Lawnmower extremelyt difficult to start

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Dennisrl

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I have a probably 8-9 yr old lawnmower. Unsure of the brand but it was my Father in Law's who owned a lawn care company so I am betting it was a pretty decent one when it was new.

It became very hard to start and would stutter and choke out often. I replaced the oil, ran a cleaning system through it, replaced the spark plug, filter and put fuel additive in it. It runs much better now, doesn't stutter (except for a few seconds after start up I it hasn't been run for a few weeks) but is near impossible to start. I have to pull on it probably 9-10 times before it even tries to crank. It then usually cranks right after the first attempt and runs fine.

What else could I do to make it crank easier? It's worth noting I do not use gasoline from a pump in I, I only use the pre-canned gasoline without ethanol you buy in the home improvement stores. The lawnmower place around the block said old gas sitting for to long is extremely damaging on the engine.
 
First, I suggest isolating if its a fuel or ignition problem. Take out the spark plug, plug it into the spark plug wire and ground it to the engine, pull the engine and see if your getting good spark. Check the fuel bowl and see if your getting good fuel flow. Check the fuel lines and see if you see any cracks. Try this and report back.
 
The carburetor may need rebuilding.
There is also a kit of points and condenser that supply the power to the spark plug.
They are below the flywheel. There is a key in the flywheel that will get damaged if you run into rocks and stuff.
In this video, these guys are changing the key but they should have gone after the points to.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRXYOxwVmO8[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77vAYDBSMx8[/ame]

New models may be different, but I have not been into one.
 
If it has a primer bulb, that might be the culprit. If it is leaky, it might not draw gas to the engine. Could also be an old gasket behind the air filter or somewhere similar, that would cause a loss of suction for a cold engine.
 
Sounds to me like it isn’t getting primed before you give it the first pull. Most of these engines have a little squeeze bulb on the side you push 3 or 4 times prior to the first pull. It sends a little fuel into the carb to get things going.


As a kid in the old days they had a choke. Or you would pull the air cleaner off and put a teaspoon of gas in the air intake. Now you just pump the bulb.
 
If I pump the bull**** x or 300x it make seems no difference.
 
Dennisrl said:
If I pump the bull**** x or 300x it make seems no difference.
Click to expand...

It is bad then. If you pump it too much it should flood the carb and the engine won’t start at all.
 
Check for spark, if you have good spark, spray a little starting fluid in the intake. If it starts and runs on starting fluid, I'd start rebuilding the carb. If you don't start eliminating the issues, we're guessing how long is a string...
 
At least 90% of the time it's going to be a fuel issue.
Using ethanol gas causes all kinds of issues with the fuel system.
Switch to non ethanol and eliminate about 95% of future issues.
Not saying it's not a spark issue but I own two riding mowers, two push mowers, 5, weed wackers, chipper, Dr Field and brush mower, 3, lawn vacs, two pressure washers and never once had to change the points or condenser on any of them.
 
the best way to check for a good spark is to remove the spark plug, then get your mother in law to hold the plug wire in one hand and some bare metal on the mower with the other, then pull the cord firmly and fast,. then you can check the intensity of the spark by measuring how high she jump out of her britches :)
 
As a kid my buddy and I had a mower that wouldn’t start so we figured we would jump start it. We ran the jumper cables from spark plug to spark plug and frame to frame and started the good mower and then pulled the other mower and to our total amazement the dead mower started and ran perfect.

I was about 10 at the time. Later that night I told my dad how we got it started and asked what I needed to replace now that I knew the problem. He laughed so hard and said you can’t do that it is impossible the timing would be off. I don’t think I even knew what timing was then. I insisted we did and he said well show me. I must of pulled that second mower a 100 times with him watching and other than a couple back fires it wouldn’t go.
 
Ok time to confess. My mower of 8 years always started first pull.
However, I made a grave mistake one day.
Every year I drain the gas from the tank and float bowl and change the oil.
Last year, I drained the oil and before I could refill it, I moved on the start the mower and run it until the gas was all gone.
The mower seized up. I let it cool down, fogged the combustion cylinder with oil and worked it free again. Ever since that mistake, it requires 4-5 pulls to start and uses more gas than normal.
Case in point is that it could be more than the carberator, if it gets worse this coming year, i may have to hone the cylinder walls and replace the rings.
 
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