Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
model 247.288820. It had been chugging intermittently, now won't fire. Battery ok. Fuel is getting past filter,good flow. New sp.plug and firing well. Gas cap is loose,new gas in tank. Where should I look next? Sears won't talk to me b/c my ext war. is up. Their online help is unusable...or says check owners manual...
 

BlazNT

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
Take off the engine shroud and remove the bolt that hold the flywheel on and look at the shear key. It must be perfect. The hole it sits in should be a perfect square. this is timing for the mower. I would start there. Next I would get some starting fluid and squirt a little in the carb and see what happens. After you check all this report back with your findings.
 

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
Ok, I thought i'd try pouring a little gas down the intake and it started up a ran fine at medium rpms for about 2 min. Then it started stuttering, or surging. Take it down to idle it quits. Now it will start w/o gas down the intake, but same thing...
 

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
OK I took the gas hose off at the carb and drained 1/2 gal of gas into a white plastic container. Then I notice there's all these little bits of black stuff in the bottom of container. This is gas that's gone thru the inline filter. You know what it looks like? It looks like little bits of rubber gas line...... All these bits are going in my carb.... Ain't no wonder my engine's not running right. Could it be that the inside of the gas line is disintegrating?. It's only about four yrs. old. You ever hear of this?
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
Yes.
Very common.
Comes from cheap fuel line and crap fuel.
Get some good quality butyl lined ethanol safe fuel line and replace the whole lot.
The best stuff has a tefflon inner & neoprene outer with 2 layers of reinforcing polly fiber but it is very expensive.
If you are the type who can not put cheap enough parts on your mower, buy some junk from evilbay and expect to replace it every year after rebuilding the carb.
 

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
This tells me a lot about Craft mowers. My two past Cr. mowers each lasted ten yrs. and I never replaced fuel lines or had any carb. problems whatsoever.. I think they were made in US with Milwaukee Briggs engines...
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
And in real terms ( $ paid for it converted to hours worked to make those $ ) it is a lot lot lot cheaper than the previous two.
Down side of the mindset of consummers in a capitalist economy.
Everything I want HAS to get cheaper every year.
The company that makes the cheapest will sell the most and prosper.
The company that sells good quality will sell less and go broke.
This is exactly what happened to Sears.
All of their products were good.
Not top shelf but good quality ,supported by excellent after sales & service thus very good value
But Amazon came along and sold **** for 1/2 the price with no after sales support and sent Sears bankrupt.
So if you believe in the "market is always right" economic theory upon which the US economy is based.
Every one wants to buy garbage that is barely fit to do the job it was purchased for and will have a very short service life.
Because the companies that peddle that junk are booming and every one who makes & sells good stuff is going broke.
 

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
Ok I've got it all apart, ready to take the carb. off. Except this throttle, choke, governor set-up they've got on here is one of the most Rube Goldberg things I've ever seen... No way that's coming apart; i'll have to do some cutting. I'm going to take the carb apart, clean it out, see if it runs, and if it doesn't, i'll slap a new carb on for $74.00. I've haven't got time for this carb. rebuilding sh?t.....Thanks for the good advice.....
 

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
OK here's what i did. Sears wanted $74.00 ++ for the complete carb. I found the same carb on Ebay for $59.00+ sh. New fuel line + inline shut-off and filter from the local equipment place, about $13.00. I got the clear fuel line, if Sears had used this in the first place i probably wouldn't have had these problems......... Total cost about $80.00 and a couple hours work, now it runs like new. Also i cut off the stem on the new carb's solonoid for good measure, even tho it might destroy the planet. Thanks for the good advice....Steve from USA
 

tolona

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  • / Craftsman Mower 2013 420cc cranks but won't start, nothing
Off topic but here's another EPA travesty. I went to buy one of these flexible natural gas hook-up lines like for a gas range, 2 foot, which should cost about $6-7. But no, the EPA has mandated a one-way brass valve which you have to buy, so now the cost is $24.95............. Totally useless.......... I hope Trump gets rid of this so called Environmental Protection Agency...
 
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