Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Since I have installed a shut-off valve in the gas line of my Toro 421, I had a question about how best to use it.

If it is an ethanol problem, I shouldn't have to worry since I don't use ethanol.
If it is not ethanol related and is a manufacturing defect with the float needle, my shut-off valve should prevent the flooding of either my garage floor or the crankcase of the engine.
Bear with me.
Would it be better to run the machine after I close off the gas supply until it dies?
If I do that, the needle and seat won't be immersed in gasoline for days at a time which could be accelerating the failure of the plating on the needle.
As you have probably figured out, it's been a long winter for me and I spend too much time thinking.

Gas in carb with the fuel shutoff valve closed is fine.  If it does leak, it will leak a little bit until it draws a vacuum.  Since the valve is closed, there's no vacuum release or fuel pressure to let it continue to leak. 

aa335:
I'm not concerned about the gas in the float bowl leaking, but about the gas in the float bowl causing more corrosion of the float needle.
If I run the engine "out of gas" with the shut-off valve closed, the float needle will be exposed to the air and not soaking in the gas.

I'm not aware of plating breaking down due to exposure to air.  Exposure to solvents such as gasoline and ethanol probably is more corrosive.

That was what I was thinking.
By running the engine out of gas after I close the shut-off valve, I would hope I have removed the needle and seat form any further contact with the gasoline..
Easy enough to do and I don't see where it could do any harm.

On the subject of the plating breaking down, I wonder if the needle is vibrating against the seat and contributing to the failure.
The machine does have some vibration.

If there's an issue with plating, it's likely due to the manufacturing process.  I find it extremely difficult to believe that ethanol nor gasoline will have any effect on the plating.  If the plating is flaking off, it will do so regardless of whether the float needle is immersed in alcohol/fuel.  If you're that concerned, it would be just as easy to get a new needle and put it in.  

I drain the carbs  and fuel tanks at the end of the season.  During the winter, I just leave them with fuel in them.  I haven't yet installed a fuel valve on the Toro.  The 221 isn't leaking so I'm not worried about it.  I will put a fuel valve on in due course simply because it's convenient to have.

borat wrote:
If they were available, I might just do that, but keep in mind the Toro 421 has the Loncin engine and I don't think I can just stop by and pick one up.

I'd suspect that there's nothing special with the float needle valve and is probably readily available from anyplace that sells cab jets etc.  You could pull the needle valve and take it to a motorcycle shop or other vendor that sells small carb parts to see if they have anything like it.  Better yet, pull the float needle and look at it under a magnifying glass to see if it's defective.   

borat wrote:
I think since I have the fuel leaking on the garage floor possibility taken care of with the shut-off valve, I think I'll just wait and see how Toro handles the situation.

Yes, I could remove the needle and run around town hoping to find a replacement that may or may not fit. No thanks.
My looking at it under a magnifying glass probably wouldn't tell me a thing unless the plating was actually flaking off.
Chances are the plating looks fine right up until the time it actually fails. Knowing my luck,I would probably start that failure by messing with things.
With any luck, I won't have to worry about in 6 weeks. Might even be lucky enough to not need to use the machine again this winter.

CharlesW,

Since you have the shutoff valve, I wouldn't worry about it too much, just wait until Toro comes up with a fix for it.