Craftsman 24 hp lawn tractor woah's

[pipetrencher]

Hi,

Does anyone have any idea of what's going on here??

Bought 2 used craftsman ride-ons. One starts perfectly, the other needs about 1/4 ounce of gas flicked into the carb throat (don't have a spray starter) Anyhow, once it starts it purrs perfectly. If I go to start it 10-15 minutes later it should start. Overnight, won't start again. Tiny bit of gas, and she starts right up again right away.

Sounds like fuel starvation somewhere eh!... New Carb?

Tractor/lawn mower specs

• Year?? maybe 2013-14
• HP 24 B&S
• Cylinders 2
• hours 203
• Cut 46"

Remedies tried

• I changed the fuel filter
• I checked to ensure all hoses were clear, no cloggs
• I made sure that gas was coming out of the fuel pump when turning over
• I made sure that "fuel shut off solenoid" was plunging at key turn (yes gas was dumping out of solenoid Orpheus)
• Put new battery (Not related, as engine did turn over with a boost)
• Put new plugs (Again, didn't feel it was part of this problem, but always a good idea I figured)
• It's running on new gas (now, after I have run it for about an hour or so)
• I sprayed carb cleaner while running, didn't work, So I took apart the carb and cleaned it out best I could with air gun

Help figuring this out would be appreciated

Thanks

 

[radios1]

it sounds like the choke is not engaging. that's the disc that closes in the carburetor to prime the engine when cold. is the one that don't start an automatic or manual choke?.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Does the one that doesn't start cold still have it's original carb?

Reason I ask is a couple years ago, my neighbor's Craftsman rider quit running. I ended up putting a new carb on it for him. The new "replacement" carb only has a choke lever right on the carb itself. It couldn't be connected to the original throttle cable to use the original choke position on the lever.

Look on the side of your carb, is there a small black plastic "lever" sticking off the side of it, with what looks like a finger groove in it? If so, that is the choke.

 

[pipetrencher]

Hey radios1 thanks for responding,

I should have mentioned that this is the 1st time I have taken a carburetor apart.

The choke is manual. It's at the top of the throttle lever (past the rabbit icon). All I know, is that once the choke arm it's engaged by the throttle arm, it does push the choke lever upwards. I had checked the choke function previously to see what was going on there, and I figured it was moving the arm, so it was working? especially now that I cleaned it out.

2 notes on that.

1) The carb's quite clean
2) I just checked the choke arm again just now, and although yes it does activate, it does not fully extend to its potential. I'm guessing it turns upwards about 75% at full choke.

***** Was just about to click "post quick reply" when I realized I should check what would happen if I used my finger to push the throttle all they way up....(Can you say a brick short of a load!) so I did, and viola... it started. *****

I have had a false alarm earlier when I cleaned the carb and it started what I thought to be cold, only not to start. So I am not counting my chickens just yet....

But......If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have checked that..... So thank you my friend.... fingers crossed till morning.

 

[pipetrencher]

Does the one that doesn't start cold still have it's original carb?

Reason I ask is a couple years ago, my neighbor's Craftsman rider quit running. I ended up putting a new carb on it for him. The new "replacement" carb only has a choke lever right on the carb itself. It couldn't be connected to the original throttle cable to use the original choke position on the lever.

Look on the side of your carb, is there a small black plastic "lever" sticking off the side of it, with what looks like a finger groove in it? If so, that is the choke.

Original carb... honestly not sure, but i think so. I only say this because I did notice the same carb on B&G twin's on a couple of the YT videos I watched. But with that said, maybe not. Maybe that's why it's only engaging 75%? Something's not right?

It's a bit dark in the shop right now, I'll check tomorrow for the plastic lever of some kind, but I feel this may be something completely different, as I just looked at it and it was a flat 1/16" piece of metal which gets engaged by the choke arm. But for sure I will check.

I guess this may call for a slight mod/lengthening of the little arm then.

Thanks SPS

 

[pipetrencher]

Nice Branson BTW.....

That unit would solve a few issues for me for sure. Here is my original post .......... https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/buying-pricing-comparisons/410832-finding-right-fit.html

 

[pipetrencher]

So i went out this morning -3C, lifted choke with finger, and fired right up........

Kind of embarrassing :ashamed: seen as I tried so many different things, but to my own defense, the choke lever was operational, just not enough.... now I know... Thanks

 

[radios1]

So i went out this morning -3C, lifted choke with finger, and fired right up........

Kind of embarrassing :ashamed: seen as I tried so many different things, but to my own defense, the choke lever was operational, just not enough.... now I know... Thanks

there's an easy adjustment for that, put the choke up full, and adjust the clamp on the carb for that cable so the choke is fully closed. and it needs to be fully open in the run position..

 

[pipetrencher]

Thanks R1... I'll check that tomorrow

 

[pipetrencher]

OK...... I checked the carb, and I couldn't see any adjustment.

So I poked around, because I now knew that the root of the problem was related to something around there, thanks to Radios1. So, I noticed that the throttle cable cycle was not tight enough and thus was not completely allowing the flange the moves the choke lever to completely extend. (i.e. nothing wrong with the lever) I then noticed a "star" headed screw which was connected and holding the throttle cable to the engine. So I loosened the cable, pulled it about 1/2", and tightened it up again..........Done

Thanks everyone for responding... I appreciate it.... she starts right away.....