Greetings. I have a John Deere STX38 riding mower. It started just fine the past 3 months. Today I went to mow, it started, I backed it out of the shed and then it stalled out. I immediately thought maybe I had run out of gas, but it is 3/4 full from the last time I filled it which was 2 weeks ago. I checked the plug, it was fine and gets spark. The gas filter is good as well as the gas flows with no issues. The battery, starter, etc is good. Changed the airfilter as well. I sprayed starting fluid into the intake and it ran for a couple of seconds and stalled out again. I removed the carburator and cleaned it. The only thing I have not done at this point was remove the float bowl. Are there any other things that could cause this mower not to start that I may have overlooked? Everything appears to be normal and I can't find any other reasons for it not to start. Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.
Todd

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Originally Posted by toddmcgawlik

Greetings. I have a John Deere STX38 riding mower. It started just fine the past 3 months. Today I went to mow, it started, I backed it out of the shed and then it stalled out. I immediatly thought maybe I had run out of gas, but it is 3/4 full from the last time I filled it which was 2 weeks ago. I checked the plug, it was fine and gets spark. The gas filter is good as well as the the gas flows with no issues. The battery, starter, etc is good. Changed the airfilter as well. I sprayed starting fluid into the intake and it ran for a couple of seconds and stalled out again. I removed the carburator and cleaned it. The only thing I have not done at this point was remove the float bowl. Are there any other things that could cause this mower not to start that I may have overlooked? Everything appears to be normal and I can't find any other reasons for it not to start. Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to provide.
Todd

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BTW, after reading another thread about the gas cap, I just removed the gas cap, and it started again?? I think that the vent in the cap may be clogged causing a phenomenon called vapor lock? Has anyone ran into this issue? Unfortunately I am in Atlanta, GA and there is a drought. I believe that the constant mowing in the dry conditions, kicking up dust and stuff, may have contributed to the problem...

First and foremost, you can not clean a carb without removing the fuel bowl. There you would likely find trash and or water.

Also, if you are in a drought, why are you mowing so often. When it is dry here, we don't mow.

I agree with mowerman you have to tare the carb all the way down, actually you should bother cleaning a carbrator you should just rebuild it (carb kits are only like 30 bucks). By the way you should think about moving north the grass is always green in Iowa.