What did you accomplish today?

[Chunky Stool]

Bad coil sounds like.

The mower is dead now.
Took a while to start & I had to jump it from the car, but it wouldn't idle on the normal setting. As soon as I took it off full throttle (choke), it would sputter and die.
So I let it run a minute or two on full throttle thinking maybe it needed to warm up.
Nope, it eventually started doing the same shit and I had to mow everything with the push mower.
The rider is on my shit list...

 

[BudmanTX]

The mower is dead now.
Took a while to start & I had to jump it from the car, but it wouldn't idle on the normal setting. As soon as I took it off full throttle (choke), it would sputter and die.
So I let it run a minute or two on full throttle thinking maybe it needed to warm up.
Nope, it eventually started doing the same shit and I had to mow everything with the push mower.
The rider is on my shit list...

there is a diaphram on the motor that helps with that, should be held by a small spring to keep it open, it's a the throttle area, ck to see if the spring is there, or you might have a whole in the diaphram.....just wire it open

had the same thing happen on a push mower i have

 

[Chunky Stool]

there is a diaphram on the motor that helps with that, should be held by a small spring to keep it open, it's a the throttle area, ck to see if the spring is there, or you might have a whole in the diaphram.....just wire it open

had the same thing happen on a push mower i have

Thanks for the advice everyone. I definitely appreciate it.
The thing has never ran "like a top" and seemed to do much better when the gas tank was full. If it was less than half full, the mower would sputter more often when I was mowing.
Old fuel probably made the problem worse, and now I'm fucked.
Gotta start doing some disassembly to see what the fuck is going on. I can't even see the spark plug. Must be covered by some type of housing. Same with the carburetor, but I see something under the air filter that's probably it.
I should break out the manual before I create a new problem...

 

[whitebb2727]

The mower is dead now.
Took a while to start & I had to jump it from the car, but it wouldn't idle on the normal setting. As soon as I took it off full throttle (choke), it would sputter and die.
So I let it run a minute or two on full throttle thinking maybe it needed to warm up.
Nope, it eventually started doing the same shit and I had to mow everything with the push mower.
The rider is on my shit list...

Only reason I thought it was the coil was because of the heating up thing. The coil will develope a crack and it runs fine until it heats up and the crack widens and allows it to arc out.

It still may be the coil. It just finally widen enough to cause it to not run at all.

 

[Chunky Stool]

Only reason I thought it was the coil was because of the heating up thing. The coil will develope a crack and it runs fine until it heats up and the crack widens and allows it to arc out.

It still may be the coil. It just finally widen enough to cause it to not run at all.

I'm not ruling anything out. The thing is old AF...
-- edit --
I bought the mower for $400 three years ago so it doesn't owe me anything. Sure would be nice to get another season out of it.

 

[ANC]

You checked to make sure the exhaust isn't caked up.

If it is, take it off, put it on a brick and fill with some gas then let it burn clean.

 

[jerryb73]

I'm not ruling anything out. The thing is old AF...
-- edit --
I bought the mower for $400 three years ago so it doesn't owe me anything. Sure would be nice to get another season out of it.

 

[neosapien]

Air filter? I don't know. Not much of a man when it comes to engines and stuff. Mine sputtered and shit and turned out to be an air filter. Mine is a push though.

 

[tangerinegreen555]

A guy told me to try this once for a quick fix.

I wound up taking it apart and doing it right. But this could clean out deposits and shit. Supposed to shoot more in after you get it running.

If mine was old, I'd try it. Keeping it on stock for the hell of it.

 

[dannyboy602]

I haven't mowed a lawn in ten years. The only thing grass is good for is smoking.

 

[BudmanTX]

it's been so hot where i'm at......i'm like what grass....that brown crunchy stuff there...

 

[curious2garden]

OMG. Pass the butter!

We have an order for 30 we're picking up Friday night...straight off the boat from fam.
We're doing a big weekend bash at camp again this yr. Its a good way to get out of town away from the tourists.
I plan to spend the day floating around the lake imbibing as much liquor as it takes to get through the whole ordeal.

I wish some of y'all lived closer.

If I'd heard about this sooner I would have arranged to 'live' closer for a day or so. I could account for 5-6lb of those lobsters for you

 

[curious2garden]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I definitely appreciate it.
The thing has never ran "like a top" and seemed to do much better when the gas tank was full. If it was less than half full, the mower would sputter more often when I was mowing.
Old fuel probably made the problem worse, and now I'm fucked.
Gotta start doing some disassembly to see what the fuck is going on. I can't even see the spark plug. Must be covered by some type of housing. Same with the carburetor, but I see something under the air filter that's probably it.
I should break out the manual before I create a new problem...

Did you say it was a Craftsman? We had always had great luck with Craftsman mowers.

Then one year I treated my hubby to a top of the line Craftsman mower and it was a piece of shit. Worse Christmas gift ever unless you meant it to be a passive aggressive shot then it may have been the best Christmas gift ever. Sears played every ugly game in the book not to stand behind it. That is when I stopped buying from Sears, went to whatever store was having a sale on $99 buck mowers and figured I'd just buy one every year or so.

The 99 buck one lasted over a decade NEVER took more than three pulls to start. Just got another relatively inexpensive one and it's going on 6 or 7 years.

Anyway sorry for your pain and this doesn't help at all but it is my mower story.

 

[curious2garden]

View attachment 4159610
A guy told me to try this once for a quick fix.

I wound up taking it apart and doing it right. But this could clean out deposits and shit. Supposed to shoot more in after you get it running.

If mine was old, I'd try it. Keeping it on stock for the hell of it.

Do you follow it up with that frou frou chi chi Starbucks? I will now take my snarky ass and aching back BACK to trimming

 

[tangerinegreen555]

Do you follow it up with that frou frou chi chi Starbucks? I will now take my snarky ass and aching back BACK to trimming

Too hot for real coffee. Has to be cold AF or forget it.

 

[tyler.durden]

View attachment 4159609

Such a great movie...

This is a cool video watching BB explaining his process, turns himself into Carl -

 

[Tangerine_]

View attachment 4159610
A guy told me to try this once for a quick fix.

I wound up taking it apart and doing it right. But this could clean out deposits and shit. Supposed to shoot more in after you get it running.

If mine was old, I'd try it. Keeping it on stock for the hell of it.

Sea Foam is the shit. We have a couple cans of that on hand. Works great as a quick fix if you suck up shit from the bottom of your tank or if ya get lazy (happens often here) and don't winterize and end up with a bit of water in the tank.

If I'd heard about this sooner I would have arranged to 'live' closer for a day or so. I could account for 5-6lb of those lobsters for you

That would've been awesome. I'll keep that mind for next time. And no need to make arrangement to "live" closer. We have a 31 foot camper set up close by with a full bathroom and king size bed for that very reason

 

[BarnBuster]

Did you say it was a Craftsman? We had always had great luck with Craftsman mowers.

Then one year I treated my hubby to a top of the line Craftsman mower and it was a piece of shit. Worse Christmas gift ever unless you meant it to be a passive aggressive shot then it may have been the best Christmas gift ever. Sears played every ugly game in the book not to stand behind it. That is when I stopped buying from Sears, went to whatever store was having a sale on $99 buck mowers and figured I'd just buy one every year or so.

The 99 buck one lasted over a decade NEVER took more than three pulls to start. Just got another relatively inexpensive one and it's going on 6 or 7 years.

Anyway sorry for your pain and this doesn't help at all but it is my mower story.

I always bought those $99 ones too

 

[Chunky Stool]

Did you say it was a Craftsman? We had always had great luck with Craftsman mowers.

Then one year I treated my hubby to a top of the line Craftsman mower and it was a piece of shit. Worse Christmas gift ever unless you meant it to be a passive aggressive shot then it may have been the best Christmas gift ever. Sears played every ugly game in the book not to stand behind it. That is when I stopped buying from Sears, went to whatever store was having a sale on $99 buck mowers and figured I'd just buy one every year or so.

The 99 buck one lasted over a decade NEVER took more than three pulls to start. Just got another relatively inexpensive one and it's going on 6 or 7 years.

Anyway sorry for your pain and this doesn't help at all but it is my mower story.

Craftsman push mowers aren't bad but they use plastic gears in the self-propelled models so you've gotta be careful not to strip em.

4-wheel drive is the way to go on push mowers.
WAY better than front wheel drive only.

 

[GreatwhiteNorth]

View attachment 4159609

Lol, I love that movie.

Did you say it was a Craftsman? We had always had great luck with Craftsman mowers.

Then one year I treated my hubby to a top of the line Craftsman mower and it was a piece of shit. Worse Christmas gift ever unless you meant it to be a passive aggressive shot then it may have been the best Christmas gift ever. Sears played every ugly game in the book not to stand behind it. That is when I stopped buying from Sears, went to whatever store was having a sale on $99 buck mowers and figured I'd just buy one every year or so.

The 99 buck one lasted over a decade NEVER took more than three pulls to start. Just got another relatively inexpensive one and it's going on 6 or 7 years.

Anyway sorry for your pain and this doesn't help at all but it is my mower story.

I gave Mrs GWN a vacuum cleaner one year for Christmas.
She was NOT impressed !!

That was over 20 years ago & I still get dirty looks when it's mentioned.