I have an Ariens riding mower with the 19.5 Briggs. I fired it up and made about 3 laps around the yard and it started acting like it was choking down… sputtered a bit… then idled back up as good as new. Next lap, it did it again, but sputtered until it died. Now it won’t crank.

Yes. It has gas.

Gut reaction was “d*** ethanol gas” and after letting it cool off, I decided to pull the carb and clean it out. As I unhooked the fuel line from the carb, I was a little shocked that no fuel was in the line. Immediately, I thought that perhaps the inline filter was the culprit. I removed the filter and still, no gas flowing out. Now I’m a little confused. To get to the tank I’ll have to disassemble a bunch of the dash area. Before I go any farther, does anyone have any ideas?

Yes. I checked again. Tank full of gas.

Shouldn’t fuel flow out of the fuel line by gravity alone or does the fuel line coming from the tank have any sort of stop valve that could be my problem? If the needle was stuck closed in the carb, would that prevent creating enough vacuum on the line to pull the line full of fuel?

What should I do next?

Probably trash in the tank clogging the line or outlet the hose hooks onto coming off of the talk

Do yo have an air leak somewhere between the tank and the carb? It's a little weird that it comes and goes.

Sounds like the fuel line or outlet on the tank is stopped up,I can't think of anything above the filter that should do that.Try blowing backwards through the line,also check the vent on the gas cap,take the cap off the tank to see if that will help.

I betcha money that the fuel line is kinked somewhere and is just enough open to let a little gas trickle through. Start from the diaphragm driven fuel pump and work your way down the line. If you have to take to dash part then so be it. Any areas that aren't fully round and open could be it. Any sharp bends the hose makes could be it. The hose needs to sweep gradually not 90 degrees. Try looking for things like that and you'll probably find it.

Check the gas tank vent to, if it is clogged up it can do exactly what you are describing

Steelman & aldog – I’m leaning towards that being it. Going to try to blow it out and see what happens.

toothdoc – I don’t think so. Everything appears dry.

Hevi – line is nice and curved. No kinks. I don’t think mine has a diaphragm fuel pump? Only one line that goes from tank, through filter, into carb bowl.

aubigmac – Gas won’t flow with the cap off either. Not sure where it is supposed to vent

check oil see if its milky grey and smells like gas , briggs carbs are bad about float going bad and flooding to the point of shutting motor down

If gas is in the tank and not flowing out the hose there is a clog somewhere. Even if the float is bad or stuck, which happens a lot, gas will still flow through.