Bought this Rancher used a few years ago & it has never quite run right. Have not run it much in the last year or so and it has set up in the barn several months at a time between running it. I think my gas got stale or something. It flooded one day and a lot of gas drained out of the drain tube at bottom of carb...it had a green tint (almost like antifreeze) I drained as much gas as I could by disconnecting the supply tube from back end of gas tank to top of carb & added new gas and about 8oz. of Seafoam. It cranks/runs a little better but I'm getting white smoke...not a lot, but it does appear white and it dissipates pretty quickly (doesn't hang around for a long time) and doesn't have a particularly oily smell? Also, the end of the muffler has a lot of black residue inside?

Any ideas? Could the white smoke/black residue in muffler come from moisture in the gas, bad gas, Seafoam???

How can I completely drain the gas tank/carb and start over with fresh gas?

 

You need to compltely remove your carb and clean it all out, soak it in carb cleaner for a while then blow out all passages with compressed air. Sounds like you have a gumed up carb. When the carb is out, put a container under the supply hose and open the valve till it's done.

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

I was reading some other posts on this forum...could a choke problem cause the smoke/black soot in end of muffler? My choke cable does seem tighter & seems to have less travel than it used to have. Could water in the gas cause the smoke?

What do you think?

 

When you clean the carb, pay particular attention to the slow (idle/pilot) jet. These always get clogged up when an engine sits unused, and that leaves you with a lean condition. When you reinstall the carb, adjust the fuel screw.