Lawn Mower Won't Start

Learn the reasons why a lawn mower won't start later on winter or during peak flavor, and how to ready those bug.

Introduction

Nearly of the time when a lawn mower won't start the cause is a problem with the gas or the lawn mower carburetor.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Carburetor cleaner
  • Carburetor or carburetor inlet needle and seat
  • Gasoline

Lawn Mower Won't Start Afterwards Winter?

Whether y'all've got a Toro lawn mower, a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower, or one of the other pop brands, the concluding thing you want one time winter finally lifts and spring has sprung is a lawn mower that won't start.

Earlier you accept a heart assault pulling on the rip cord, you'll want to bank check the fuel, equally well every bit the backyard mower carburetor. They're the root causes of more than eighty% of all lawn mowers that won't start (plus snowfall blowers and most small engines in general). Below, nosotros'll walk you through the steps of how to offset a lawn mower when it's giving you grief. Check out how to melody upward a backyard mower, too.

Y'all'll need hand tools and a socket set, a can of carburetor cleaner and your air compressor to begin fixing a lawn mower that won't start. And you'll probably have to brand a trip to the minor-engine parts store. But after an hour of endeavor, you lot just might take an operational engine, and you lot'll relieve a parcel by fixing information technology yourself. Permit's dig in to see what to do when a mower won't start.

Check the plug

I'll presume you've cleaned the air filter, so the next step is to remove the spark plug to come across if it's wet. If information technology is, there's no way the engine volition start. So clean the plug with carburetor cleaner and let it dry. Cleaning it with compressed air isn't plenty; you demand a solvent to remove oil residuum. If the plug was wet, move on to Step three. If it was dry, skip to Step four. If the fuel is more than than a month old, dispose of information technology properly and refill the tank with fresh gas. And so reinstall the spark plug and attempt starting. Information technology may have quite a few pulls to suck the new gas into the lawn mower carburetor, then be prepared to clean and dry the plug a few more than times.

Projection pace-past-step (5)

Pace one

Check the carburetor bowl for gas

Remove the bowl

bowl

Set a small cup nether the lawn mower carburetor to take hold of any spills. And so loosen the bowl nut with a socket. Once the nut is loose, unscrew it by hand and lower the bowl. Gas should drip out.

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Step 2

Remove the inlet needle and seat

inlet

Pull the float pin straight out. Catch the float, inlet needle and retaining jump with a rag. Remove the safe seat with a small pick. Reverse the procedure to install the new parts.

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Pace three

Cheque carb condition

condition

Examine the inside of the lawn mower carburetor. If you come across chalky/powdery white corrosion like this, the carb is a goner.

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Pace four

Fellow DIYer's solution for corroded carburetor

An anonymous reader from Oakland, ME took issue with my statement that finding corrosion in a small engine carburetor ways "game over." Instead he advises boiling the disassembled carburetor in vinegar for thirty minutes. He says the pitting will remain, only the vinegar will remove the residue of the corrosion. Since vinegar is inexpensive, yous've got null to lose but time.

The engine can't go gas if the fuel filter is plugged or the carburetor inlet needle is stuck. Check the fuel filter (if equipped) past removing the fuel line at the carburetor. Gas should run out. If it doesn't, remove the fuel line ahead of the fuel filter inlet. If gas flows, the filter is clogged. Replace it. If you even so don't get any gas, the fuel line is kinked or plugged. And bank check inside the tank for any droppings that might clog the outlet.

If you're getting gas to the backyard mower carburetor, check to see if there'due south whatsoever fuel in the basin. Clench off the fuel line with a C-clamp. And then remove the bowl (Photo 1). If the basin is empty, the problem is a stuck inlet needle and seat. They're easy and cheap to replace (Photo 2). But before you lot purchase the parts, check the condition of the rest of the carburetor's interior (Photo 3). If yous run across any corrosion, it's "game over." A corroded lawn mower carburetor is a dead carburetor. Supercede it.

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Step 5

Clean the jet

Clean the main jet

Clean

Remove the carburetor bowl nut. Insert the carburetor cleaner straw straight into the chief jet passage and squeeze the trigger on the tin can several times until the spray shoots into the venturi of the carburetor. That'll ostend the passage is open. A chock-full chief jet is a pretty common problem. Yous can effort cleaning information technology with spray carburetor cleaner (Photo four). Then endeavor starting. If the engine notwithstanding isn't getting gas, supplant the carburetor.

Adjacent, larn what you demand to know nigh lawn mower oil.

If it starts but runs rough

If you got the engine to start past cleaning the principal jet, but information technology runs crude or the idle speed surges, you have ii choices—rebuild or supersede the lawn mower carburetor. For rebuilding instructions, meet "How to repair small engines." Otherwise, disconnect the old lawn mower carburetor from the linkage, remove the 2 retaining bolts and slap on a new carburetor.

Backyard Mower Won't Get-go

Originally Published: June 03, 2019