stryped wrote:
I have an old tiller given to me by my grandfather. It is a 5
horsepower Brigs. The carb is mounted to the gas tank. It would only
run with starting fluid for 10 seconds then shut off.
These things have a vacuum-operated diaphragm
pump, make out of a section of the gasket between
tank and carb, that pumps fuel into a bowl in the
carb body.
The gaskets can get dried out and crack, or just
get stiff or stuck to part of the carb and not
pump up and down. Sometimes you can get them
unstuck by just pouring a little fuel into the air
intake or on the air filter, and then starting it
a couple times. If that doesn't get it unstuck,
then you need to disassemble, clean and inspect
the parts. Common for "rubber" parts to
deteriorate in storage. The plastic dip tube that
broke sounds like it is the fuel pick-up for this
pump system.

Jon