lawnmower problem

[fatlazyless]

Went to use my 20", $119 lawn mower purchased from Wal-Mart a couple years ago for trimming up my 1/4 acre, and to my surprise, it has a problem. First time ever, it no worky-work too good? It runs pretty good until it gets warmed up for the first few minutes but then it will power up, power down and almost stall out before powering up again. It has something like a 3 1/2hp standard four-stroke mower engine.

There was gas in the tank left over from last season so I put some carburetor cleaner and new gas into the tank and figure the carb cleaner will clean out any old gas problem.

Have yet to look at the spark plug or air filter and have no clue.....what could the problem be? Oh yes, and I did replace the oil with 5-30, about 1 quart up to the line on the dip stick and removed the old oil.

Is there a Doctor of LawnMowers on board here? It has always been so well behaved in the past! What could be wrong?

[Bear Island South]

a lawn mower from Wal-mart, there's your first problem

did you have stablizer in your gas through the winter? sounds like an ethonal issue. I had the same problem with my chainsaw.

[Belmont Resident]

I had the same problem with both a snowblower and a wheeled leaf blower.
I removed the carbs and brought them to Belmont Hardware for rebuilds.
Both units run great now.

[ITD]

Pull the carb off, and clean it by blowing carb cleaner through all the ports and jets. Pay attention to how it came apart, because you have to put it back together...... correctly.

[Winnisquamguy]

I would first try just draining the old gas out and refilling with new gas before pulling the carburetor apart. Also check the spark plug and make sure you are getting spark, or you didn't foul a plug better yet just replace it they are $3.00

[topwater]

Absolutely replace your spark plug. Dime to a dozen donuts thats the problem!!! Sparkplugs are like a battery-very finicky.

[MarkinNH]

I have little sympathy "no disrespect intended" for people that shove their gas engined equipment away in the fall without proper treatment so as to ensure a (hopefully) problem free spring start up.
You can easily save yourself a lot of hassles by simple adding some Stabil to the fuel tank and then let the engine run long enough so the now stabilized fuel has a chance to work it way into the carburetor. Now with the added ethanol issues in todays gasoline the importance of proper storage treatment is more critical.
Unless your handy enough to do the suggestions already mentioned you may be better off just going to buy a new mower because by the time you pay a repair shop @ $65+ per hr. you will exceed the cost of another $119 Walmart mower in no time.
Good luck. I hope you can resolve the problem quickly and inexpensively. I have been in the same shoes and needless to say, I learned my lesson 20+ years ago. I buy a BIG bottle of Stabil every fall and treat Everything, mowers, blowers, weed trimmers, chainsaws, even the spare gas left over in the cans thoroughly.

[MAXUM]

Careful with Stabil, especially the pink/red stuff.

While it's intended purpose is to introduce additives to prevent the natural breakdown of gasoline, it also contains a high concentration of alcohol which when combined with your typical pump gas already injected with 10% ethanol, the end result is that the gas is more likely to separate any suspended water or moisture and increase an already serious problem with ethanol laced gasoline. Matter of fact that stuff shouldn't even be sold IMHO. Now Stabil does put out a marine formula which is specially designed for high humidity/moisture areas and has a much different formulation which includes enzymes that counteract the effects ethanol has on gas and water separation, however you'll also notice it's significantly more expensive. There are other alternatives out there as well, I happen to use Star Tron but be very careful not to use something that increases the alcohol content of the gas, while it may not go bad if you try to burn water in your engine it won't last long at all.

As for the lawnmower problem, those things are not exactly designed to be fixed, if they break or start to run crappy, throw it away and get a new one. I've wasted more time trying to fix one of those cheapo Chinese made pieces of junk and you simply can't. If a new spark plug and new tank of gas and a good dose of carb spray down the throttle doesn't cure the problem throw it away. FYI those things are built with a very short life expectancy so that every few years you're out buying a new one. Of course they are never advertised with a maximum life expectancy of less than 100 hours.

[ishoot308]

Maxum;

I believe Stabil has reformulated their "red" stabilizer so it is alcohol free now. Not 100% sure so check the label. There is no reason the blue marine formulation can't be used in all power equipment that takes gas, that's what I do.

Dan

[Slickcraft]

I agree with draining all the old gas out and going for the new spark plug and new gas.

For winter storage: on all of our small engines (lawn mower, trimmer, chain saws, power washer) I drain most of the gas out and then run the engine 'till the carb is dry and he motor quits. Then in the spring add fresh gas and they start right up and run like new.

As for the gas that you drain off in the fall, just burn it off in your car or truck.

[tis]

I wish they would stop producing this ethanol. It does nothing but cause us all headaches. What is wrong with our government?????

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

Maxum;

I believe Stabil has reformulated their "red" stabilizer so it is alcohol free now. Not 100% sure so check the label. There is no reason the blue marine formulation can't be used in all power equipment that takes gas, that's what I do.

Dan

Dan-

I just went out into the garage and took a look at a bottle of that stuff I had kicking around. It's about 2 years old. It does claim to be re-formulated for ethanol laced gasoline, but doesn't give a list of ingredients, probably because it's not supposed to be a consumable item so no FDA mandates to tell you what's in it.

I've heard and read to stay away from that stuff (the red version), so I've pretty much swapped over to using Star Tron exclusively since it's good to go for everything and is a stabilizer agent as well. Matter of fact I was turned onto that stuff when I had concerns of using dry gas in the sleds during the winter to prevent line freezing. The marine formulated Stabil I know is considerably more expensive than the red stuff, what the exact differences are is a bit of a mystery. I'd like to think that it goes beyond brilliant marketing and a different color dye. Interestingly enough the Star Tron stuff comes made one way, but it too is not cheap comparatively speaking.

Bottom line I agree, ethanol is bad stuff, but until such time it's eradicated from the gas we buy, got to deal with trying to undo the negative affects.

[lawn psycho]

The Marine version of Sta-bil just has mnore corrosion inhibitor and fuel system cleaner. I dump this in with every fill-up of the boat and it fires first time every time.

I have a lot of power equipment and some if it gets intermittent use (ex, my walk behind blower and generator). I use the standard Sta-bil with every gas can fill. When using the Sta-bil full time I notice none of my equipment gets the cold engine surge as they smooth out in seconds and why I use it instead of Startron.

Sta-bil now offers an "ethanol treatment" as well.

As far as OP, drain the carb, dump some Sta-bil in the tank, spray some starting fluid in the air filter inlet and pull string. I bet it fires.....

[AB_Monterey]

Hmmm. I've never treated any fuel in any of my lawn equipment and never had an issue starting them.

My push mower is a Honda that is easily 20 years old and starts on the first pull EVERY time. It's due for it's 10 year oil change. Plug change? Maybe another few years. Walmart mower? I'll pass. Tractor, chainsaw, weedwacker, leafblower, never an issue with any of them.

I must be walking around lucky.

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by AB_Monterey

Hmmm. I've never treated any fuel in any of my lawn equipment and never had an issue starting them.

My push mower is a Honda that is easily 20 years old and starts on the first pull EVERY time. It's due for it's 10 year oil change. Plug change? Maybe another few years. Walmart mower? I'll pass. Tractor, chainsaw, weedwacker, leafblower, never an issue with any of them.

I must be walking around lucky.

Yep, you are. Reminds of the guy who said he's never had a flat tire and then the inevitable happens.....

As far as the 10 year oil change, coming from my perspective that's criminal in my book A quart of SAE30 costs about $3 and is a 5 minute job.....

[fatlazyless]

Ok, it looks like the problem was with the oil saturated air filter. It is a foam style air filter so soaking it in paint thinner cleaned out the oil and dirt, and after letting it air dry for about 30 minutes, the power up-power down problem was fixed. A squirt of carb cleaner was shot into the carburetor with the filter off and whether that was any help is an unknown but it didn't hurt.

I over-filled the oil change with a little too much oil and probably the engine sprayed it up through the carburetor and into the air filter. The engine sensed the lack of air coming through the filter and opened up the choke plate which is why it was going through a power-up, power down back & forth what with a clogged filter and the choke making automatic adjustments.

There will be a pop quiz on all this tomorrow at 10-am!

And, it's a Weed Eater 22", $129 Wal-Mart lawnmower on it's third season now. Wal-Mart warranties them for 90 days, and I managed to destroy the engine on the previous mower on about the 85th day by hitting a rock with the blade, and Wal-Mart didn't bat an eye about replacing it with a new mower because I had the receipt! Rots-o-ruck trying to do that at Aubuchon's. Gosh, what was life like before Wal-Mart?

[ITD]

Ah, I think you need a new mechanic.

[SAMIAM]

Actually, Walmart sells a lot of power equipment and tools that are made right here in the USA.......sure, some are American brands that are manufactured in China but some are made here, also.
And Mark is right.....I fill my tanks, add Stabil, run them a bit to mix it up and they all start right up in the spring....everything from weed whackers to your boat. Also helps to line everything up, powerwash and spray on a little oil before storage.

[chipj29]

When I brought my snowblower carb to my local repair guy not too long ago, he recommended the following:

1. For any small engine, buy at least 89 octane.
2. When you buy your gas for your small engines, add a small amount of fuel stabilizer. Always.
3. For off-season storage, drain as much fuel as you can, add stabilizer to the tank. Run the engine so the stabilizer gets into the carb.
4. To prepare for on-season use, fill the tank with some nice fresh fuel. Don't add stabilizer to this, as there is some still in the tank from storage.
5. Make sure you use the higher octane fuel with stabilizer.

He recommended this for all small engines. 4-strokes (snowblower, lawn tractor/mower) as well as 2-strokes (chain saw, weed wacker etc).

Ever since I started doing this I have not had any problems. *knocking on wood*

[AB_Monterey]

Originally Posted by lawn psycho

Yep, you are. Reminds of the guy who said he's never had a flat tire and then the inevitable happens.....

As far as the 10 year oil change, coming from my perspective that's criminal in my book A quart of SAE30 costs about $3 and is a 5 minute job.....

Well, it's not used that much. I'm lucky if it's got more than 10 hours on it over the last 10 years. There's one area of the yard that is impossible to get with the tractor. I cut that with it and not much else.

That said, it is getting a change this summer.

This Honda is amazing. My wife bought it second hand before we met. It was a few years old then. I had to do the first repair on it last week. Had to replace the starter rope. It broke up north at camp and I started the thing by using a shoe string so I could finish and get it home. Amazing.

As for the gas issue, other than the unique issues with boats, gas will not go bad that quickly, even with ethanol. A few months should not be an issue. My two classic cars start right up every spring without issue and all I do is change the oil and fill the tank in the fall.

[dpg]

I've been running my lawnmowers, leaf blower, snow blower and trimmer dry of gas for years before putting them away. Nothing EVER gas related at start up...never ever...At the beginning of the season the machine is needed I fill it up press the primer bulb a few times and the engine starts with a couple pulls. I'm a firm believer in draining them, some people are not. To each his own I guess...