Lawnmower repair

[Steve Silberberg]

I have a Sears Craftsman walk behind mower.

When I prime it, it starts up. But within a few seconds or so, it peters out and dies. The longer I prime it, the longer it runs.

I suspect that the Operator Presence Control Bar (the safety, if you will) is not working, even when depressed. I suspect that it is not allowing gas to flow to the engine, although it could certainly be something else.

Does anyone know how I can fix this? Any help appreciated. Steve PS: Usually, I use a manual reel mower, but the grass is too long for that at the moment.

-------------- Steve Silberberg mailto: [e-mail] Read "We'll Kiss For Food"

[Jim]

[SJF]

My guess is that you have a clogged carburetor jet which is bypassed by the primer pump. The control bar on most mowers shorts out the ignition and would not let the engine run at all if it is stuck in the "kill" position.

Carburetor cleaning seems to be indicated.

SJF

[Bluethunder]

After cleaning the carb, make sure the gas in the tank is clean by draining it and filtering it. The gas in the gasoline container must also need to be filtered. Otherwise, this is gonna happen again. Just use a clean old tee shirt to screen the gas as you pour it into a CLEAN container.

[Greg Rice]

[Nina]

Same thing happened to me today, turns out when my husband fixed the bar thing last year (now it will run even without holding it down) he did soemthing else and normally u have tohave the switch on the bunny, but today it wouldnt saty on unless the switch was on the turtle. THIS I find out AFTER I go buy more gas for the thing.

[CMF]

Ah, the buy the generic throttle controller at the hardware store. I did the same thing myself. Since I didn't really pay attention when I changed it, I didn't realize the throttle controller worked opposite from the old one. Took me a while to get the mower started afterwards.

Maury

[invalid unparseable]

I have the same problem... I prime it, start it, hold the "bar" with my right hand as I slowly prime it as it warms up with the left hand... After about 5-10 seconds, I can stop priming it. I push the "red thingy" that primes the engine once a second or so and slow down to once every few seconds towards the end...

Regards, Joe - VROC #8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com - 973.571.1456 24/7

1986 Jeep Commanche 4-sale - email me.

Ask me about "The Ride" on July 31, '04:

[Q]

Clogged main jet is the most likely cause.

The most commonly used engines will have a small brass "bolt" in the bottom of the float bowl on the carb. Pinch the fuel line to prevent the loss of fuel then remove that bolt (actually the main jet) and fine the tiny hole in the side. Poke a fine wire through the hole to clean it out, then reassemble.

Q (former Sears lawnmower repair man)

[Ned Flanders]

Fuel Stabilizer, use it.

Cheers,

Ned

[Greg Rice]

H,

found it!

thanks,

[Stormin Mormon]

Amazing how few people know about that metering jet. I learned about it during a small engine repair course.