Neighbor down the road has 3 riding mowers. He pays to have his acre cut and my son asked what he was going to do with the cub. The neighbor said it doesn't run and my son could have it. Clean mower. Hardly used. Its seen more weather than grass.

It bogs down and dies pretty fast. Exhaust gets flooded so I replaced the spark plug, carb, fuel pump, and fuel filter. Now it runs for a few seconds more, bogs down, and dies.

From what I have read, I think the needle in the carb is stuck and too much fuel is getting into the combustion chamber. Instead of being burned its going through the exhaust valve unburned.

Or, fuel has ran into the carb, then into the cylinder, and then into the crankcase, over filling the oil. Oil level is okay. I guess I could just change the damn oil.

Am I on the right track?

The same happened with my mower. They ended by putting on a new carburetor. Took less than ten minutes.

Ha! Gas in the oil. Pretty funny. My oldest son kept telling me to check it. I never did. Going to change it and see how she does.

Black smoke??

Float perferated and full of fuel. Needle, or seat bad. Grass in fuel tank getting to needle holding needle off seat, etc.

Put a inline shut off and a inline filter (not a strainer) on it.

My problem started when I put some 2 cycle 50:1 gas in there.

if it set up with regular gas in it . ys needle is probably stuck . jets plugged etc. gas just running into cylinder and draining into the oil.

fix or replace carb - change oil

Pressure test it. Could have a bad exhaust valve

I drained and replace the oil and filter.

My son turned the choke on, cranked it up, and it ran pretty damn good for 10 seconds and has not started since. Might have flooded it. We're too hot and tired to mess with it.

Wasn’t it just a week or so ago that you did that after replacing all your 2 cycle equipment with battery powered equipment? Said it ran fine at the time.

New carb, or you need a needle and seat kit

I would suspect a lack of fuel rather than too much as a result of trash in the carburetor. It probably stopped running initially as a result of trash in it and the problem was later made worse by gas breaking down into gunk after sitting for so long. If you're up to removing and cleaning it, it'll probably run fine afterwards.

Fuel pump?

So we're clear, here is what I replaced:
Carb
Pump
Spark plug
Oil
Oil and fuel filter

We'll check exhaust valve and pressure when I can.

I have pedros cutting mine for $30 a week.

It would take years to break even if i had to mess with cub cadets

Have you tried blowing back through fuel line into the tank? I’ve seen some tanks have a screen in there that can clog. Along the same line, confirm fuel freely flows from the tank to the carb.

Charlie

Good suggestion. Don't assume fuel is getting from the tank to the carb.

I use mechanic in a bottle. That chit is good on ever thing!

How old is the mower?
When it starts to bog down loosen the gas cap and see if it returns to normal.

Is it s single cylinder or v-twin

Mower is not five years old I bet. I think the people got to where they didn't want to cut grass anymore after they bought it. It has sat tarp covered.



500e series single cylinder.

That rules out one cylinder not firing

Tap on the bowl with the handle of a screwdriver, sometimes you can get it loose enough to run it and clean it out without having the remove it/take it apart. Pretty common problem in our ethanol fuel. If nothing else works, a carb is probably $30-40 bucks.

... I feel your pain (you should state again you already put a new carb on it with every time you post )

doesn't explain why there was gas in the oil ... hmmm

after it seems to bog down and die, have you pulled the plug to see if it was overly wet?

The gas in the oil is due to flooding, it's going by the reed valves or the piston rings because the carb is stuck open.

Does it have a manual or automatic choke?