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

My Troy-Bilt chipper vac was working like a charm today but suddenly shut down.   It's powered by a 5hp Tecumseh and was not under a load at the time.  Almost immediately I noticed gas leaking profusely from the bottom of the choke bowl.  I shut off the in-line fuel valve to stop the leak.  Before I shut off the fuel I tried to start it but no luck.  And thoughts.  I'm hopeful that this is something simple to fix.  Thanks for any help, Paul.

My guess would be either the needle, seat or float is bad and the fuel is never shutting off and overflowing.
Is it leaking out the hole where the choke / air filter go?

Or you have a bad gasket on the bowl or nut holding the bowl on.
Is it dripping from the bottom or around the bowl?

Both should be easy and cheap fixes.

Shryp wrote:
Shryp, thanks for the reply.  I thought that it was leaking from the carb bowl but it's not.  I pulled the air filter off and it's leaking from the hole that contains the choke.  Anything you can share with me on how to fix it would be greatly appreciated.

Looks like I have some carb work to do.  Strange thing was that it konked out and started leaking after twenty minutes of running flawlessly. 

Vibration could have knocked something loose in the fuel line or tank.

Okay this was unexpected.  I went to the store this morning and bought carb cleaner and a tube of gasket maker.  Planned to pull and clean the carb, identify any failing parts, etc.  Before I started I turned the fuel valve to the "on" position and to my surprise the fuel didn't start leaking out of the carb like it did previously.  I figured what the heck and went to start it. Started right up, no leaks, used it for about 45 minutes...no problems.  Do things like this fix themselves?  Should I leave well enough alone?

hey paul...

your needle and seat need replacing... most likely dirt is getting between the needle and seat..but l would replace both of them/ also repalce the bowl o ring, they only cost a few bucks and u should be able to just buy the needle/seat/o ring as a kit.. make sure u replace your fuel line as well and add a inline fuel filter, that should solve your problems...the engine may work for now but most likely it will happen again.