give them all of the part/serial numbers off the engine cover.

To inspect the needle, you will need to remove the float- just pull out the nail looking shaft that the float pivots on with needle nosed pliers and then the needle will likely fall out. On most small engines, you don't necessarily have to take the carb off to clean it (leaving it on will save you the hassle of disconnecting/reconnecting the throttle/choke linkage).

Once the needle is out, blow carb cleaner through the carb fuel inlet and inspect the tip of the needle. Adding a gas line filter/replacing the one that is on there will help to prevent future problems.

Also shake the float to check that it is not filling with gasoline and sinking.

[theholycow]

I have spliced in the fuel shutoff valve, almost a year ago.

It does have plenty of power and runs smoothly. It might stumble a bit when it emits a particularly strong puff of smoke when I'm facing downhill.

I'll have to get a carburetor book from the library, they've got plenty. Then I can check the float valve and (as suggested on another forum) replace the "needle and seat". Would that be the same as the float valve needle?

How would I know on visual inspection if the needle is good?

I do have a filter, it's between the shutoff valve and the carburetor.

Other info: I've had the carb off a few times to soak it in carb cleaner after leaving gas in it all winter and that gas turning into varnish in the carb. Once I had a hard time with it and really got abusive with it, trying to force aerosol carb cleaner through passages.

I wonder if I need to try to rebuild the carb or get a replacement.

I wonder if I could just stick a diesel particulate filter on it and it would filter out the smoke and then I could just ignore it until it catches fire again.

[VetteOwner]

yea needle and seaat is pretty close to float valve needle.

a way to check and see if its good if it has a somewhat sharp point, not bent, not worn in any spots (should be a smooth conical tip, no grooves in the sides)

the seat you can visually check fo same thing, typically its debris that gets in there and holds the needle open.

also do what someone up there and make sure the float is actually floating, if it has a crack it will fill up with gas and sink, flooding the engine. make sure it pivots smoothly too

[bowtieguy]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Ok, I guess I'm going to Tractor Supply Company again. The stuff is $4.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...g=true&cFlag=1

i think my edger(manual choke) starts easier and more quickly since using it. but, i have no proof positive testing.

[theholycow]

Well, I took of the carburetor and put everything else back together.

The float didn't have any gas in it, I'll try to sink it in some water and see if it bubbles or floats.

The whole carburetor has quite a bit of [mostly green] corrosion in it, surprisingly. I've never seen corrosion in it before, just varnished gas. A thing that I'm pretty sure is the float valve needle is corroded, for example.

I borrowed a few books from the library, one of which has full color pictures and if they didn't use my engine for the carburetor section they used a very similar one. Unlike most other small engine repair books in the library, this one appears to be from this millenium. I think it was published in 2003.
http://www.amazon.com/Small-Engine-R.../dp/158923121X
The photos of the carburetor look exactly like mine.

I'll probably post a new thread with pictures of my carburetor. This thread is a mess.

[GasSavers_Erik]

Here's a pic of a needle (silver) and seat (tan)


The tapered tip of the needle should be nice and smooth, many even have a rubber coated tip.