[tractortinker]

Hi, I have a craftsman LT2000 with a kohler pro 17.5hp ohv engine. I have a couple of questions about this thing, First of all when I start it it smokes like a freight train, secondly the oil smells like a gas tank and on a full charge it has trouble getting past the compression stroke. For the starting issue i'm thinking it just has dirty connections, but could the smoking and gas in the oil be from bad rings?

By the way do these engines have electric solenoids on the carburetor, that might be my cause.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[yuriyo923]

Check oil level? Sound to me like carb was stuck open and gas got into the oil.. now your oil/gas level is to high so it's smoking.

 

[tractortinker]

Thanks i'll have to take a look at that! now that you say that the oil did look a little high!

 

[tractortinker]

Check oil level? Sound to me like carb was stuck open and gas got into the oil.

Do you think a fuel shut off valve would fix this? I don't feel like putting much money into the mower so i'm going to go with whats cheapest.

 

[yuriyo923]

I think they work but not all the time.. It might just get you buy. Carb clean will take you all of 30 min to an hour, not hard to do.

 

[TobyU]

You need a new needle and seat for float in carb.

This happens all the time at about 8-10 years old.

Most of these use a ealbro carb and needle and seat is readily available. I ran into one sears that with a cv-460 or 462 s that had an oddball nikki carb that no where showed a needle for it.

I polished up the seat and used one for a different nikki and it worked great.

The gas getting into fuel is from carb float not shutting off fuel well enough.
It is NOT from the solenoid on carb.
The solenoid is there to prevent backfiring.
The rubber tipped ones help a little tiny bit but they shut off the main jet metering tube.
With a perfectly working solenoid and a bad needle and pitted seat...it will fill crankcase up with fuel.

Cheapest way is to change oil and filter and put a fule shut-off inline. As long as you remember to turn in off ater eash use....you will have no problems.

 

[tractortinker]

Cheapest way is to change oil and filter and put a fule shut-off inline. As long as you remember to turn in off ater eash use....you will have no problems.

Thanks a lot that is exactly what I am going to do today!:thThumbsU

 

[tomw0]

Wait to be 'pleasantly surprised' at the price of a 50 cent plastic valve. Multiply by ten. I suppose it is worth it, but it cannot cost but 15 cents to make, if that. Good markup.
There's a market for the valve at half the price that would put B&S out of the shutoff biz.
tom