Hello everyone,
This is my first post here, so if this topic has been covered elsewhere please let me know and I'd be happy to go there. As it stands, I've done about all the reading and researching that I think I can and this damned thing just won't start. Here's some background.
The mower worked flawlessly last summer, ran it dry before storing for the winter, kept in a dry garage, etc.
This summer, filled with new gas, and it fired right up. So, everything is strong-running and hunky-dory at this point.
I hit a metal obstruction at the very last bit of mowing my lawn, the motor immediately died.
After that, it would turn over and run for a second, then die.
I was able to get it running by spraying gas mixture into the intake. Got it running just fine.
A couple of weeks later mowed the lawn again and it started right up. I ran it for about 15 minutes then shut it off to move to another part of the yard.
After that, it absolutely refused to start, or even turn over.
Suspecting the carb, I removed the bowl but everything looked very clean and normal. So I removed the carb entirely, cleaned the heck out of it, and replaced with new gaskets.
That made no difference so I thought I should check the flywheel key. Surprisingly (and to my disappointment) it was fine. Slightly scored, but not bent or sheared.
I drained the fuel tank and pulled the fuel filter and that looked clean as well.
I replaced the spark plug, even though the original plug looked great and showed no signs of oil/carbon buildup, corrosion etc.
So now I'm grasping at straws. I disconnected the kill switch lead and checked for a spark. I didn't have a helper though, so I honestly couldn't tell if I was getting a spark or not.
I found an ignition coil that I knew was good and put that on yesterday, still dead as a mackerel.
When I try starting it, it really behaves as if the spark plug is not connected. There is NO sign of life. After a half-dozen pulls I get some smoke coming from the muffler.
Is there any chance that I could have gotten the fuel mixture or throttle lever arm out of whack when I removed the carb? It seems like, if that were the case, it'd run rough or rich or lean, but it would at least turn over, right?
All things considered, I still feel like it is electrical so I'm going to check for spark when I can find a helper. Other than that, am I missing something? It's driving me nuts, as you can probably imagine....
THanks in advance.
This is my first post here, so if this topic has been covered elsewhere please let me know and I'd be happy to go there. As it stands, I've done about all the reading and researching that I think I can and this damned thing just won't start. Here's some background.
The mower worked flawlessly last summer, ran it dry before storing for the winter, kept in a dry garage, etc.
This summer, filled with new gas, and it fired right up. So, everything is strong-running and hunky-dory at this point.
I hit a metal obstruction at the very last bit of mowing my lawn, the motor immediately died.
After that, it would turn over and run for a second, then die.
I was able to get it running by spraying gas mixture into the intake. Got it running just fine.
A couple of weeks later mowed the lawn again and it started right up. I ran it for about 15 minutes then shut it off to move to another part of the yard.
After that, it absolutely refused to start, or even turn over.
Suspecting the carb, I removed the bowl but everything looked very clean and normal. So I removed the carb entirely, cleaned the heck out of it, and replaced with new gaskets.
That made no difference so I thought I should check the flywheel key. Surprisingly (and to my disappointment) it was fine. Slightly scored, but not bent or sheared.
I drained the fuel tank and pulled the fuel filter and that looked clean as well.
I replaced the spark plug, even though the original plug looked great and showed no signs of oil/carbon buildup, corrosion etc.
So now I'm grasping at straws. I disconnected the kill switch lead and checked for a spark. I didn't have a helper though, so I honestly couldn't tell if I was getting a spark or not.
I found an ignition coil that I knew was good and put that on yesterday, still dead as a mackerel.
When I try starting it, it really behaves as if the spark plug is not connected. There is NO sign of life. After a half-dozen pulls I get some smoke coming from the muffler.
Is there any chance that I could have gotten the fuel mixture or throttle lever arm out of whack when I removed the carb? It seems like, if that were the case, it'd run rough or rich or lean, but it would at least turn over, right?
All things considered, I still feel like it is electrical so I'm going to check for spark when I can find a helper. Other than that, am I missing something? It's driving me nuts, as you can probably imagine....
THanks in advance.