Need help with my POS lawn mower....

[2 Sweet]

Well, TWO of them actually.

 

One is a self propelled Craftsman push mower made around 2000ish, and the other is a John Deere self propelled push mower made around 2010 IIRC. Both have had recent tune-ups, and both have nearly identical Briggs & Stratton 6.75hp engines. Both are having the exact same symptoms: they won't fucking start.

 

The John Deere ran fine, but I noticed it's been getting harder to start the last few times I've used it. It took several hard pulls last time to get it to eventually fire up, but it still ran perfect once it came to life. Now it won't start at all. It seems to come close, then falls on it's face.

 

The Craftsman is new to me, it started right up and ran great, then died 5 minutes into the mow. It literally lasted 5 fucking minutes the first time I tried to use the damn thing. Same deal as the other one, it tries to start but won't fire up.

 

I've checked them both thoroughly. Clean air filters, clean carbs, primers seem to work fine, the brackets on the start cables seem to be engaging properly, the pull cables feel normal. Both have good looking spark plugs. There doesn't appear to be any gaskets or O-rings missing anywhere.

 

When I was taking apart the JD, I noticed the air filter housing had TWO gaskets on it for some reason, and one of them was really crusty. So I ordered two new gaskets thinking that might be the problem. While I was waiting on those to come in, I figured I would buy another cheap mower in the meantime and sell one of them once I fixed the JD. Well LOL, fuck me, so much for that.

 

I cleaned the carb on the Craftsman and replaced the spark plug, just for the hell of it. Didn't help. I dumped fuel into the carb, still wouldn't start. I'm at a loss for words here.

 

In summary, don't buy used fucking mowers. Lesson learned. But what's done is done, and at this point I just need to get one of these shitboxes running. Any ideas?

[Geeesammy]

Are the bowls filling at all? See if they will even try to run with starting fluid. If they only run on starter fluid it's clearly a fueling issue.

 

My push mower has a 6.75hp craftsman motor and ran fine but once I filled it back up it stopped. Quick digging showed it was a fuel issue and the filter was clogged up. I just grabbed a new one and new hose and it works fine. Just unscrew the bowl and drop it down, make sure the float isn't sticky and make sure their is fuel in the bowl. These engines are simple

[2 Sweet]

Are the bowls filling at all? See if they will even try to run with starting fluid. If they only run on starter fluid it's clearly a fueling issue.

 

My push mower has a 6.75hp craftsman motor and ran fine but once I filled it back up it stopped. Quick digging showed it was a fuel issue and the filter was clogged up. I just grabbed a new one and new hose and it works fine. Just unscrew the bowl and drop it down, make sure the float isn't sticky and make sure their is fuel in the bowl. These engines are simple

 

Bowls were full, floats/filters clean. The first thing I did was drain the tanks and buy new fuel in a new container to rule out the possibility of bad fuel.

 

I didn't have starting fluid so I just poured a little gas in the carb and it didn't help. I'll try starter fluid next and see what happens, I also need to pull out the plug and check spark, maybe it's weak, idk.

[STEVE-O]

Mine did this same shit , I cleaned it all up got a new plug and would have to toss a little starting fluid on there before it would turn over, after it turned over it ran like a champ ... after doing this like 5-10 times one day it wouldn’t start again and I said screw it and bought a self propelled electric one haha

[TTQ B4U]

Buy a Honda....fucker starts with near zero effort. Worth the price.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using Tapatalk

[Draco-REX]

If it's getting fuel, and you can smell it from the exhaust, have you checked to see if you can get an arc to jump to the plug?

[2 Sweet]

If it's getting fuel, and you can smell it from the exhaust, have you checked to see if you can get an arc to jump to the plug?

 

Checked today; no spark on the Craftsman. Ignition coil was bad. Replaced, and it now runs perfect!

 

The Deere will have to wait until tomorrow. Still not sure what's going on with it.

[caseyctsv]

Buy a Honda....fucker starts with near zero effort. Worth the price.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

This. I love my Honda - it is now 17 years old and still starts on the first pull. My brother still has my dad’s and it is 25+ years old- the wheels came apart as the rubber wore down completely, but that is the only thing that has ever gone wrong with it.

 

That being said, I am not sure how easy they would be to find used.

 

You fixed your problem anyway

[Draco-REX]

Checked today; no spark on the Craftsman. Ignition coil was bad. Replaced, and it now runs perfect!

 

The Deere will have to wait until tomorrow. Still not sure what's going on with it.

If it's the same problem, I wonder if there's something inherent in the design that causes them to fail since they have similar engines. Maybe heat? I wonder if a little bit of heat wrap would be possible/helpful.

[01sentrase2.0]

Another vote for Honda. I have had mine for 4 years. Do a tune on it yearly and last year I had to pop a new belt in it for the self propelled part.