My mower was working for the first half of the summer season. After stopping to change the bag one time, it had not restarted. I waited about 15 min, then it started and I completed the lawn. The two times after that I mowed the front and back with a strap holding down the engine brake. As of late I have replaced: air filter, spark plug, and a wire that appeared to be charred. It was a skinny wire going between what seemed like relays. I also pulled apart the carb and cleaned it even though it was pretty clean and didn't need it. Prior to all the fiddlin around I had noticed the old plug was black and greased up. I figured I was burning rich because of it and that the old air filter was restricting the air flow. Two days ago I assembled everything and the mower fired up. I was relieved. I let it run for 30 sec or so, then prepped to cut lawn. I placed the bag on the back and (out of habit, primmed it again, flooding it) tried to start it up to mow the lawn. Since it was flooded I pulled the plug out turned over the piston and stroke out the cylinder. Put the plug back in and nothing! Days later and no priming. It still won't start! What else could it be? What is the next step to trace the problem? Its not bad gas,or lack of it, low oil as I checked it. They are fine. I got spark after grounding it to the block. Any Ideas? Paul
Sounds like it's a fuel issue.
After the Carb rebuild, you put gas in the tank and started it up immediately. and ran it only 30 seconds.
If you look at the gas tank now, is it empty? Is there gas flowing out by the air filter? You sounds mechanically smart, just wondering if you messed up something with the carb rebuild and gas is flooding up into the carb. Check the Oil again, is it overfull from gas getting into the oil?
SOURCE: Continuously stalling and extreme difficulty restarting.
The brass "Bolt" that holds the "cup" on the bottom of your carburetor is also the main fuel metering jet for the engine. Get yourself a can of automotive carb cleaner, the aerosol type that comes with the small red plastic tube on the side of the can. Remove the "Bolt" and "cup". (Tip: tilt the carb side of the mower UP about 45 degrees and support it with whatever you have, wood, bricks etc. This will help stem the flow of gas from the tank while you have the "cup" removed.) Examine the "Bolt" and you will see one or two small holes in the side of the "Bolt" between the hex head and the threads. These are the metering orifices. Use the carb cleaner to throughly clean the "Bolt" orifices. (Tip: DO NOT attempt to 'drill' the orifices clean) Next, use the red plastic tube to spray carb cleaner up through the hole on the carburetor that the "Bolt" screws into. Be liberal with the cleaner. Finally, clean the "cup" with the spray one more time for good measure. Put everything back together. (Tip: easy does it on tightining the "Bolt") Level the mower, check for leaks and verify the oil level is OK. If the plug and air filter are up to snuff you should be good to go. (Tip: how old is your fuel? You should keep it around for only about 30 days unless you use fuel stabilizer. These little engines LOVE fresh fuel) Good Luck.
SOURCE: lawn mower died while mowing and won't restart
check the carb and air filter... also make sure its not gas from last season and make sure the oil is good.
SOURCE: Mower stops running after I've been mowing for
Mower stops running after mowing about 5 minutes. acting like it was running out of gas unitl eventually stops. I wait 10 minutes and then it restarts, runs good, then erratic...then quits again?
SOURCE: 4.5hp B&S engine on a bolens mower..won't idle steadily
This is called hunting, your fuel-air ratio is not right. Your carb. jets need cleaned
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SOURCE: Lawn Mower will not stay running then will not restart
I think we all understand the frustation penaone.
I noticed u didn't clean the fuel tank, water, dirt, and rust in it can give u problems. But u need to clean the lines and carb. again also. One of the kids filled my mower gas tank with driveway gravel once, and after I cleaned things out, the mower never run so good. Also your spark may be grounding out somewhere before it gets to the spark plug. Check for a bad spot in the wires from the magneto. Some of that may be behind the flywheel though.
ballping
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Solution: It turns out the solution was the engine brake cable wasn't fully disengaging from the fly wheel. Years ago my handle had bent from the weight of the motor and deck. It was wrecked where the handle meets the deck. I fashioned the handles so that the handles were shorter since I cut off the bent part at the bottom. This meant that I created some extra slack in all of the lines. I never had a problem for 4 cutting seasons, but this is what preveted the spark plug from getting spark! Not only does the engine brake create resistance on the fly wheel, but I found out I needs to be fully disengaged to send a signal to a relay to send current from the coil to the spark plug. Hopefully, this addition to your troubleshooting check list finds the reason your mower won't send spark to the plug. Hope this helps. Thanks.
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