QuestionQUESTION: I'm having trouble with my craftsman LT2000. It makes a couple of laps around the yard and quits. When it does, there is no fuel in the new fuel filter. I can loosen the fuel cap and it still doesn't flow. I can blow into the tank, force fuel into the line, and it will run until it burns that fuel up. I have decided it must be the fuel solenoid. Can you tell me how to get it off the bottom of the carbureator? Also, I've heard you can by-pass these things, can you tell me if I really want to do that? If so, what's the easiest way?
ANSWER: Under the seat will be a model number that should begin 917.... Can you give me that number?
There may be a fuel pump on your tractor. What you're describing sounds like maybe a fuel line has a very small hole in it and the pump can't build pressure. Is your fuel tank mounted under the seat?
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QUESTION: 917.273140
The fuel tank is under the hood with the engine.
ANSWER: Is there a fuel pump?
The solenoid just unscrews and you can usualy replace them with a bolt. All it does is shut off the flow to the fuel nozzle when the key is turned off. You can remove it and turn the key off and on and see if the plunger retracts with the key on.
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QUESTION: The solenoid appears to be working fine. I took it off and it went in and out just like it was supposed to. Put it back on and can hear it clicking as the switch turns on and off. Not sure where to go from here. Since it has a solenoid, I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a fuel pump. The fuel line and filter are fine. If you take it loose from the carb, the gas flows right on thru the line.
AnswerHaving a solenoid doesn't have any bearing on whether it has a fuel pump or not. Many Kohler engines will have a pump, even though the tank is above the carburetor. Also, the solenoid is really for nothing more than preventing backfires when the engine is shut-off. It does not prevent fuel from reaching the float bowl, it only shuts off the flow of fuel through the fuel nozzle into the venturi.
If you follow the fuel line, you can determine if it has a pump or not. You can also pull the float bowl off and verify that fuel is flowing through the needle and seat to the bowl.
If the bowl is receiving fuel, then there's another problem. If it's not, then the only things in the fuel system would be the needle and seat, the fuel line, the filter, the tank and the cap and a pump if it has one.
