Need help with Craftsman Eager-1 4.5 carburetor rebuild

ok.. i'm so happy to find this thread.. but it's been a while and hopefully people here can still help.

i read through the whole thing.. took the carb apart and replace the big o-ring and use carb cleaner to clean it out. the re-assembled.

it started perfectly... mowed the grass and done.

here's the weird part... winter.. didn't mow the grass and just last weekend.. tried to started it up.. it was just fine.. till the blade hit the grass. went for a while and stopped.

the grass was short.. not long or rough.. so i don't think the grass is long enough to catch it to get the blades stuck.

what should i do? replace all the o-rings? also, i was using a 10W-30 in there, which i saw was ok for California climate. is there anything else i should clean out? hate to take it apart each time to mow the grass...

thanks!!

 

Might have to clean the carb again. It doesn't take long for gas to go bad and clog things up anymore.

 

Nothing seems to clog carburetors faster than old gas and not being run. Just read this section of the fourm for a while. You'll see a flood of people in the spring saying their mower worked last year but wont start after sitting all winter. Then in the winter it's a whole new group with the same problem with their snow blowers.

You may have a partially blocked orifice/jet. The engine can get up to full rpm at partial throttle and what fuel is getting through could be enough. When the mower hits the grass more power is needed to maintain rpm so the governor opens the throttle and fuel can't be supplied fast enough causing it to die.

 

thanks for the feedback.

pilot dane: so in this case, is the orifice/jet located in part of the carb? if it goes deep into the engine, i don't know if i am that skilled enough to fix it.

also, should i replace the gas or will letting it run idle for a while clear it up?

 

tried to edit my previous post, but guess it didn't have that feature.

found this thread on craftsman's site. one of the members there suggested to add sea foam to gas and let it run.

is that ok?