John deere 345 starting problem

[goatman 1]

After my 345 has ben sitting for a day or two, it doesn't want to stqrt. If I remove the inlet hose to the fuel filter and blow through the filter toward the carb and then replace the hose back on the filter, it will start and run perfectly. Is there some kind of check valve somewhere that is failing?

 

[jinman]

I think you have the identical problem I have/had on my JD LA145 Briggs engine. What is happening is the float needle valve in the carb is sticking shut. The air pressure is enough to unstick the valve. In my case, I found out that using non-ethanol gas made this happen much, much less. I think the ethanol makes the rubber needle valve stick. My mower will start and run for about 20 seconds until the float chamber gets low on fuel and the engine sputters and stops. I use low-pressure air (20 to 30 psi) and pressurize the hose from the output of the fuel pump. I can hear when the needle valve opens and air escapes. It takes probably 1/2 a second and I reinstall the hose onto the fuel pump and mow without further problems. I have a carb kit with a new float needle, but I've not installed it yet because I've switched to non-ethanol gas. Now the carb sticks maybe once in 12-15 starts. I've located two stations within 10 miles of me that have the non-ethanol and that's where I buy all my small engine gasoline now.