"46erjoe" wrote in message
...

Tinkered with it some more today. I can keep the motor running
indefinitely as long as I keep priming it every 10 secs of so. Does
that give any clues? Thanks.

Are there places on the net where I can just buy a carb outright
instead of going through Sears or rebuilding it?


On Sun, 2 Jul 2006 20:19:04 -0400, "digitalmaster"
wrotF:


"46erjoe" wrote in message
. ..
Got this Craftsman model 917 6-hp lawn mower for free when I got a new
house. It starts up fine, but runs for only about 30 seconds and then
stops.

I know what you're thinking: Fuel delivery problem. I thought so too.
I pulled off the tank emptied it, blew it dry and put it back on with
fresh gas. The screen at the bottom of the tank is clear.

If I prime it more than the 5 suggested times, it says, it stays
running longer.

I did this quite a few times in order to get it hot, but it still
keeps on shutting down.

The carb is tight to the block. I tried leaving the gas cap on and off
to see if venting was an issue. Still kept doing the same thing.

The air filter was dirty, so I left it off while testing. Still won't
run.

Any suggestions?
Is this the type that the carb bolts directly on top of the fuel tank?



Sounds a lot like mine that had set up for 2 years. There was a couple of
things wrong the rubber boot used to prime it was torn and it was full of
gooey gunk. Replacing the boot and soaking the carb in cleaner did the job.
These carbs used to have a needle valve in the bottom of the bowl now the
orifice is permanently set. The tube that holds the bowl on was really
gunked up. Cleaning this solved the biggest part of the problem.