gray fergy

New User
I need to replace a 14,5 hp murray rider engine, every web site I visited , it would be cheaper to buy new rider,, maybe try to fix it , repair shop says don't bring back ,, heres what it does,, will start up good run 5/10 minutes starts to act like it being flooded with gas then popping then quit , will start back maybe but will start again next day run fine for 5/10 minutes, it mowes pretty lawn I hate to junk it, any idea??? thanks (inadvance)
 
Presumably...... the Murray is powered by a vertical shaft engine made by Briggs & Stratton. There should be an ID tag on the engine that provides the specification number. It might be helpful if you located that and then posted it here.

Based upon what you posted, the problem could be carb/fuel related OR it could be an ignition issue that shows up with heat.

If this were my tractor, I would work on the fuel delivery system first. I would want to make sure that the inside of the fuel tank was 100 percent clean and that nothing was floating around that could block off the fuel exit point. I would check to see if there was some sort of screen at the exit point that might be partially blocked up with something. I would also make sure that the vent hole in the gas cap was open so that a vacuum was not taking place as fuel was leaving the tank. I would replace the fuel line between the tank and the carb.

Then I would put a pint of fresh gas in the tank, take the fuel line off the carb and let the gas flow into a clean container as a final check that that part of the fuel system was working as it should. Diagnosis is a step by step process of elimination.....not one of jumping to unfounded conclusions.

Most likely, your carb is fed fuel via gravity and not a fuel pump so I would turn my attention to the carb. Remove the float bowl carefully and examine it for water or dirt. Remove the float and needle. With a clean container under the carb, allow some fresh gasoline to flow to the carb and observe it exiting the seat for the float needle. That way, you will know that everything is flushed clean. Reinstall the float and needle as well as the float bowl. Test run the engine to see if any of this work has made a difference. If it hasn't, then you must decide whether to pull the carb, dismantle it completely and then soak it in TRUE carb cleaner for a day or two. Remove it from the carb cleaner and then wash the carb cleaner off with mineral spirits. Use compressed air to blow out all passages. Put the carb back together and set the float height according to the spec outlined in the manual for your engine. That can be found at the Briggs website.

If the engine was actually being flooded at the time it acted up, then you should see black smoke exiting the muffler. If you do not see black smoke, then I very much doubt that flooding is the issue.

At this point, I am guessing because I do not know which engine you have. I assume that your engine has magneto ignition that consists of magnets glued to the inside of the engine flywheel, a magneto coil, a spark plug wire and a spark plug. The two easiest and cheapest items to replace are the plug wire and the plug. Making sure that the new plug is gapped correctly is important. It is possible that the magneto coil works fine when it is cold but as then engine heats up, it begins to fail. The output voltage falls off to the point where a good, strong spark is no longer possible at the spark plug's gap and the engine then dies. A new magneto coil should correct that problem. I would also trace the wire between the magneto coil and the ignition switch to make sure that it is not shorting to ground. The ignition switch is supposed to perform that shorting when the key is turned OFF but age, heat and vibration can damage the insulation on electrical wires.
 
When the engine quits running pull off the plug wire asap and see if there's fire to your plug. You probably will need a helper. If you have good fire to plug I would install a new plug. If a new plug doesn't help check your fuel flow to the carburetor. Take the gas line off at the carburetor and see if there's full stream from the tank. If that looks ok your carburetor probably needs a good cleaning. If there's no fire to your plug your coil may be weak. Hal
 
I had a MTD with a 14.5 BS. If you look at the bottom of the carb, there should be an electrical connections there. Mine did the same thing and it took me for ever to figure it out. I finally disconnected the connection, cleaned both sides and replaced. Started right up and ran fine afterwards. Don't know what the connection is called, but it worked. Don't know if it the same on yours or not. Worth a try anyways.
 
If the carb is fed by gravity and you have an in line fuel filter, take the filter off and try it. In line filters usually don't work well with a gravity feed.
 

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