YardMan with B&S 18hp Vanguard starts and dies

[Medic13]

Hi there,

I have an older yardman riding mower with a B&S Vanguard 18hp motor. The motor will start and run for 30sec - 1min then die. If i try strating it right away it won't start, but if I wait a 5-10 minutes it will start and run for 30sec - 1min and die agian.

I have used it 3 or 4 times this season and the first few it was running fine, then the last time it started to get termperamental and wasn't running well. I pulled the carb off and it was clean, though there wasn't much fuel in the bowel.

Any suggestions...

Also what is the selenoid on the bottom of the bowel for?

Thanks for the help

 

[Rivets]

The fuel solenoid on the bottom of the carb will close the fuel nozzle when you turn off the engine. I would check the fuel pump (if it has one) to see if it is working properly. If you have a gravity feed system, I would check to see if your fuel line or tank is plugged or partially obstructed.

 

[Medic13]

Thanks for the info on the selenoid.

As for the pump, it does have one and I was wondering if that what the problem is, but didn't know if it was it or the selenoid. the fuel pump is a vacuum pump that is running off of one of the cylinders, I'm just not sure how to test it.

 

[Rivets]

Pull the fuel line between the carb and pull. If you can get it off the carb great, if it comes off pump you will need another piece of line to hook on the pump. Insert the line into a container and turn the engine over. If the pump is working you should see fuel coming out.

 

[Medic13]

seems easy enough, thanks :smile:

 

[Medic13]

Thanks again for the help, it appears the culprit is the fuel pump. There's an ample supply of fuel getting to the pump (still rinsing it out of my mouth lol), and vacuum coming out of the cylinder but no fuel coming out of the pump.

With it being a long weekend up here this weekend hopefully she'll be back up and running Tuesday.