pipefitter
Bronze Member
I put a small 1/4 turn shut-off valve on the fuel lines of my outdoor equipment. After too many carb issues, I now close the valve and let them run out of fuel. Seems to be working.
Briggs Carb madness
- Thread starter hangfirew8
- Start date
FredH
Platinum Member
Just curious , What did the new carb cost you ?? Looked up one for the briggs on my log splitter , almost $90 !!!! :shocked:
Before I went that route , I'll go to H.F. and buy their 6.5 h.p. predator engine on sale for $99 .
Fred H.
Before I went that route , I'll go to H.F. and buy their 6.5 h.p. predator engine on sale for $99 .
Fred H.
whitejww
New member
There are two camps on running the carb dry (or almost) from the research I've done. I had an issue some years back with a Honda snow blower at the start of the winter season. It was running rough and cutting out on me. It was stored with a fresh oil change and drained of all fuel when stored for the summer. I dropped the bowl on the carb to see if there was any dirt inside. To my surprise it was rusted and crusted. Being maniacal with caring for my equipment and having shut off the fuel after each use and let it run dry/drained as well for the summer months I wondered how the carb got rusty. As near as the consensus had it on the forums it was believed that running it dry does not completely drain the carb. There is a petcock on the bowl to get most of it out but I only did that for summer storage. That said the theory of ethanol absorbing moisture into the carb and causing rust made sense. Since then, I've been storing my equipment with Sta-Bil in the off season and leaving the fuel valve on. This makes it difficult for air/moisture to get into the bowl. I've even seen storage additives advertised that claim to protect the metal fuel tanks with the vapors. The bottom line is the moisture can't get in and can't cause rust if there is fuel covering the majority of the bowl. Some manufacturers have plastic bowls on the carb (not sure if this is for rusting). All of the lawn tractors I've owned have not had a fuel shut off or drain on the carb. I will let everyone decide for themselves on how to best approach storage, long or short but since the rust problem I have not drained any equipment for storage and never had a problem starting or running. I've also observed on the many lawn tractors I buy and sell that the ones that still have fuel in them may get gunked up but none have had any rust when cleaned or rebuilt. I hope this helps and does not cause a debate on dry versus wet storage 