Poulan with 500e B&S Not Getting Fuel

Josh Smith

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Hello,

I'm a former automotive technician, but I never bothered to learn small motors.

Now I'm regretting this.

We bought a house recently. It came with a Poulan 500e mower, which has worked just fine for four or five mowings this year.

Tonight I went to mow, and it died during the first pass -- it acted like it was starving.

Spark was confirmed, but I replaced the well-worn plug anyway.

The plug was dry. The mower starts on starting fluid. Were this a car, I'd say the fuel pump is out. However, it looks like gravity feed to the carburetor, and I don't see a fuel filter right offhand.

Does this thing have a fuel pump and/or a fuel filter?

What else should I be looking at? I'm not at all sure how this automatic throttle works; I'm working on finding online resources right now.

Any help at all is appreciated.

Thank you.

Regards,
Josh
 

ILENGINE

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The fuel filter is in the fuel tank. You have one of the newer OHV engines with the air filter on the left side of the engine if you are standing at the handle. Which mean you have the plastic carb. One of three things has occurred. Either you have water in the carb bowl, dirt from contaminated fuel has plugged the jet, or the fuel you purchased last week isn't new enough for these fuel quality picky engines.

Basically you will need to drain the fuel tank, remove the two 7mm wrench size screws holding on the fuel bowl, and gently pry the fuel bowl off to dump it, and clean the fuel jets on the side of the tower, and then being careful not to overtighten the two screws because they will strip our of the carb when reinstalling the carb bowl.

If that doesn't correct the issue, then we will need the exact model number from the engine to see what choke or primer configuration you have to give you directions on how to remove the carb from the engine and totally disassemble it for cleaning.
 
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Josh I agree with IL Engine, those are very pick carbs and DO NOT LIKE ETHANOL fuel or dirty fuel...... The jet and the tiny openings in them are very sensitive......

Just like IL Engine and me we stock a few of those Main Jets that go in the carb........

Instead of trying to explain by typing all this I will post a link that shows step by step how to do this job very easy.........

Steve is a friend of mine and he has a great videos...... At 8:50 into the vid is great info.....

Don't worry about the THUMB drill bits though..... Your Main Jet is clogged up....... And you can POP that top part off from the bottom also.... Steve doesn't show that though.... I guess I will have too take a new one out of the pack and make a video showing that.......

Let us know Mon Ami ~!~!

https://youtu.be/eGF_ynkc3C0
 

Josh Smith

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Thank you, gents.

I just fueled the mower with fresh gas, and it's possible there was something in the gas can nozzle. It acted like the fuel was just shut off.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure the primer bulb is even filling. I'll check this.

As far as the carburetor goes: I was training in auto technology at a time when those computer controlled carburetors were at their peak. I loved those things! They were abortions, being made to do what throttle body injection should have been doing, especially on the AMC 4.2l I6 motors, but they were very fun.

Looking at this carburetor... is it even worth it to rebuild? Replacements are cheap it looks like.

Regards,
Josh
 

ILENGINE

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Replacement is a good alternative if it isn't something simple like water in the fuel. Since you have the primer. Remove the air filter cover and air filter and while looking through the bottom hole into the carb, push the primer a few times and see if you see fuel being pushed into the carb venturi, or if it looks like it is mixed with water.
 

Josh Smith

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Hi Gents,

I pulled the tank and dumped the gas, then blew out the carb and tank hoses with 80psi air.

Seems to have worked.

Not something I'd usually do, but being the carb is plastic and doesn't figure to last anyway, figured I'd try it.

Thank you for your help!

Regards,
Josh
 
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