Re: Sears 3HP - dies under load
What he said, or...I've got one that would run just fine in the tank at home, but once I got it to the lake, NOTHING! This was after cleaning the carb and the entire fuel system and tweaking the settings. I noticed it would also drip fuel after a couple of minutes; turned out the float needed adjustment. That can also starve the engine for fuel; at higher RPM's and under load, the engine uses more gas at which point the float drops, which lets more fuel into the bowl. Once the float reaches the top, it closes a valve so the engine doesn't flood. If the float isn't dropping when it's supposed to, or the valve is sticking, the engine gets starved for fuel and will die. If you've got a service manual it'll tell you how to adjust the float, and if not, just experiment with moving it up or down and see if your situation improves. There can also be, as was suggested, a restriction in your fuel line, vent on the tank, or fuel pump if your engine has one.
