Backfire and shut down

[Teostena]

Need assistance in troubleshooting please. 25+ year old simplicity lawn tractor with a kohler engine. Never given me much trouble.

Yesterday, I was cutting the lawn and it backfired once, and died. Couldn't get it started again.

My plan is to replace carburetor, plug and air filter today. Hoping this will fix the problem.

Any thoughts?

 

[hlw49]

I guess you can throw parts at it until you find the one that fixes it. I would find out why it won't start. Does it have compression fire fuel at the right time? Model type and code of the engine.

 

[biggertv]

Remove the plug to check compression and spin over to clear excessive fuel. Doesn't sound like a carb problem, more like valves or sheared key, though that's rare on a rider. Check valve adjustment before replacing carb, but spray cleaner in carb throat, if it starts with spray, replace carb.