mower 101

PA DETAILER

PA DETAILER

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replaced one of the rear wheels this morning. no issues. flashback: last sunday. i turned it over (22" craftsman self propelled) 2-3 years old, to remove the blade and sharpen it best i could. no gas in it. put the blade back on. no biggie. filled it with gas. you think i could get it started? :wall always started up first pull. after wearing my #ss out, it finally started. ran the whole time. and before i put it away, i shut it off. and started right up again.

this morning i cleaned it up real good. plug is ok. oil level was low! i checked it sunday, but guess i got a false reading. filled it to the proper level. started up fine.

my guess would have been vapor lock or the low oil level. my arm is still sore. :rofl

i dont need to be buying a new mower.......

on a good note seems fine now. clean, new wheel, ready to cut.
 
It sounds obvious but when you turn over the mower, did any fluids leak out? This could explain everything.
 
I read your post and know you said there was no fuel in it. If you turned it over, carb. side down, the fuel in the bowl will saturate the air filter and in effect flood the engine. This of course assumes there is fuel in the bowl, most often there is even when the tank is empty. Frequently once the job is completed if the mower sits for a couple of hours the fuel in the filter will just evaporate. If the filter is oily, dirty or greasy and then gets soaked with fuel you may need to replace it to get it running. Either way you can typically take the filter off and get the machine to fire when it's been on its side.

Here's the rub, if you turn it muffler side down, assuming the muffler and carb. are on opposite sides of the engine (this varies by manufacture, Tecumseh has engines with both muffler and carb on the same side) and let it sit for a while, oil from the crankcase migrates into the cylinder. This in effect oil soaks the plug and makes it tough to fire.

When you take a blade off, turn the mower right side up while working on the blade and neither of these things will typically happen. If you must sharpen the blade on the mower you might end up right where you did.
 
GearHead_1 said:
If you turned it over, carb. side down, the fuel in the bowl will saturate the air filter and in effect flood the engine. Most often once the job is completed if the mower sits for a couple of hours the fuel in the filter will just evaporate. If the filter is oily, dirty or greasy and then gets soaked with fuel you may need to replace it to get it running. Either way you can typically take the filter off and get the machine to fire when it's been on its side.
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sounds like what happened. after i let it sit (sunday) it did fire up.
 
99.9% of the time if a mower doesn't start it's going to be a carb issue. Especially with Briggs & Stratton engines

Glad you got her running :rockon
 
check your air filter. my craftsman 6.75hp self propelled air filter get clogged fairly quickly with just regular use. i usually buy a half dozen at a time.
 
On a note of stupidity on my part. I have a good three bladed John Deer riding mower. Last summer I couldn't get the deck to mow level. I would pull it into the garage, check the tire pressure, level the deck and blades with a leveling gauge, go out and mow and after a couple of passes it was leaving a ridge. Back into the garage to do it all over again and again and again. I am a dumb ass and each time I parked the mower in a different place never thinking the floor wasn't level all over. Bought a four foot level and spent an hour going over the garage to find four corners ,the size of the mower, that were exactly level with each other side to side and front to back and diagonally and thats where I park to do any leveling. Problem solved!! I laugh at myself even yet :)
 
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