Fueling problem with B&S engine on Craftsman Lawn Mower

A friend has a ~8 year old 6.5HP Craftsman Lawn Mower and while I was cutting her lawn the other day, it stalled and wouldn't re-start. I determined that I was getting spark, so my attention turned to fueling. I thought "fuel restriction" and so momentarily turned the mower upside down, bounced it a couple times, and then turned it right-side up. It started right up, ran for awhile before stalling again. I repeated my "fix" and got a few more rows of lawn cut before having to "rinse, lather, repeat" until eventually I got the lawn done.

So it's safe to say I've got something clogging up the fuel flow that needs to be addressed. And thoughts or suggestions or where I should be focusing my efforts?

 

Hello DPDISXR4Ti,


Start with the easy things first, Remove and clean the fuel tank. There could be trash randomly plugging the fuel outlet, If that doesn't solve the issue then go into the carb and clean it.....


Good Luck

 

That makes sense. Of course I just filled the tank, so I'll have a little more fuel to deal with before getting to the bottom of things.

 

I use a pair of vice grips or a c clamp to pinch the fuel line. Disconnect the fuel line from the carb. Then put that end of the fuel line to catch the fuel and remove the clamp.

If you don't find anything obvious in the fuel tank I'd remove the bowl of the carburetor. Clean out any crud that has collected and insure that the float can move freely and that it does not like to stick in the up/closed position.

 

Thanks for the additional input. It's all the more helpful since I'll need to gather up my tools in advance since the machine isn't home. Adding vise-grips and c-clamp to the list.

 

Try loosening the gas cap next time it stalls. If the cap vent isn't letting air in the tank to displace the volume of fuel used, it will develop a vacuum and cause the engine to run out of gas. Shaking it around builds the pressure back up a bit and lets it run a while.

 

^^^ Hadn't even considered that as a possibility. That would sure be an easy fix. Thanks - trying that first!

 

I have similar problem, starts, runs 5 seconds and stalls. I removed gas cap, same thing happened. I removed air filter, cleaned filter, re-installed filter, same thing happend. I removed air filter totally, same thing happened. I took bolt out from under carb bowl, removed bowl and cleaned, cleaned holes in bolt, gasket ok, drained gas, re-installed bolt and bowl, added new gas, same thing happened. Any other suggestions?

 

I can't really add much here. I used the lawn mower twice after this "episode" occurred and it totally worked fine so I didn't bother further diagnosing. Perhaps it was a indeed a vacuum created by an after-market fuel cap.