free lawnmower not running quite right

 Hello,

I was recently given a lawnmower with a Briggs/Stratton 6.5HP motor. I
was told it might need tuned because it hadn't been run for about 5
years. When I first put gas in it I noticed it started to leak the fuel
behind the primer button. That was on Friday night. Saturday when I
tried it again by putting more fuel in it the leaks didn't reappear but
after priming the engine started but would immediately stop. As long as
I had someone continuously press the primer button the engine continued
to run just fine.

So the spark plug was working, fuel line was clear, etc. Today I took
apart the carb except for the float bowl that housed fuel near where the
primer button is located. I attempted to take that component apart as
well but couldn't get the nut on the bottom loosened. So I just cleaned
the carb as best as I could but I didn't see anything clogged and my
cleaning was mainly done for aesthetics. Short of taking the mower to a
pro for maintenance can anyone tell me something that could put me on
the right track to fixing it myself? Everything I read online made it
sound like it was a carb issue but I didn't find any problems unless
they were in the float bowl that I didn't take apart.

The advice I found said there would be a pin/screw with a pinhole in it
from where the fuel would be ejected and that it was probably clogged
thus preventing normal flow of  fuel. But I never found anything like
that in my carb. The place where it looked like fuel was inserted was
more like a tube sticking straight up and I couldn't get to it since it
was above the area I didn't take apart. Since that small tube was inside
the primer button component I couldn't look in it to see if it was clogged.

For anyone who happens to have (or wants to download) the parts list for
my B&S engine, the model is 121602-0190-E1. It is an Intek, not the
Quantum type. Oddly enough, looking at the owner's manual both types are
supposed to have a Safety Key but mine doesn't have that. I was working
off page 4 of the parts list PDF file to determine the names of the
parts I was working with today. Part #975 is the float bowl and part
#134 I think is the small "tube" that fuel comes out of when
operational. What are the odds that is clogged and that priming the
engine constantly would help work around that particular problem?

This mower has a bag also. The bags aren't required to be on for the
mower to work are they? As you can tell my knowledge of mowers is slim
to none. I'm a recent first time home buyer so I'm learning. :)

Any ideas?


thanks
Brandon

 
Brandon McCombs;841189 Wrote:

Hello Brandon please give us a call and we will give you a free
consoltation as
we are a garden machinery repair business. My site
address is in my signature or
go to http://gmrm.co.uk  or call me on
01865 883413.




--
damian

 
Get  carburetor rebuild kit at a dealer.  Replace any "flexible" parts
such as the diaphragm.   Any part you think looks bad can be replaced,
also.   But avoid replacing things just because you got a new one
unless you want to make more trouble.

 Brandon McCombs wrote:

You need to get the float bowl off and clean it out along with the main
jet. If the nut will not come off then you'll need to replace the carb.

--
Art

 Art wrote:

OK. I'll target the float bowl next time I work on it. Figures that the
part that I didn't look at in-depth is the thing that is most likely the
problem. If this doesn't work I may just buy a carb kit but if cleaning
the float bowl and the main jet don't do it then maybe there are bigger
problems which a new carb won't fix. If I'm lucky I won't work too late
on Tuesday and I can try it again and report back in a timely manner.
I'm in the US Damian so I prefer to not call international if I can help it.

thanks guys for the quick responses.