Craftsman Tractor no gas to carb?

[valley]

Greetings, We picked up a Craftsman for the girls to haul hay with. It's a 14HP. It starts with starting fluid. It's not gettings gas to the carb. I did find a dry, maybe cracked, gas line and was changing it, the fuel line, when it got dark.
Question: Is the petrol sucked to the carb by vacuum, it doesn't gravity feed? Thankyou

Model #917.254450

Richard

 

[Fixemall]

After changing the gas line, verify that the tank shutoff is open if it has one and then blow light compressed air thru the line to the tank with the cap off, gas should trickle from the gas line when it is held lower than the tank. Spend the $1.50 and install a universal gas filter before the carb. If you still have a no start situation, remove the bowl from the carb after marking it's exact position with a marker and spray the internals with carb cleaner, verify that the needle is moving and allowing gas to enter by turning the gas on with bowl removed and watching for dripping, if verified, reinstall bowl and it should start. If no start, carb may have to be removed and disassembled for complete cleaning.

 

[J_J]

If the engine has sat for a while and not been started, the carb ports orifices, jets, needle valve seating, float, etc may be gummed up by stuff that looks like old varnish. Use whatever that will dissolve the residue and do as the above post suggested. WD-40 sprayed into the fuel inlet to the carb sometimes helps to loosen the float and needle.

Could involve a complete carb breakdown.

 

[valley]

Thanks, I'll do that, hoping for the best.

 

[valley]

It has been sitting for a while, 1 1/2 years the fellow says.



There is no valve in fuel line.

 

[bp fick]

Whenever a "long sitting" snowblower/mower/tractor etc, comes into my shop for a "no run" "no start" condition, I verify spark and compression, but it's almost always the carb being varnished to within an inch of its life.

Blame the dynamics of time just sitting, but also I also dislike modern fuels sitting, without Sta-Bil, for a year or two. That is a recipe for what you have.

Sometimes the carb can just be cleaned and you're good to go, sometimes a rebuild is in order, and sometimes the carb just gets replaced. One step at a time.

 

[Fixemall]

It has been sitting for a while, 1 1/2 years the fellow says.



There is no valve in fuel line.

Gently pinch the line off with a small set of vise grips while performing the cleaning.

 

[DavidVT]

My Craftsman drove me nuts for several years. We had it to the shop every year for running poorly and having to keep the choke pulled to keep the engine running. Each time the mechanic told me he just cleaned it.

Finally we replacing it with a newer tractor. Luck would have it, the new tractor eventually developed transmission issues and frustrated my wife quite a bit.

Last summer I pulled the old Craftsman from behind the barn, loaded tubes in the now cracked tires and attempted to get it running.

Somewhere on the web I found a note about using a small fuel pump to solve many of the small garden tractor engine fuel delivery issues.

By fall I had the engine running well with the new fuel pump and only needed a new drive belt to replace the one destroyed by time...

The old Craftsman is now our primary mower after the new one lost a deck spindle to a stone (parts on order). The old (1999) Craftsman runs just fine with the fuel pump. It is running so well that I plan to replace the cracked tires and the destroyed hydrostat fan. It will be interesting to see how it runs next spring when I pull it from the barn.

Yes we are hard on our mowers... However the old grey craftsman from many moons ago ran a zillion years with almost zero maintenance for my father and I before he gave it away when he retired..... (RIP both Dad and that wonderful reliable mower)

 

[valley]

Greetings, Well, I replaced the fuel line, blew air into the tank, jumped started with the big charger. The engine argured a bit, I ran some marvel oil through, it sounded pretty good. I bought a new battery, installed the battery and filter,filled with clean gas, it has been running great. The girls have been driving them, we have two lawn tractors, most of the day.
Thanks for the help and suggestions.
The fellow we bought it from was convinced the solenoid was gone but when the contacts were cleaned I was pleased to find it worked fine.

I appreciate your help. Richard

 

[bp fick]

Good job. Good job indeed.