B&S flathead carburetor problems

On my mower i have a 1983 briggs 8hp flathead , even tho it burns a crazy amount of oil it runs good and strong. Recently a prolem has developed with the carb . When i puy the fuel bowl on with no gasket it pours fuel out around the top of the bowl amd when i put a gasket on it it floods the carb and the engine wont run. I made a gssket and the same thing happened. Im getting really frustrated and pi$$ed at this carb. Its a onepiece flow jet with both mixture screws and idle adjust.

damaged needle/seat or stuck/damaged float.

i didnt even think about a damaged needle or seat. I know that the float works fine.. i guess it catchin on fire coulda damaged the needle seat. How can i fix it or do i have to get a new carb.

I think it's just a metal seat on most briggs stuff (part of the carb body I think). Just write down your model, type, and serial number and head to your local mower shop. Shouldn't be a big deal to get a new needle. Might have to get a whole carb kit. Sometimes it doesn't take much to mess them up. I've had a lot of carb situations where everything looks perfect, but still doesn't work. Look at everything real close. Maybe just a piece of dirt or something holding the needle open.

Closer inspection should reveal the truth. it is probably a pressed-in brass seat, which is generally not easily damaged. More likely it's the needle, which very likely features a viton tip. Damage here, is predictable. Do note that SOME needles actually feature a spring-loaded plunger, and these can crap out too.

Ok. I checked it all out today and looked over it very carefully and very close. Retested the needle operation and it works when i test it, retested to see if the float still floats and it still does. I preciate yalls help but im at a loss here. It worked fine with and without gaskets until it burst into flames last month. Ill try to find the mode and part numbers and get to a mower shop, the only problem is the local mower shops have idiots runnin them and idiots workin there that dont know a thing about mowers. Needless to say, their useless. Ill probably go to a junkyard and get a carb and/or another engine. Again, i preciate the help.

Since I cannot see this unit myself, I am stuck guessing. Based on the gasket comments, I'm pretty convinced the float is getting stuck. Something must be cocked out of alignment or something. These carbs are simple, not much at all to them.

I didn't think they had those rubber tipped needles on these back that far (1983). I could be wrong though. Who knows. It might be less of a pain to just get a different carb if you can find one easily.

Its definately all metal carb. My grandpa was the best lawnmower mech in the area and he taught me everything i know.im sure he coulda figured it out by now tho. Ill get some pics and possibly a vid of it if weather permits. Im gonna look at it again but im seriously stumped on this. And your right mr. Mod, no rubber tipped needle. Ill try bending the tab the needle rest on to see if it works cause the needle may not be rising high enough. This things got us all buggered. Even tho i beat the crap outta this engine it has sentimentel value and i wanna keep it alive and runnin long enough to give it to my kids or hand it down ya know... as a heirloom or somthin. And if it sounds stupid just tell me

http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?p=1310
http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=968
Im gonna try to use this to run my engine until i get the carb fixed.
The second link is the main article. And guess what, he has a snaper with the same model engine most of us use. So its gotta work if we do it.

so, i found out the problem. the float had liqiud in it but not enuf to make it sink, so i, guess what, i poked a hole in the float to drain the liqiud out, and i poked the whole in the top of the float, so now im lookin for a float. but i have a question, can i smear a little bit of jb weld over the hole to patch it? if i can im gonna try that and hope it works.

that might work until you can find a new float but still keep an eye out for a new float, also adjust the needle to be a bit higher when the old float is down, the added weight of the JB will make it float lower

crafsmankiller wrote:

so, i found out the problem. the float had liqiud in it but not enuf to make it sink, so i, guess what, i poked a hole in the float to drain the liqiud out, and i poked the whole in the top of the float, so now im lookin for a float.  but i have a question, can i smear a little bit of jb weld over the hole to patch it? if i can im gonna try that and hope it works.

It might. Is it brass or plastic? In the past, I have saved brass floats by desoldering the halves, draining, and resoldering.

its a brass float, I already adjusted the needle up farther, and I would do the soldering trick except I don't have the provisions for that. but im definitely lookin for another float, maybe a whole carb, or better yet, a engine.