Joneebgood
Forum Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2015
- Threads
- 2
- Messages
- 8
My sisters Poulan lawn tractor would not start when she got it out this year. It would backfire extremely loudly and if it did start it would only run a minute or so and then stall with a loud backfire. She said the first time she tried to start it the deputy sheriff neighbor came running over as he thought it might have been a gunshot.
She never drains the gas in the fall so I was pretty sure it was gummed up and just wasn’t getting fuel. I didn’t see any rodent damage to the wiring or anything. It runs a short time on starting fluid but then stalls with a backfire. I ordered a new carburetor ($20) and it does exactly the same thing. I had suspected the fuel shutoff solenoid on the bottom of the old carb might not be working but the new carb came with a new solenoid and it acts the same way. Is there a way to bypass or jumper those wires to ensure the plunger isn’t the issue? I removed the intake manifold and covering the intake port it doesn’t seem to suck like I expected. It seems to pulsate as if it is pumping both out and then in. I am not sure if that is normal or not?
I cleaned and gapped the coil and pulled the valve cover while my sister cranked it over. The pushrods and rocker arms were working fine but I really couldn’t be sure if the valves were closing all the way. Not sure what to look for here. Is there something I can spray on the valve train just in case that is what is sticking? Thanks for any suggestions.
She never drains the gas in the fall so I was pretty sure it was gummed up and just wasn’t getting fuel. I didn’t see any rodent damage to the wiring or anything. It runs a short time on starting fluid but then stalls with a backfire. I ordered a new carburetor ($20) and it does exactly the same thing. I had suspected the fuel shutoff solenoid on the bottom of the old carb might not be working but the new carb came with a new solenoid and it acts the same way. Is there a way to bypass or jumper those wires to ensure the plunger isn’t the issue? I removed the intake manifold and covering the intake port it doesn’t seem to suck like I expected. It seems to pulsate as if it is pumping both out and then in. I am not sure if that is normal or not?
I cleaned and gapped the coil and pulled the valve cover while my sister cranked it over. The pushrods and rocker arms were working fine but I really couldn’t be sure if the valves were closing all the way. Not sure what to look for here. Is there something I can spray on the valve train just in case that is what is sticking? Thanks for any suggestions.