After my Suzuki konked out while idling, I spent a couple of Sundays trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I had good spark and coil and pickup res readings were good. Fuel bowl drains told me that there was fuel but last weekend I discovered that I could not turn over the motor (hydro-locked) due to a cylinder full of gas. Pulling the petcock vac line I found a lot of fuel so assumed that the petcock vacuum diaphragm had gone bad and allowed gas to flow into the carb. Plugged up the vacuum line and cranked her over with the plug out to dry out some of the excess fuel. Wouldn't start, plug all wet again.

I eventually plugged the fuel line and still found that the plug would get wet/flooded when I tried to start her up.

Move forward to yesterday. Decided I need to pull the gas tank and carb but had to remove the rear and partially the front fenders first. Checking out the petcock and it's diaphragm showed that it was OK so the gas must have magically leaked into the carb.

Next removed the carb. Everything looked good but there was a small amount of crud in the bowl. After a dose of cleaner and blown clear with air I assembled and hooked the carb to the gas tank. Turned the petcock to pri, filled the bowl, tested the diaphragm...everything looked good.

Installed the carb and hooked up choke/throttle with plans to start her up with minimum connections and just the fuel in the bowl. Fired right up, no problems so I pressed on. Connected everything else back cranked her over again. What the... Wouldn't start and darn plug all wet again.

I determined that fuel was not getting in through the vac line and was not flooding in through the fuel line... Anyone care to guess what was causing the flooding?

 

No guesses? Airbox had over a quart of fuel puddled... Must have overflowed from the carb once the cylinder was full.

It had been a strange day... Solved another mystery that morning. Riding mower started acting up too. It would start but die unless I choked it and even with the choke on, it would die as soon as I put it in gear. No water is gas tank. Fuel filter had a little dirt but clear. Carb was clean for the most part and couldn't be air filter because it was running lean...

When it died, I pulled the hose from the carb but no gas present. I blew with my mouth backwards through the filter and it was clear and no resistance. I could hear bubbles coming from the tank as I blew and gas gushed out once I stopped blowing... Hooked the line back, started up fine and died once I put it in gear. After that, again needed the choke to run and would die if I put it in gear.

Any guess on this one? It had been running well previously and mowed the whole lawn without a hiccup. Started acting up after I hosed off the underside of the deck, drove it to the back and left it sitting (off) for an hour.

 

Not to change the subject, but if you had that much gas in the cylinder, I would change the oil right away, it probably is full of gas in the crankcase as well.

 

Thanks for the tip. That was my thoughts too and have the filter and oil waiting. Was planning to start it up and get it warm before I changed the oil though. Not planning on riding it until fresh oil is circulating. Thanks again for the concern.

And about the mower...the darn fuel tank cap vent decided to plug up after years of service. I loosened the cap to break the seal and ran like a top again... The clue was that there was no fuel when I popped the hose off but gushed out after blowing the hose in reverse. The reverse flow pressurized the tank...

 

Got everything buttoned back up and it now runs great. I warmed the motor up and then drained the crankcase without riding and it was a good thing. I had about a quart and a half of gas in there. I guess it was like flushing it out but hate to think what all that gas did to my stator and clutch discs. Anyway, fresh oil, new filter and it ran like a top!

On a side note, the gas sitting in my airbox unglued my foam filter. I researched what glue was the best but only found reference to using a hot glue gun. I didn't think that was the best choice so I visited a couple of hardware stores and finally an auto parts store. In the back of my mind I was thinking about weatherstrip adhesive. We used to use it to "vibration proof" case screws on our Motocross bikes back in the good ole days. At the auto parts store, I found a tube of Permatex Super Weatherstrip adhesive. It said resistant to gas, oil etc and was applied like contact cement. I followed the instructions and I think it's pretty much what Uni used to assemble the filter in the first place. Time will tell if it will hold together...