mower covered by water

Hi,

Been searching in the forums for some time now but finally decided to join and need help from you guys!

This may be a long post but i need to describe thoroughly the situation i have.

I have a 42" Poulan Pro riding mower with the Briggs and Stratton 18.5 hp engine model 31P777 and Nikki carburetor

Last December i was out on vacation where a massive flood happened and covered completely the mower under water. Flood came and went and the mower sit there for about a week before i came back and discovered it covered in mud and other crap.

Before going into details of what i have done i have to tell that this mower has always been very difficult to start. When i try to crank it the starter moves the engine a litle bit and then stops, normally after trying for about 10 minutes i used to finally get it to turn the engine for enough revolutions for it to start

What i did was
1. Cleaned it a little bit to avoid more crap to fall into the engine
2. Took out the spark plug and drained the water that was inside the cylinder
3. Gave it a couple of cranks with the spark plug out to eject as much water as possible
4. Sprayed wd-40 inside the cylinder thru the spark plug hole and gave it a couple of more cranks
5. Drained the oil, filled it with fresh oil and changed the oil filter
6. Discarded old air filter
7. Put everything back together and tried to start it. I found my usual problem of the starter having a hard time trying to crank the engine but after tyring for some time it started!
8. I moved the mower closer to my garage, turned it off and decided that i would continue working on it later. Unfortunately after that it never started again, the starter will just barely turn the engine or not turn it at all and thats it.

At this point i tough that i had a bad starter and the flood had just made it worse than before so i was planning to buy a new one but after reading the forums i found out about the valve lash adjustment which i did today. I had to adjust it at tighter values than what the spec called for, i ended setting both valves at .003 and after that the starter was finally able to turn the engine properly!!

Unfortunately the mower will not start, it just keeps cranking and thats it. I took of the plug and while still connected to the plug wire i grounded it and crank it to check for spark and it does have spark.

Im really at lost here, any sugestions on what could i try.

The carburetor is still full of crap, perhaps it is screwed, i was thinking on either rebuilding it or buying a new one as i have no experience at all with carbs (i am from the fuel injection era :laughing. However before i start trowing money at it would like to hear any recommendations on what else could i try.

thanks!

I would suggest doing a leak down test. Your rings may be stuck in the piston. It wouldn't hurt to clean the carburetor. Test spark with a tester and you should get a good 1/4 in of spark. Timing shouldn't be a problem. Compression, spark, fuel and timing and it will run.

You hard start is most likey due to excessive valve lash so remove rocker covers clean any crud out of them then reset the valves to the correct 0.005".
You might need a good supply of spark plugs as you will be pulling water out for a long time till the mower runs for long enough to drive the water off.
Reset the valve lash get some starting fluid and fresh plugs.
Warm the plugs till they are unomfortable to hold in a gloved hand.
Screw the plug in till it is lightly seated, squirt a SMALL amount of startr fluid through the carb and give it a blast.
You might need to give it quie a few short small blasts of the starte fluid till the engine flushes the watr out of the system enough to run.
Starter fluid will cause a little puff of balck smoke .
Get to heavy handed and you can hole the piston as it can & will detonate which is not good for your engine.

Just be aware that there is a good chance that same water, mud mix is inside the transmission, and you will be fighting corroded electrical terminals forever because that same mixture will be inside of the electrical connectors, safety switches, ignition switch, any relays. Good chance it could even be inside of the deck spindles. So the engine may be the least of your worries.

I think you've answered your question at the end of your post. A carburetor "full of crap" cannot supply proper fuel/air mixture for the engine to start.

has any one said water in the fuel tank did not see it was cleaned out and all fuel pipes and carb as said buy the last post untill you do that it will take an age to try and run fuel through untill its fuel system is all clean

Your need to clean up everything yesterday. Best of luck to you

Thanks for your answers!

I forgot to mention that i indeed drained the fuel tank and hoses before first trying to start it.

So this weekend in bought a proper spark tester, plugged it in and i do have spark so i bought a new spark plug, installed it, put fresh fuel on the tank and spayed starting fluid to the air intake. After 3 or 4 tries the engine finally started!

I was runnning rough and putting smoke out of the muffler, had it running for about 10 minutes like this to get the oil to warm up then shut it down and drained the oil. To my surprise, a vey diluted oil (from water inside the engine i guess) mixed with dirt came out, this is even that i did change the oil a few weeks ago after the flood.

I guess that the water in the oil was making its way to the combustion chamber and not allowing the engine to start.

I have changed the oil and filter and am planning to run the engine for 30 minutes today and change the oil and filter again, just to make sure that i get all the dirt out of the engine.

My next worry here is the transmission, my take is that water should have gotten inside. From what i read the hidrostatic transmissions on these mowers are not serviceable. Anyone knows if there is a way to drain and refill the trans fluid? Also, what type of fluid should i get?

thks

Some are easier to drain than others. Most you will have to remove the tranny, remove the carb vent, and then turn upside down to drain. Hydrogear uses 20w50 motor oil. tufftorq uses 5w50 synthetic.

And like the engine you will need to do multiple oil changes and multiple filter changes.
In theory the gearboxes should not have leaked as the units are sealed fairly well apart from the breathers and most breathers do not let water in.