We had it running fine on dec 24th for 3-4 hours, started easily every time. Then, on christmas day, it just won't fire (at least we only get a firing about every 40-50 turns.) The choke and the throttle seem to have no effect. We checked the spark plug and it is firing, also the gas line is flowing into the carb. (it hasn't been that cold, plus warming it for 1-2 hours with a space heater was of no help) The battery and starter seem to have enough juice that it should be starting - it just seems to not be getting gas. Any ideas?

PS. the spark plug was loose (rattling in the casing) and had to be tightened - this wasn't discovered until we started having these starting problems. I figure that it must have originally just been finger tightened and shook itself loose in thiose 3-4 hours of use.

 

still no go [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

My brother-in-law took the carb apart and checked for blocked jets etc. The carb is brand new and clean as a whistle. Put everything back together and still nothing but a putter every so often. The throttle has no effect, niether does the choke.

 

Does it have an in-line fuel filter? You might need to take the fuel line loose from the carb and prime the filter housing with fuel. To prime, just hold the fuel line lower than the inlet side of the filter and allow some gas to pour out. Once the line is primed, hook the line back to the carb and then try to start it again. Also, to help check for a fuel delivery problem, pour a small amount of gas or shoot a shot of starting fluid into the cylinder and then try to start it.

Have you checked for spark?

 

Thanks SilveradoSS. I ended up taking it into a local service depot. Apparently the spark plug was fouled and the fuel filter was gummed up. They also tuned the carb for lower carbon deposits. Next time I see a lot of black exhaust hopefully I'll remember the fix if the same problem occurs.

 

Glad you got it fixed!