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Hopefully this is an appropriate place to post:

I had to use my generator today and it ran fine for about an hour but when I went outside to check on it, I noticed it was dripping gas from the carburetor! I shut it down and shut off the fuel and it looks like it is coming from a hole at the top of the carburetor. If I turn the fuel supply on, it starts dripping again. Also, the unit will not currently start.

I did drop the bowl and saw that it had gum stuff in it. Kind of strange considering I just cleaned it before the winter and had run it during the winter without issue.

At first, with the float pushed up, gas would drip down, indicating something wrong with that valve or gummed up SO, I used carb cleaner, cleaned the bowl and sprayed upward in to the carb. I also sprayed in to the hole that the gas is coming out of and let it drip down through. I moved the float back and fourth several times. Now it seems to work fine. If I let the float hang down, gas comes out to the bowl. If I push the float up, gas stops flowing.

I do not think there is gas in the float, but I am not 100% sure.

I still have the problem however- if I replace the bowl and turn on the gas, soon after gas starts leaking from the TOP of the carburetor through the hole up there.

float down, gas comes out

float up, gas stops

picture of the carb, but gas is shut off

gas is turned on, notice the gas coming from the hole at the top

This is a Generac 5500 Generator by the way and a Briggs and Stratton engine model 185432 0606E 99052149 by the way.

What do you think is wrong?

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    Welcome to the site. We have maintenance questions for lawnmowers and other gasoline-powered gizmos, so it's on-topic IMO. There's also mechanics.stackexchange.com where it might be on-topic too (disclaimer: I don't participate there so can't say for sure).
    – Niall C. ♦
    Commented Jul 16, 2011 at 14:50
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    What's missing is a "small engines" SE site.
    – Jay Bazuzi
    Commented Jul 16, 2011 at 19:03
  • @Niall: I don't think they like small engines on Mechanics. You know how mechanics can be ;) Though I do believe you would be more likely to get a good answer on Mechanics, if you could get a mechanic to read the question without closing it that is.
    – Tester101
    Commented Jul 18, 2011 at 1:30
  • It must be this model because Im having the same problem.fuel just pours out of carb five minutes after shutting engine off.
    – user25025
    Commented Sep 4, 2014 at 17:10

1 Answer 1

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Bottom line: your float isn't doing its job. Perhaps it's cracked, and thus doesn't.... float.

As the float comes up, it's supposed to close the needle valve. And you've shown that if you manually manipulate the float, the needle valve is working. So your float isn't floating.

Time for a new float, I'd surmise.

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    I had the same problem float was working I found needle valve was sticking. cleaned what looked like a fungus on valve. Generator now works great.
    – user48210
    Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 19:36

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