Craftsman tractor carb issue

I have an older Craftsman riding mower that I just rebuilt the carburetor. It was leaking so I bought a carburetor rebuilding kit and put it all together. It ran great for a short time until today when I found the motor had hydraulic lock.

I haven't had time to work on it yet but I noticed when I try to turn the motor by hand gas pumped out of the carburetor in great quantities. Any ideas to what is happening and what I should fix?

Evertime I turned the motor by hand gas shot out from the rubber tube connected to the air cleaner.

I pulled the spark plug and cranked it a few times until nothing more came out of the plug hole but it was still coming out that rubber hose.

I unscrewed the solenoid and took the bowl off and of course gas poured out. I pushed lightly on the float and it stopped so I assume the float and seat are working.

Is the solenoid broken so the gas never stops going in? Any ideas will be very helpful? Thanks.

 

You have a lot of gas in the crankcase so the oil will need changed and all the gas flushed out of the combustion chamber through the spark plug hole.

It sounds like the float/float valve isn't doing it's job. The float may be defective and filling with gas or the float valve may not be seating all the time. Either causes the fuel overflowing into the engine.

The solenoid on the carb is to prevent a backfire after shutoff so its function is farther along in the fuel system than gas entering the carb bowl. Most likely the problem is with the float/float valve.

Another remote possibility is a fuel pump leaking into the crankcase. Do you have a fuel pump on this engine?

 

There is no fuel pump on this model. It goes straight from the tank to the carb with a filter in between. I will change the oil.

I just put a new needle in the carb but maybe it is not working correctly. I still have the old one with the rubber tip so I will try changing it back out again.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

When you have it apart stick the float in a jar of gas for half an hour with a weight on it. Then shake it to see if it's been leaking. If it has, it will have to be replaced.

Make sure you have the gas leak fixed and the oil cleaned up before you start it.