zg127s will fire and idle for 5-10 seconds then die.

[ClayAndrews]

Wife accidentally put old gas with water in my mower and I’ve been having fits ever since. Changed the filter and pump. Siphoned all the gas and put in new with heet.
At first it would only run for a couple seconds and die. Now I can get it to idle really low on full choke but always dies after 20-30 seconds.
Do I need to just continue this until I get all the crap out of the lines and engine or am I missing something?
Desperate for help as the yard is approaching 5” tall now.

 

[lmichael]

Be mindful HEET can do so much more harm than what you're trying to cure. It is pretty much pure methanol NOT ethanol and is totally unsafe for nearly all fuel systems (especially small engine carbs) I would get all that crap outta there. Go to a gas station and just get some regular old E10 gasoline. The ethanol will do fine at getting out any residual water. I have seen HEET damage more fuel systems that I can count

 

[ClayAndrews]

Be mindful HEET can do so much more harm than what you're trying to cure. It is pretty much pure methanol NOT ethanol and is totally unsafe for nearly all fuel systems (especially small engine carbs) I would get all that crap outta there. Go to a gas station and just get some regular old E10 gasoline. The ethanol will do fine at getting out any residual water. I have seen HEET damage more fuel systems that I can count

Ok thanks. I’ve tried that already but will again. Can’t find any 100% gas near me.
So you think that the hard idle is caused more by the heet than the corroded pistons and fuel lines?

 

[DaveFromMi]

Carbureted or fuel injected?
If carbureted, the jets are likely gummed up with old gas residue.
If fuel injected, injectors might be gummed up.
Drain old gas from carb.
I have had good luck with Seafoam cleaning out carbs. Just add to gas a little heavier than directions say.
If that doesn't work, then you will need to take the carb apart and clean (not rubber parts) with carb cleaner.

 

[lmichael]

Can’t find any 100% gas near me.

Re-read what I wrote. I recommended getting plain old E10 gasoline IOW with 10% ethanol. Ethanol is really not all that harmful (if at all) to most fuel systems. Methanol is VERY disruptive and will eat through even some of the metal parts in short order and HEET is pure Methanol. Some fresh E10 will help to rid the system of any of that residue as well. Once it's running well than use pure gasoline (if you can find it) otherwise stick with no more than E10.

 

[Russell King]

Ok thanks. I’ve tried that already but will again. Can’t find any 100% gas near me.
So you think that the hard idle is caused more by the heet than the corroded pistons and fuel lines?

How long did it sit with the bad fuel in the carb?

You may want to remove the bowl and clean it out if that is easy to get to.

You can get a quart or gallon of pure gas at most small engine shops or the Home Depot type stores. It will be pricey but clean fuel.

You may have to end up cleaning or replacing the carburetor to really resolve the issues.

 

[lugbolt]

pull the bowl off of the carb. Anything in it?

Then pull the fuel line off of the carb. Flush it all the way back to the fuel filter (including the pump).

with that you can start fresh. I did many of these in my days at the dealer with the same issues. As long as it didn't sit for a few months, you should not have to clean the carb. Now, if you pull the bowl off and find jelly in the bottom, you are gonna have to clean it. Or replace it. While you have the bowl off make sure the fuel shutoff solenoid is free-they have a nasty tendency to get stuck either closed or open, or sometimes halfway between.

heet won't hurt anything as long as it's used properly (according to directions) and not allowed to sit in a carburetor. Even then it would take months or years to cause any issues. It is rumored that it's 99% Methanol. If this is true, my push mower, race car, and "backup" riding mower (old Wizard/12.5hp L-head briggs) would have self-destructed years ago. They all run on 100% Methanol because I get it dirt cheap, about a dollar a gallon. Bad part it is, you use roughly 110% more than gas so if you put the dollar sign to it, it's about $2.25/gal equivalent, so I don't save much . Big deal on a push mower. I only use it for about 15 minutes anyway. Long enough to run the tank almost dry. The rider sits most of the time. I used it in early May just to get it out. I guess I should go try to start it one of these days. The race car sits most of the time too and a lot of times the fuel evaporates out of the cell. Methanol evaporates quickly especially in the summertime. But in all the, gosh, 30+ years I've been using methanol in several pieces of equipment, it's never given me any trouble with fuel systems and I don't really take care of them to speak of. At least not like "everyone" says you "should".

one of these days my ZG127S is going to go on Methanol too. I just haven't had the motivation to go do it yet.

since the governments don't seem to want gas burning vehicles no more, I'll make them run on methanol. Maybe if I get lucky they'll bring back the alternative fuel credit, at that point everything goes on methanol. Both Mustangs mowers weed eaters everything. Ain't scared of it.