Do small gas powered lawn mowers have a gas filter in the gas tank or any other place?

Question

I found out that the cap on my gas can was missing and that the screen that normally filters the gas of contaminants before it gets poured into the lawn mower gas tank was torn, allowing contaminants to get into the lawn mower.

My gas powered lawn mower would not start. I tried using some carbeurator cleaner with carbeurator removed from engine and cleaning gas line too and spraying into gas tank from the line and into the top of the tank and then using a funnel with a filter screen to filter the contaminants from the gas, refilling the gas tank with the cleaner gas.

It only starts when I spray directly into the out take of the carbeurator now and only for a few seconds til it runs out of that gas supply.
Something is still plugging the line apparently or else I have "bad gas". I was wondering if there was a "sock" in the gas tank that catches debris that could have clogged, and how to clean that? I might have to take tank off lawnmower and get some detergent in i

Answer 1

It is very uncommon to have a filter in lawn mowers to catch debris.

What you describe seems to be a fuel cut off so I believe your logic is proper.

Some mowers have a needle valve or shut off valve - perhaps some debris collected by it and this caused a plug.

Some carbeurators have a shut off valve in them somewhere too so check there.

I would check the line from the fuel tank to carbeurator and make sure it is not plugged either.

Finally, could it be that the choke does not open after the engine warms? Perhaps you are opening the choke lever but it is not connected to the actual choke. In this case, when the engine warms enough the choke needs to be opened to permit enough air to sustain combustion for a warm engine. If the choke does not open, the engine can stall. Check this as well

I hope this helped.

Answer 2

Very seldom although you can buy an after market in-line fuel filter which works well. I'd remove the tank and throw out the old gas. Rinse the tank with small amount of fresh fuel, clean gunk out of carburetor and also check hoses for crack or plugged lines. If lines suck air via a crack it act as if you run out of gas. Try to either drain fuel or use a stabilizer at the end of each use season to prevent this from happening yearly.