Mower engine - UPDATE

[Meat Plow]

Either disassemble the carb and clean it exhaustively or take it to someone who can. Or buy a new carb.

[Bob F]

At some point, I will. But it's no crisis.

Which still doesn't tell me what the previous poster was trying to say.

Bob

[Oren]

Pushing the primer bulb after the engine starts; to keep it running tells the carb needs attention... cleaned/rebuilt.

-- Oren

"My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

[Bob F]

Which is kind of what I meant when I said " I'll also try this and maybe other fixes suggested here and see what happens."

I knew it had a problem. I was just saying that the suggestions would be useful in solving it.

Bob

[Stormin Mormon]

That's only on B and S. He's describing a Tecumseh type carb. With a float, and jets.

Would the original poster please check to be sure there is a gasket between the carb and the motor. If it's missing the carb gasket, it will draw air after the carb.

[Stormin Mormon]

Says the motor is running lean (too little gas) for some reason.

[Stormin Mormon]

Oddly enough, oven cleaner like Easy Off strips the green junk from inside carbs. You have to take the carb out, and put it in the laundry sink. Spray with Easy off. Wait three or four minutes. Rinse, dry. Reassemble.

[Stormin Mormon]

Mowers, like old men, run a lot better when you drain the water and blow out the bad gas.

[Shopdog]

Oh, OK I wasn't sure, but since that is the same issue that I am having with mine, I figured to go with that.

Searcher

[Max]

On Mon, 28 May 2007 19:16:55 GMT, "Shopdog" graced this newsgroup with:

what are you talking about? You need to leave *some* part of the previous post for your reply to make any sense whatsoever.

[Oren]

Do not do this in a space suit! :-))

-- Oren

"I don't have anything against work. I just figure, why deprive somebody who really loves it."

[Max]

On Mon, 28 May 2007 13:39:42 -0700, Oren graced this newsgroup with:

ROFLAO!!!

[awiecek]

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my original post. Your help is greatly appreciated.

I was finally able to get at it again today and I'm happy to report that everything is fine now. The motor runs like a charm and it starts on the first pull. Here is what I did:

took the carb apart once again. This time I meticulously cleaned all little channels and orifices. Blew with compressed air to make sure all passages are fine. I dumped out the old gas, some of which spilled on the garage floor. It sat there for quite a while and didn't evaporate. So just out of curiosity, I spilled a small amount of fresh gas to see if it evaporates first..... I immediately noticed the difference in consistency between the two fluids. The old stuff was thicker than the new. It has been about four hours since I did that and there are still remnants of the old gas on the floor, while the fresh has since evaporated.

I'm not into gasoline sniffing but I noticed a difference in smell between the two as well.

I believe that was my initial problem from the get go. While I did not notice any clogging in the carburetor, it's quite possible that the engine had trouble sucking the old gas out of the bowl, since it was so thick (just a hypothesis).

So it looks like I will have to introduce my brother to a gas stabilizer and make sure he uses it before storing the mower.

Thanks again to all.

Alex

[Meat Plow]

Glad you got it going.

[Bob F]

That gas was probably your entire problem. It would be interesting to try to burn it.

Or just run it dry at the end of the season. Choke it or push the primer as it runs dry to keep it running and burn off as much gas as possible.

Bob

[Oren]

Perfect.

I believe the orifices in the carb throat were "shellacked" over time with the bad gas and cleaning them was the best method. They needed to be cleared for air/fuel mixture.

I use a tiny stainless wire, but a carb cleaner solvent works well when the carb can be soaked over night. The solvent can has a basket for parts (auto store)...

Good job...

-- Oren

..through the use of electrical or duct tape, achieve the configuration in the photo..

[Don Young]

Even with a good carburetor, stale fuel is a very common cause of failure to start or poor running. Unless I know it is fresh, dumping the old fuel is one of the first things I do when troubleshooting.

Don Young

[Navaidstech]

Once again, thanks to all of you for the suggestions.

That being said, I have an old boat motor that did the exact same thing to me last year. I could not figure out what was wrong with it and it's quite possible we're looking at the same issue.

Thanks again you guys.

Alex