john deere 318 sputtering

[collector121]

of course when im a**hole deep in snow things all of a sudden decide to break down. went to start my jd 318 and it sputters. never did it before. all i did was gas it up, start it up and it revs up and down like its not getting gas, pull the choke out a little and it straightens out some. i adjusted the only set screw i could find but that did nothing, any suggestions would help because we've got 24 inches of snow here on the ground in north central maryland. thanks

 

[HeavyHitch]

That happened to me once and I found there's a small plug below/above? the fuel mixture screw that had popped out making the mixture really lean, I took some WD-40 and sprayed around the carb and intake to find the leak, the engine speed will increase if you have a leak. Just be sure to wipe up where you've sprayed so you don't have smoke or worse yet, flames from under the hood!