I have a 38" Snapper yard cruiser rider with the B&S 14.5 HP engine. It has the ability to be stood on its butt to let you clean the desk and change blades. I did this Saturday to do both. I remembered to close the air vent to the gas tank. I forgot :eek: to close the shut off valve at the gas tank. The tank was near empty f from winter storage. So, it stood on end for about 20 minutes before being put back down. I finished servicing, filled with gas and turned the key. Started after 2 seconds of cranking :) . Moved to the yard, started the blades and got 10' and it died. It smelled like it had flooded. Well, I removed the air cleaner and saw a lot of gas pooled around the filter on the outside :confused: . It didn't go down the carb as the filter was screwed down.

The breather tube comes from the side of the engine and bends up and goes into the base of the air filter housing, outside the filter. Well, I turned the key and it started and after about 10 seconds, I had a gas/oil geyser spitting out of the breather tube. I shut it down quickly. My guess is that when standing on end, some gas leaked into the carb, back out the throat into the air filter and then worked its way down the breather tube into the engine.

Is this going to be a rebuild or can I change the oil, run it with no filter on (collecting what spits out) until it clears and then change the oil again, maybe twice? HELP!

This is not a definitive answer, but I have noticed the same issue on a couple of other posts. According to the other posts, you should change the oil and run it for a while. Then change the oil again and it should be OK.

The fuel actually travels into cylinder through intake and crankcase through oil return journal filling crankcase with gas.

Don