[keredklo]

Problem: Poulan Pro lawn mower will not start. Based upon my current analysis and troubleshooting, it looks to be carburetor related but have run out of next steps and would really appreciate your expertise to help direct me towards either fixing it or trashing it.

Specifications: Poulan Pro - PR173Y22RP

Root Cause: The root cause is still unknown … Here is a list of troubleshooting steps that I have taken to isolate the issue:

1) Took off the fuel tank and emptied out all of the old gasoline. Filled it with new gas that I use on my John Deere.
2) Validated that gas was flowing from the tank to the carb.
3) Took off the cover holding in the air filter that exposes the carb's butterfly valve. To see if the engine would fire, I put a small amount of gasoline into the butterfly and it fired out momentarily and died.
4) Took off all of the hose inputs on the carburetor and used a toothpick to try to unclog any potential blockage … It didn't work.

I can see that gas is getting to carb, but it doesn't seem like it is flowing through to the butterfly valve and into the engine. My knowledge of carburetor's is limited and don't really want to rebuild one.

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Picture 1 - Lawn Mower

Picture 2 - Carburetor Cover

Picture 3 - Carburetor

 

[Austen]

Hi there, welcome to the site!

The carburetor may have a blockage hidden inside one of the passage ways. If you have an air compressor with an air nozzle attachment, you can try blowing compressed air through the input and seeing if that will free it up. Other options for cleaning it are taking it apart (more tedious) or soaking it in carb. cleaner.

 

[freginold]

If you do take the carb apart and clean it (which is a good idea) make sure you get all the little tiny passageways. Also it's a good idea to replace the gaskets and O-rings if you take the carb apart.