To follow-up on my posts last year about a lawn mower which would not accept a spark plug.
At the very end of last summer, I did screw in a sparkplug and run it for about 2 minutes. I still thought if I ran it for much longer, the plug would be blown out. At the end of this summer, I ran it again twice for about 15 minutes each, and it was still fine. Maybe I wasted your time and so I apologize (though at least one person who had never heard of a Helicoil, (thread insert) learned about it.
I guess the fact that I bought it at a junk yard made me assume there was something wrong with it, and it was much harder to start the plug in than other lawn mowers, as if there were no threads at or near the top of the hole.
And also, despite it having a primer button that looked ok, it would only start, all three times, with a shot of starter fluid. After that it runs fine. Maybe the previous owner didn't know about starter fluid and that is why he junked it.
BTW, the cold weather came finally but suddently and I didn't drain the tank a year ago, but I put Sta-Bil in the tank. It started and ran fine a year later, (except for still needing starter fluid to start.??)
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To follow-up on the thread earlier this summer about the lawn mower that looked like new that I found next to a dumpster at an apratment building near me..
I am convinced now that it was made in 1978, but kept indoors. On your advice I replaced all the parts in the carb that might need replacement**, and it starts great now. I don't even have to push the primer bulb sometimes. Thatnks a lot.
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I gave two of my old lawn mowers to an old guy nearby who fixes them at home and then sells them. One was one he sold me, but which never worked well. I think he said when I bought it that it was the only one he had left and he hadn't fixed it up fully. That would account for why this year he said he replaced the magneto, and lots of other parts.
The other mower I gave him was given to me by a friend, but with a gas tank below the carb, stalled all the time unless I pushed down on the handle. He didn't tell me what he did to fix that, but he probably replaced the carburetor. I wasnt' ready to spend the money, but he has parts from all the mowers he doesn't fix. The gas tank started leaking also the middle of this or last summer. I don't have a spare gas tank like he does either.
For years I needed a mower and didn't find any, but counting the junkyard one, I've found 5 in the trash in the last 15 months, 4 of them like new and one with a rare bag. I have two working now, and one soon to follow. I don't know what I will do with all these. I'm considering moving from the townhouse to a full house, so I have to keep at least one really good one, plus the one I use. LOL.
**Primer bulb of cours, float, valve,one gasket i thinnk, the valve that runs up the middle of the bowl, and even the bowl which was cheap and had a layer of dried gasoline gum, but I still don't see how it could help to replace it. But I wanted to keep the lawn mower guy happy.Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.