Well I couldn't put it off any longer and dragged my B&S powered lawnmower out of hibernation. Two pulls on the starter and it was running fine.
So, is "stale petrol" fact or fiction? I've never had a problem starting my mower after the winter and always leave it with a partially full tank at the end of the season. Am I just lucky or might it have more to do with the lack of a petrol tap on my mower so that the float bowl never dries out?
Tim
Petrol contains a fair bit of butane and other volatiles. Some engines are very reluctant to start when they've evaporated, others are less fussy. You appear to have an unfussy engine.
Depends a bit on how fussy the engine is. Depends much more on how warm a day it is. Stale petrol will start on a warm day, but it's a pig for cold starting.
I had considerable trouble after a *year and a half* building a new house. Fresh fuel mixed in eventually worked
It depends on how much evaporates--older engines and tanks were more 'open to the air' than modern designs
My B&S (electric starter) started after about 15 secs or so of turning over. It stalled a couple of times but then got going and has been fine since. I refilled it today.
Should one worry about rust in the cylinders after 4 months of not being used? Should I be starting it once/month during winter or some such and if so, how long to let it run for?
In message , Tim wrote
Snap, my cheap petrol mower started second pull of the cord without replacing or topping up the petrol tank first. It's been sat outside (tarpaulin cover) all winter.
No. Provided it's not been kept in a really stupid place it'll be fine.
No - that would probably do more harm than good. Just leave well alone. Since your engine isn't fussy, there's no point in running the fuel low and topping it up with fresh come Spring, but that's what you'd do if it were more temperamental.
Just what I hoped to hear! Thanks - thats very helpful.
I'm jealous if you have a B+S engine with cast liners - nearly all of them (especially on mowers) are just alloy and seem prone to bore damage if worked too hard.
Taking the head off to inspect for valve / bore damage is part of the routine maintenance - something like 25 hours of run-time, IIRC. I tend to check mine at the start and end of each season.
I've never had a problem with carbs gumming up or bad fuel - I've found equipment usually a bit sluggish to start on the first run of the season, but I've never had anything outright not work. I usually try to get the tank about half-empty at the end of the season and then mix some fresh fuel in at the start of the next.
Oh, my lawn tractor *really* doesn't like starting in cold weather. Whatever you have might be different, but I suspect I'd do the engine more harm than good to try and start it periodically during the cold months; I don't think the 10HP on mine slings much oil at all when just cranked on the starter, let alone oil when it's below freezing outside, so long periods of cranking before it fires don't do it any favours.
cheers
Jules
I've no idea what mine is. The fact that it still seems to have plenty of compression and does it's job after years of neglect might indicate a cast liner.
Maintenance? What are you going to do other than look at it? Surely if it starts, runs & cuts the grass there's little point in pulling the head off.
If it ceases to do any of those things then sure, pull the head but I can't see the point otherwise.
Tim
I'd agree and also point out the pointlessness of checking at the start AND end of the season and you probably don't use it in between the end of one season and the start of the next.
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