PS. I was also told a rebuild kit was used on at least one of these carbs.

Did you connect the vacuum hose from the engine block to the BOTTOM of the fuel pump? Gas line to the side?

Walt Conner

I connected them exactly the way they were when I started working on it. I will have to check to see if my brother-in-law connected it wrong. Will do that in the morning and let you know.

That was the problem of staying started. He had the 2 hoses switched. Now I have the problem he had with the 2nd tractor. It runs fine except it has gas pouring out of the top of the carb. Any ideas?

Probably a bad float in the carb. Or it is sticking in the down position.

Have been working on it and it seems to have stopped coming out the top ... Maybe just needed some usage. Now I have to work on the cutting deck. Every time I engage the blades the engine dies. Took the belt off of the blade spindles which just leaves the other belt through the pulley system and it still stalls. Maybe one of the pulley wheels are sticking or just to hard to turn. They all seem to turn by hand with no belt pressure on them.

OK, so far, I don't believe we have been told WHAT brand and model of tractor is the subject of the thread. My point here is that the engine could be dying because a electrical safety interlock circuit is being activated when you engage the deck. Is the deck engaged by manually moving a lever or is it engaged by operating a switch on the dash? Are you sitting in the seat whenever you try to engage the deck? Do you have the parking braked locked when you try to engage the deck?

Yard Machine 17HP LT - Can't find a plate for details - Seems one should be under the seat, but is missing.

Yes - manually moving a lever
Yes - sitting in the seat
No - parking brake locked

Below is a link to a photo of this lawn tractor

Here is a link that might be useful: Tractor Photo

PS. It does seem to be more of a "strain" bogging the engine down and not so much of an electrical "cut off" of some sort.

"PS. It does seem to be more of a "strain" bogging the engine down and not so much of an electrical "cut off" of "PS. It does seem to be more of a "strain" bogging the engine down and not so much of an electrical "cut off" of some sort."

Have you determined whether the engine is running on BOTH cylinders? Remove the spark plug wires one at a time and see what happens, should drop off about the same amount on each one - CAUTION - do not run this way only momentarily.

Walt Conner

I just did that test. Took one side off and it dropped a little and ran fine. Took the other side off, it dropped and died!

Changed plugs to make sure the one was not bad. Did the test again and it started to die. Reconnected it, it ran. I did this test several times and sometimes it dies and other times it runs fine just like the other side. Intermittent problem.

Trace out each plug wire leading from the coil to the spark plugs. Look for a worn or chafed spot on the wire where it may have been rubbing on a sharp edge. If the wire has been arcing onto a metal surface, it will usually cause a white, powdery looking spot on the rubber insulation where the arcing has been occurring. Be sure to use a bright light to aid in your inspection, the evidence you are looking for may be very faint. Generally speaking, if you do find a spot on the wire that has been rubbing as evidenced by damage to the insulation, the wire has been arcing to ground, even if you don't see any whitish stains.

I took the ignition coil from the 2nd tractor and put it on this one. Figured I would try to eliminate that. Same issue. I can ride this thing around doing whatever I want and it runs fine. As soon as I engage the blades it wants to die. Think my next step might be taking the deck off and checking everything out on there.

" I did this test several times and sometimes it dies and other times it runs fine just like the other side. Intermittent problem"

Sounds suspiciously like a loose valve seat hopping in and out. IF this is the problem and IF you don't or haven't already run it too long, the valve seat can be staked back in place.

How would this be done?

Well you need to determine first if that is the problem. The valve seat is staked back in place by using a center punch out maybe .050" from the edge of the seat at 3 equally spaced places around the diameter then filling in between with a small blunt punch. This is a B&S recommended fix. Some people just use the center punch to fill in. This only works IF the seat is still snug, if block is wallowed out from seat constantly working in and out, this will not work.

Walt Conner

That's what I had thought at the beginning while reading this thread. Always start the diagnoses at the beginning of the power source (battery) thru the ignition to engine wire harness, to kill switches leading to coil's kill wires, then proceed to the mechanical engine diagnoses.