XT1 kohler engine

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by cooperino

The only reason I use a little ether and not gas.. if I just want a quick idea if a unit is a runner I would rather use ether because if you use gas and for some reason it backfires through the carb it could easily catch fire. Ether on the other hand would go out pretty quickly. Of course this being said about a tractor I just picked up and don't know the history on. The OP stated he had spark. I suggested some ether because if he came back and said yes it fired on ether would be easy to say he has a fuel issue. He says it did not fire on ether so I'm guessing valve issue or worse. But like it's been said countless times in thread. He needs to get it to a dealer.

Just the other day, I threw some gasoline on a fire. Kids keep talking about using gas to start a fire, and I keep telling them how dangerous that is. Every time I start a fire to burn sticks and such, I get a can of diesel and use it. They always say, "Yeah, get some gas!" no matter how many times I tell them it isn't gas... Anyway, I wanted them to see what it would do. I was actually kind of disappointed. Gasoline isn't what it used to be.
I told that story to say this: Yeah, if there is a backfire, gas can (and will) ignite out the carb. Here's a secret..... STAY CALM! Crank the engine more. It sucks the fire into the engine where it's safe and puts it out. Now, if it catches something on fire outside of the carb, you might have to put it out.... but unless you are being careless, it shouldn't be that big a fire. Like I said, on the side draft carb like the K series uses, it's a little tougher to use gas. Either is a lot easier...... but seriously.... you can pull the filter off and look into that carb and see if it's fueling. Like I said earlier, if you can't figure out if an engine is missing fuel or spark, you shouldn't be working on it. Crank it. You will smell gas. Pull the plug. If it's getting wet, it's getting fuel. (Or water, whatever happens to be in the bowl of the carb). Testing spark is pretty easy too. Not hard diagnosis to make here. It's like step 1 in the diagnosis process.