I have a 3 year old Toro Super Recycler mower model 20381. Have been using it without issue over these years and this year until last weekend. The mower will start and run fine for one trip around the lawn (about 1 minute), then start sputtering and shut off 30 seconds later. It is pretty consistent in how long it runs each time I start it. I checked the air filter, it looks fine. Tried loosening the gas cap, still stalled.
I did some internet searching, and found many mentions of cleaning the bolt in the fuel bowl. All of the pictures I have seen show holes at various places on the bolt that can become clogged. On my mower, there are two bolts, a smaller diagonal one that apparently is for draining it, and the larger one that holds the bowl on. I removed both of them and neither of them have any holes to clean!
I am going to take a trip to the gas station to get new gas right now and try that. Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be, or what I could check? Thanks.
To me, it sounds like you have a restriction in the fuel line. When you start mowing the bowl is full and with the restriction it slowly runs out of gas and sputters to a stop. The bowl slowly refills and the cycle is repeated. That's my theory. If you can get the fuel hose off the carburetor and you have a solid flow of gas coming out my theory is wrong. If it's slow it is right. If there is a fuel filter it may be partially plugged or there made be a load of crap in the gas tank.
Thanks guys for taking the time to reply and help. I appreciate it. Dana, what you say seems to make sense. Here is an update from yesterday before your replies. I drained all of the gas, sprayed carb cleaner in the places that seemed logical. I am not a mechanical person. I thought I would try to make sure the fuel line was clear between the tank and carb. The end of the line that attaches to the tank has what looks link a long thin filter that inserts into the bottom of the fuel tank. It looks clean to me. I put that back together. I put fresh gas back in.
I then started the mower, and thought the problem was solved. This time, the mower ran for five minutes before it started to sputter. It went on sputtering for about another 4 minutes or so before I shut it off. Had to go out yesterday after that, got back late. This morning I sprayed around the carb as much as I could, put some carb cleaner spray in the tank. Waited a little bit. Started it up, and it ran fine this morning. Ran it for about 10 minutes. So, I hope it's really fixed. Thanks for your help!
Another thing you could do is take the hose off the carb and blow thru it to possibly dislodge any debris in that thing that may be a filter and see how it does if it gets to acting up again.
