Mechanics and repair. I might be saying that because my lawnmower won't start and now I have to learn to fix it. We all start somewhere
- Fuel
- Spark/compression
- Air
If you can use starter fluid on the intake and it starts you have a fuel system issue.
Need more specifics to really help you.
Sometimes people forget to change the oil.
Ethanol is brutal on a carb. It gums it up. If you take it to a shop they charge you to clean the carb, replace the spark plug, replace the air filter, and change the oil. All things you can do.
Start running ethanol free gas through it and it will do wonders.
It's a no oil change model.
Is it a Honda mower? Throw it away. The shit-tier autochoke carbs on those are replace yearly.
Is it anything else? Check the spark. Is the plug more than a year old? It's bad, replace it. Change the oil. Clean/replace the air filter. Fresh gasoline. Never leave gasoline in the mower for more than a month or so, if you're storing it for the winter just let it run dry.
If you've varnished the carb because it's set for a long time with gasoline in, you may need to tear that down and rebuild it.
If you've varnished the carb because it's set for a long time with gasoline in, you may need to tear that down and rebuild it.
I hope not, it hasn't set too long, maybe two weeks, but we've had humidity and rain the whole time. My best guess rn is that there's too much water in the carb.
I think it is an auto choke, Briggs n stratton, cheap model
Two weeks is nothing, I'm talking all winter. If it's seen any kind of water exposure, then your diagnosis is probably correct.
All modern mowers have an automatic choke, they hold closed during cranking and then open against a spring when then engine is running. Honda decided to be fancy - they use a wax pellet inside the carb to open and close the choke, as it warms up it's supposed open the choke and keep the engine running. It doesn't work well sometimes and cold starts can be difficult because as soon as the engine starts, you should open the choke and it takes time for this wax pellet to melt. Once things get out of tolerance a bit, you take the carb apart, clean it, re-adjust, or simply replace. That's why they're so cheap on Amazon, it's almost a spark plug replacement level.
When I took mine back to the dealer, they tried to tell me that these mowers aren't designed for ethanol enriched gasoline, you need to use only pure gasoline. That's great for any place that isn't the United States, but mine always built up sludge in the jets, probably from the ethanol.
I've had my Honda mower for 6 years, all I do is replace the oil every 2 years. That's mowing the lawn every other week for 6 months out of the year. It's a push mower. Never had a single issue.
Yeah, about 1 out of 20 people seem to have good luck with these things. Mine did what everyone else I know who had one from around 2010 did - it didn't.
I got tired of constantly fucking with the carb. Mine was defective right out of the box, it was missing the idle jet chamber gasket. Dealer refused to fix it under warranty, told me I used bad gasoline. I told them they were full of shit and they could fuck off. I had a friend tear it down and reset it, it ran poorly for a season and quit. Deck started to rust and peel ON TOP after the first year. Constant carb cleanings and fucking-withs. Just tossed the damn thing in a dumpster after filling the gas tank with expanding foam, went and got a junk briggs. I got 3 years out of it, and it never ran or started right once.
The shit-grade Briggs&Stratton I replaced it with 5 years ago is still going strong, and it cost 1/3 the price. It starts every time.
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