Running problem 184

[petesponies]

I bought my 184 last fall at an auction. I did not much with it for many months. When I go tit home I cleaned and painted the fuel tank as gas wasn't coming out. A couple weeks ago I finally started doing some more work. It had run OK once the tank was cleaned, but now it didn't run well. I took the carb apart and cleaned it, set the float etc. The float was a bit sticky, fixed that. A few days after that, I tried mowing with it and didn't have the power it needed to run the PTO. I finally got it to stay running, but had to pull the choke. So it seems to have a fuel issue, still/again. I'm looking for experienced suggestions before I tear into it again. If this is common and can steer me in a direction, please comment.

[gitractorman]

There are a couple of filters that you should clean.

When you had the carb apart, did you clean out the filter where the fuel line goes into the carb? if not, that is likely the one that is plugged up.

There is another fuel filter up at the fuel bowl on the bottom of the tank. Sometimes that is missed because it stays up in the body when the glass bowl is dropped off. Unfortunately, you'll have to drain the tank to take the fuel bowl assembly back off.

Also, often times people use a rubber fuel line and cartridge style fuel filter on these machines, and they don't always work well. If you have one of these, and the other two filters are cleaned out, you may want to try bypassing the cartridge filter to see if that's the problem. If the other two filters are in place, there's no need for the cartridge filter.

[Larry B]

You say that fuel was not coming out of the tank and you cleaned ane painted it. I assume you mean you cleaned inside of the tank and painted the outside. If the tank was rusting inside it can be a nightmare to get the tank cleaned to the point it works. Do you have any crud in the sediment bowl on the bottom of the tank? If you take the main jet out of the bottom of the carb and clean it does the tractor run OK for a while then go back to needing the choke pulled out? If it does try disonnecting the fuel line from the carb and drain the tank through a coffee filter or paper towel and see if there is any crud. If there is crud the tank isn't clean.

[petesponies]

In my automobile restoration work I use Master Series. I'll assume you are not familiar with it. I painted the inside of the tank with MS. It works great as a tank paint as it is impervious to fuel. Gas flows from the tank just fine. That problem has been fixed.I have the original sediment bowl under the tank and as I said, fuel flows fine. Without pulling the carb off, i removed the plug on the opposite side from the fuel inlet and fuel came out.

[Larry B]

I guess I assumed wrong, sorry. Have you removed the carb main jet on the bottom right side of the carb and cleaned it? Usually when you need to pull the choke out to make it run there is crud in the main jet.

[petesponies]

When I removed the carburetor originally, yes I removed the main jet. It was clean. It may have a problem now, but I wanted to see if there were any particular things to look for in regards to this style carburetor. I will remove the carburetor again and go through it.

[Larry B]

The zenith carb IH used is pretty basic. After a lot of years they are prone to not having the inlet needle not seal and you come out to find an empty gas tank if you don't shut off the fuel. Look to make sure the carb top is not warped and sits flat on the lower part. I have seen a couple so bad they broke when the top screws were tightened. Beware the rebuild kit from Tractor Supply. Junk in my book.

[petesponies]

The gaskets were still flexible when I took it apart. That was only about a month ago, maybe less. I was able to clean it and reinstall everything.

[Mortgaged]

I had a similar experience with my 184 where it was running lean and required a touch of choke to smooth it out. Especially in the winter. I rebuilt the carb and checked the main jet to make sure it wasn't plugged up and continued to have the same problem.

I removed the carb again and this time when I checked the main jet, I used pin gauges to make sure the hole was open. I found that it was not and that there was a very slight burr in the jet probably from a previous owner cleaning it out? I used a #60 drill bit to clean out the jet and to make sure it was the right size.

Next, I checked the idle jet and found that it was buggered up even worse! This one was way off and I had to start cleaning it out with a very small bit about 15 numbers below the correct size. Sorry, I don't recall which # drill bit was the correct size for this jet. Anyways, I think the problem was in the Idle jet and not the Main jet. Previous to cleaning out this jet, I had to run the air bleed screw almost full in to get the tractor to run at a high idle. Any attempt to slow the idle down to a "normal" c-60 idle would result in the engine cutting off after 20-30 seconds as it ran lean. Now, with the open jet, it purrs at a nice low idle. Also, it now runs much richer than before and no need to apply the choke except when cold starting.

In short, don't overlook the idle jet. It may be plugged too.