Hello All,

I have a single cylinder 18 HP intek (280H07-0185E1- CODE: C30106ZA, purchased 9-27-06) that was just rebuilt because the spring at the bottom of the cam came off with a small piece of metal which cracked the sump. That allowed all the oil to leak out of the motor.

I understand that this is a flo-jet carb that is designed to be gravity fed?

On my Snapper I used a vacuum fuel pump off my old motor as the gas tank is level with the carb and gravity will not feed the carb.

I have been told that the wrong needle is in the carb and this will cause flooding. I put about 40 hours on the motor and it ran fine until this last problem.

So after the rebuild it ran great for about 8 hours. It then started to die and then surge and blow black smoke.

So I figured it was the valves as this is OHV. I checked the valves and they were not in spec, this was last night. I did a test run and it ran great for 20 minutes of me riding it up and down the street at full throttle.

So I go to bed feeling all happy about getting this thing running good again.

I get up today and fire it up because I want to move it back to the shed and guess what? The thing has hardly in power and is blowing black smoke.

So what do you guys think? Why did it run terrible and then I adjust the valves take it for a test run of about an honest 20 minutes at full throttle then let it sit overnight and now it is running like it was before?

Do I need to change the needle in the carb for a smaller diameter for the fuel pump as opposed to gravity fed?

Why would this now mess up after this many hours on the mower?

Or maybe I just have something stuck in the carb and the rest of the symtoms are just conincidence?

Update, I decide to go ahead and take the air filter/ breather off and go ahead and disconnect the battery, spark plug wire, etc. in preparation to remove the carb.

When I took the air filter off I noticed a broken piece of plastic connected to a wire that was sitting next to a small spring. Both the spring and plastic piece were sitting on top of the carb.

So I reference my book and see that it is the LEVER CONTROL- - PART # 691028 it looks like the wire that connects to the broken control lever connects to the top of the remote throttle control which is next to the mechanical governor.

So I have the carb off and am taking it to the parts shop tomorrow after work.

Could be that the choke is not always releasing all the way, it could be caused by the piece that is broken at your throttle control, but it would be a good idea to check the choke linkage to be sure thats not the problem.

That broken plastic piece is probably the choke lever, so the choke wouldn't release after you started it the second time.

it was the choke control. I bought a replacement for $6.24 and installed the new piece. I readjusted the valves to make sure everything was good there and have ran the thing for about 2 hours now off and on. It is purring like it should. Thanks for the help!!!!