Hello, I'm new here and I was wanting some advise on the lawnmower that we have been using. It is a weedeater series 500, I'm sure it was bought at Walmart, well yesterday while mowing it died on me while mowing our back yard. This morning I took it out again and was able to start it and got about 10 feet before it decided to die again, let sit for about 45 minutes it started and did the same thing. I'm not very savy in lawn mower mechanics or engines at that, the oil seems to be good, has plenty of gas and the I cleaned the underneath of all the clumps of grass. It does have a carberator with a sponge on the right side of the pull string housing and the sponge has oil on the bottom of it so I wiped as much off as I could and then tried again which didn't work. Don't know about the spark plug, didn't change it. Any suggestions on the cause of this and yes I know it could be many reasons, the lawnmower is not ours and it has been putt putting around the last few times I've mowed but hasn't died. Also we are wanting to buy a good lawnmower possibly under 200.00 that will last and mow what little lawn we have, also looking for some weedeater/trimmer either electric cord operated or gas operated that is good but not to expensive. Thanks for all the help, any advise for me to do and I'll do it or try, Thanks.
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Weedeater series 500 dying on me
- Thread starter kingmed
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Export threadgreynold99
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Kingmed,
I'm having a similar issue in that the mower starts immediately after priming and once prime gas is gone it stalls out... As a test, I replaced the brand new carb off this mower with a 15 yr old 3.5hp Murray B&S engine and it took right off and ran fine - continuously for over an hour before running out of gas.
I'm seeing several reports from different forums and youTube indicating this seems to be a defect with the mfg of this particular engine's carburetor. So far, as you know - Weedeater doesn't cover the 2 yr warranty on the Briggs &Stratton engine on this mower and I'm having a difficult time getting any Authorized B&S Service Center in my area to touch it or even give me a new carb replacement since I purchased it at Walmart.
Walmart has evidently discontinued selling Weedeater brand products - likely owing to the problems being encountered by customers. I even ran across one posting indicating the person found a number of these mowers thrown in the trash dumpster in the back of a Walmart which they were able to repair...
Any way, if enough people are involved, maybe we get a recall or a class action suit...
greynold99
I'm having a similar issue in that the mower starts immediately after priming and once prime gas is gone it stalls out... As a test, I replaced the brand new carb off this mower with a 15 yr old 3.5hp Murray B&S engine and it took right off and ran fine - continuously for over an hour before running out of gas.
I'm seeing several reports from different forums and youTube indicating this seems to be a defect with the mfg of this particular engine's carburetor. So far, as you know - Weedeater doesn't cover the 2 yr warranty on the Briggs &Stratton engine on this mower and I'm having a difficult time getting any Authorized B&S Service Center in my area to touch it or even give me a new carb replacement since I purchased it at Walmart.
Walmart has evidently discontinued selling Weedeater brand products - likely owing to the problems being encountered by customers. I even ran across one posting indicating the person found a number of these mowers thrown in the trash dumpster in the back of a Walmart which they were able to repair...
Any way, if enough people are involved, maybe we get a recall or a class action suit...
greynold99
Its a fuel related problem. If your gas is good then you are going to have to have it repaired, repair it yourself, or buy a new one. As it sets it is worthless, repaired it is worth the cost of a new one. What have you got to loose? There are hundreds of carb repair videos on you tube. You decide. Under $200 will buy you a new one just like it. Cheap string trimmers can be had for about $100 gas, less for electric cord.
greynold99
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Possum,
You are correct in what you say. What I didn't report in first post was that I had already replaced the spark plug, carb diaphragm kit before swapping out the old carb - which worked fine. I also did not mention that just doing a quick Google search I've come across at least 6 similar reports with most folks barely getting several hours of operation before the engine starts stalling out after running until either the priming gas runs out or within a short period of running.
I guess I was trying to see if there indeed had been some kind of manufacturing/design screw-up recently that B&S did with the carbs... I thought if so, more engines than just those on Weedeater brand would be involved.
One question that you might know. On the inside of the carb you have a 'thin' pickup tube that goes into the gas tank and a wider tube with a screen over it about the size of a 'thimble'. When you take that screen off, you see the top of a white-plastic piece inside the tube that has a flattened-side on one side of the cone and what appears to be a very small (1/32") hole down the center. Do you know if that hole goes clear thru the white plastic tube or not? That's where I'm thinking either the design change or the obstruction is since the white piece on my new carb does not go thru to the other side.
Thanks,
greynold99
You are correct in what you say. What I didn't report in first post was that I had already replaced the spark plug, carb diaphragm kit before swapping out the old carb - which worked fine. I also did not mention that just doing a quick Google search I've come across at least 6 similar reports with most folks barely getting several hours of operation before the engine starts stalling out after running until either the priming gas runs out or within a short period of running.
I guess I was trying to see if there indeed had been some kind of manufacturing/design screw-up recently that B&S did with the carbs... I thought if so, more engines than just those on Weedeater brand would be involved.
One question that you might know. On the inside of the carb you have a 'thin' pickup tube that goes into the gas tank and a wider tube with a screen over it about the size of a 'thimble'. When you take that screen off, you see the top of a white-plastic piece inside the tube that has a flattened-side on one side of the cone and what appears to be a very small (1/32") hole down the center. Do you know if that hole goes clear thru the white plastic tube or not? That's where I'm thinking either the design change or the obstruction is since the white piece on my new carb does not go thru to the other side.
Thanks,
greynold99
greynold99
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Just a quick update...
I went on the BriggsAndStratton.com website to register the engine but didn't find any 'Register Product' category for pushmower engines so I entered all of my information on the 'Contact Us' e-mail form that comes up.
Well it took a few days and a couple of exchanges of explaining the situation with inability to get warranty work done when you didn't originally buy from the B&S Authorized Repair/Dealer - but Scott R. @B&S said he'd send me a replacement carburetor.
I haven't had time to test my repair on the nozzle-jet on the original carb yet and at this point, I'll wait till I have the new one. But it does go to show you that some times companies do care about their customers and will work with you to resolve your problem.
Thanks,
greynold99
I went on the BriggsAndStratton.com website to register the engine but didn't find any 'Register Product' category for pushmower engines so I entered all of my information on the 'Contact Us' e-mail form that comes up.
Well it took a few days and a couple of exchanges of explaining the situation with inability to get warranty work done when you didn't originally buy from the B&S Authorized Repair/Dealer - but Scott R. @B&S said he'd send me a replacement carburetor.
I haven't had time to test my repair on the nozzle-jet on the original carb yet and at this point, I'll wait till I have the new one. But it does go to show you that some times companies do care about their customers and will work with you to resolve your problem.
Thanks,
greynold99
greynold99
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- Joined
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I just recv'd the new carb - and they've changed the design of the main pickup where that 'piston-shaped' plastic insert goes up into the main nozzle. Where the smaller hole went up through the head-of-the-plastic piston thru, to the shaft - it's now a molded-stainless steel insert about a 1/16" wide.
I knew there had to be a design-flaw just given the number of reported issues around this particular series of engines. I mentioned 6 in my DIY Forum post, but I kept finding more reports on this particular 500 Series B&S engine where the mower would maybe start/run for a while out-of-the-box - maybe several times even or not at all, as in my case; but eventually - and this was consistent on most of the reports- would run off the prime-gas and then not continue to run, it would just die. The one poster who responded to my issue indicated he found several of these brand mowers in a Walmart dumpster - which indicates to me a consistent engineering defect because Walmart was getting tired of dealing with the exchange/refund hassle. And, in fact of the 2 or 3 Walmarts in my area that I've been to recently, they only carry the Weedeater brand weedeaters but no Weedeater mowers.
greynold99
Read more: New Weedeater 22" side discharge mower - 500 Series B&S engine runs then quits - DoItYourself.com Community Forums
I knew there had to be a design-flaw just given the number of reported issues around this particular series of engines. I mentioned 6 in my DIY Forum post, but I kept finding more reports on this particular 500 Series B&S engine where the mower would maybe start/run for a while out-of-the-box - maybe several times even or not at all, as in my case; but eventually - and this was consistent on most of the reports- would run off the prime-gas and then not continue to run, it would just die. The one poster who responded to my issue indicated he found several of these brand mowers in a Walmart dumpster - which indicates to me a consistent engineering defect because Walmart was getting tired of dealing with the exchange/refund hassle. And, in fact of the 2 or 3 Walmarts in my area that I've been to recently, they only carry the Weedeater brand weedeaters but no Weedeater mowers.
greynold99
Read more: New Weedeater 22" side discharge mower - 500 Series B&S engine runs then quits - DoItYourself.com Community Forums