unrepairable lawnmower what would you try next

I might think of going to a better repair shop or trading it in for a better model. My 10+ years old Honda has been trouble free.

Starts and dies is usually a fuel problem. Is the tank vented?

Yup. I read about that on google, so I tried. I get the same symptoms whether tight, loose, or off.

Moonshine

The problem must be that the fuel isnt getting into the carb bowl quick enough. Did you drain it over the winter ? If not it likely gets gummed up over winter.

Three things:

Air / Oxygen Spark / Fire Fuel.

Trace those and in will run. At least in my experience. Dirt road shade mechanic

I have ar early 80s Toro recycler - cast deck. It sat for over 20 years and starts very well. The owners had a lawn service do their lawn for the last 30 or 35 years and finally decided to get rid of it.

Some of the early Briggs side valve engines suffered from a magretron unit that failed when warm. Not at all out of the ordinary. If it starts and runs for ANY time at all, it's generally NOT the carb.

The OEM coil unit runs $40- $50. Aftermarket replacements are available for about $17 - $20US

Mine of similar vintage was on a corner with a "free" sign on it.

Some of you say carb, some say not. I don't have the mechanic's experience to say.

But,

when it had died, it didn't want to restart until I hit the prime bulb a few times. That suggests a fuel problem to me.

I think all the gasohol is good for is to add more money to the corn farmers.

It will gum up small engines if they are not ran almost every week., Even then it is not good for them.

Try pulling off the float bowl, and use a fine wire to clean out the jet at the bottom of the bowl, if yours is the same carb as mine.

You are correct too. I took my comment from a bookmark I have from the American Chemical Society that urged members to speak up.

I'm a mechanic. It does That's why I asked questions (which were not answered) Try it again. when it quits prime it immediately and see if it restarts. If it DOES it could be a fuel problem. If it doesn't , let it sit to cool down and try again. Could be bad Magnetron ignitor.

As far as the carb, take off the float bowl (by removing the 12mm or

'73 was the oil embargo and the 55 mph national speed limit. They were slow times alright.

Update. It's been cold and rainy and I haven't had a chance to mow. But this weekend it was 70s and the weeds are taking over. So it was time to try that "prime when it fails" test.

I primed it and it started first pull. I mowed the whole yard without any problems. Never got to try priming it when it choked off, because it ran fine.

Guessing, either it doesn't like cold weather, or running a half tank of gas through it cleaned out something.

Update.

It hasn't run since April 2019.

I didn't have a place to work on it while I repaired my shed, rotted sill plate and studs, all replaced now.

So I tried starting it; by priming the heck out of it I could get it to start but only run a few seconds.

So I ordered a cheap carburetor on Amazon. About $20 US. It's a Tecumseh LV196EZ engine. To my surprise the new carburetor matched the old one, all the bolts came off without breaking or rounding, all the parts fit. The only thing that broke was the fuel line clamp. I just touched it with pliers and it fell apart.

Ethanol free gas is quite a ways so I grabbed a can of Truefuel at Home Depot to start this thing ethanol free.

It started. I had to prime the heck out of it but it started and I got about half the lawn mowed. I had to stop a couple times to move lawn furniture but it always restarted.

Now it won't restart. I pull the cord and a puff of blue smoke comes out the exhaust.

It also bogged down in thick grass, but the lawn did get away from me this year and mulchers do that.

So, did I replace the wrong part? Or the right part, and something else is broken?