Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

During the off season I tend to my lawn and garden equipment.  I have a 1987 JD SX75 rear engine riding mower.   I just changed the oil, spark plug, air filter, gas filter, etc; checked belts, sharpened the blade and did general lubrication.  So after giving it all of this tender loving care...it won't start.   It will run for a few seconds if I give it a shot of ether so I have spark.  I noticed that the fuel filter is dry.  Yes there is gas in the tank and the fuel line valve is open.  Just can't get feul to start flowing.  There is no primer with this engine...just a choke.  It's a 9hp Kawasaki.  Does the fuel line have to be manually primed.  I thought of pouring a little gas right in the spark plug but the plug socket is horizontal and very difficult to access.  In fact everything about this engine is difficult to access. 

Make sure the fuel filter is pointed in the right direction. There's usually an arrow that points in the direction the fuel is to flow towards. IIRC, the arrow should be pointing in the direction of the carb. Also, if you have a fuel shut off valve, make sure that it is in the open or on position.

If the fuel filter is on right but not getting gas then there has to be a stoppage between it and the tank.  If the shutoff valve is metallic, it may have corroded and stopped up - I have seen this happen for some types of steel valves (why in heaven's name did they EVER use STEEL for a shutoff valve??).  Also, there may be a screen inside the tank at the outlet on the bottom - this may also be plugged with crud.

I have an old craftsman with enough "junk" in the tank that the fuel inlet in the bottom of the gas tank gets clogged with all the sediment so I basically take the gas line off the filter, and "blow" hard enough to clear the inlet once a year. Don't swallow gas during this procedure, it is not the tastiest thing you'll ever drink

And if it has a metal gas tank - maybe rust is a problem.  Keeps getting loose and clogging things.