Poulan Pro won't start

mig1980

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Good day everyone. I just purchased a used Poulan Pro self propelled lawn mower. The previous owner mentioned it was 4 years old. He said he hadn't started it in nearly 2 years. We added gas and we pulled and pulled but no luck. Any idea what things I could check or do to get it started? It has a Honda 5.5HP engine.

Thank you in advance.
 

KennyV

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If it set around for 2 years with any fuel in the carb ... It is going to be gunked up...
It will need to be cleaned.
Fuel problems will be the biggest difficulty with any engine. :smile:KennyV
 

mig1980

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Would some carb cleaner do the trick?
 

jhwentworth

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Good day everyone. I just purchased a used Poulan Pro self propelled lawn mower. The previous owner mentioned it was 4 years old. He said he hadn't started it in nearly 2 years. We added gas and we pulled and pulled but no luck. Any idea what things I could check or do to get it started? It has a Honda 5.5HP engine.

Thank you in advance.

Did you try pouring a bit of gasoline right into the carb opening? If you did, and it it tried to start, then you do have a carb problem. Honda carbs can be difficult to clean properly, so you might want to price a new replacement carb. Honda sells replacement carbs at a very fair price ($35-$45) and you can usually have the job done pretty quickly. I guess it comes down to how much you value your time.

I would take a quick shot at cleaning the main and idle jets, and if it wasn't fixed I'd go with a replacement carb.
 
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mig1980

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I have not tried that. I was trying to get ideas first. I wnated to see if there were simple thngs I could check. I am fairly mechanically inclined but have never worked on a lawn mower before.

Did you try pouring a bit of gasoline right into the carb opening? If you did, and it it didn't try to start, then you do have a carb problem. Honda carbs can be difficult to clean properly, so you might want to price a new replacement carb. Honda sells replacement carbs at a very fair price ($35-$45) and you can usually have the job done pretty quickly. I guess it comes down to how much you value your time.

I would take a quick shot at cleaning the main and idle jets, and if it wasn't fixed I'd go with a replacement carb.
 
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