Weird mower repair thread

ILENGINE

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What is the strangest repair you have done on a mower. Like a blue bottle fly in the fuel tank preventing the last 2 inches of fuel from flowing out of the tank, or having 2 feet of fuel line between the tank and fuel filter packed full of grass, but no grass clipping or other debris in the fuel tank. Or my favorite was a customer was having problems with the starter immediately draining a new battery within about 5 seconds of hitting the key, and finding that the starter was packed full of grease.
 

Rivets

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Had a Toro 520xi that when we opened the hood found it pack to the top of the engine with everything you can think of. Removed the side panels and found a squirrel nest, with babies in the dash area. Every wire in there was chewed through and the babies didn’t survive. Also, had a Simplicity Legacy with a bees nest under the hood, so big we called a bee keeper to remove the queen and as many of her troops as possible. Finally, had a customer fill his tractor tires with Great Stuff, because he had a thorn tree in his yard and was trying to find a solution to his leaks.
 
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Wow I forgot post on this one....... Also it will be a response to... Bert's Mobile1... on a thread that I didn't finish........

Back in 93 or 94 a lady asked me to go and check out her riding mower..........It was a 86 or so Craftsman with a Techemseh engine..... It would run on partial choke perfect.... I threw a kit in it and all went well for about a week...

Got a call back and said it was doing the same thing..... Took the carb off and cleaned it again, no kit this time...... Perfect for another 2 weeks and the same thing, got a call again....... Same thing.... So what I did was throw the carb in my acid for 2 days almost.... Ok I noticed a large mosquito in the gas tank... I took it out.... Put the carb back on again......

Now down here in Louisiana we got 2 different size of them things....... The small ones that pass thru your screen door and the big ones that open your screen door..... LOL..... They are huge tho.....

Ok back to the story.... So I get a call back, same frickin thing partial choke runs well...... Guess what ?? A few I guess of those mosquito legs had broke off and got in the carb several times.... I finally emptied the tank and got rid of the issue....

If I would have seen the that thing in the tank the first few times I would have taken it out.... The last time I took the seat out the carb the piece of leg was there......

No problems after that and we hit it off a month later and lived together for 5 years......... I guess you could say we spent a lot time together while I was working on her mower... She was there every time I was working on her mower.. She said she was shy and didn't want to ask me date at first.....

Plus Tard Mes Amies ~!~!
 

ILENGINE

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I had a similar story about a TSC rider that I worked on. Customer purchased from the store, and then brought it back two weeks later because it wouldn't run. TSC gave them their money back and I went on got the mower, Cleaned the carb, changed the oil due to gas because of what looks like sand in the fuel system. so drained and flushed fuel system. . TSC sold it again and then came back with sand in the fuel again. This happened with 4 different customers over a 3 month period. Last time I cleaned everything out, and replaced the Red briggs filter with a white one, and never saw the mower again.
 
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Sounds like someone's kid was playing in the sand pile and wanted to feed the mower..... No sand in the oil I hope.....

I do TSC service work over here in my area....
 

ILENGINE

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Sounds like someone's kid was playing in the sand pile and wanted to feed the mower..... No sand in the oil I hope.....

I do TSC service work over here in my area....

I could see that but 4 different owners with kids doing the same thing.
 

Boobala

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Wow I forgot post on this one....... Also it will be a response to... Bert's Mobile1... on a thread that I didn't finish........

Back in 93 or 94 a lady asked me to go and check out her riding mower..........It was a 86 or so Craftsman with a Techemseh engine..... It would run on partial choke perfect.... I threw a kit in it and all went well for about a week...

Got a call back and said it was doing the same thing..... Took the carb off and cleaned it again, no kit this time...... Perfect for another 2 weeks and the same thing, got a call again....... Same thing.... So what I did was throw the carb in my acid for 2 days almost.... Ok I noticed a large mosquito in the gas tank... I took it out.... Put the carb back on again......

Now down here in Louisiana we got 2 different size of them things....... The small ones that pass thru your screen door and the big ones that open your screen door..... LOL..... They are huge tho.....

Ok back to the story.... So I get a call back, same frickin thing partial choke runs well...... Guess what ?? A few I guess of those mosquito legs had broke off and got in the carb several times.... I finally emptied the tank and got rid of the issue....

If I would have seen the that thing in the tank the first few times I would have taken it out.... The last time I took the seat out the carb the piece of leg was there......

No problems after that and we hit it off a month later and lived together for 5 years......... I guess you could say we spent a lot time together while I was working on her mower... She was there every time I was working on her mower.. She said she was shy and didn't want to ask me date at first.....

Plus Tard Mes Amies ~!~!

YOU SLEEEEZZZZZY WEEEZIL !! you kept puttin crap in the tank or carb, just so's you could get to be near her again, I know THAT story you crafty ol skirt-chaser, glad SHE FINALLY nailed YOU down !! .. :laughing:..:laughing:
 

John R

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YOU SLEEEEZZZZZY WEEEZIL !! you kept puttin crap in the tank or carb, just so's you could get to be near her again, I know THAT story you crafty ol skirt-chaser, glad SHE FINALLY nailed YOU down !! .. :laughing:..:laughing:

Kinda what I was thinking.:laughing:
 
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Ok I just thought of one........... This happened about 3 years ago....

A customer brought in a 3.75 Sprint Briggs and was complaining about it not running right in the late winter and spring...

Now down here in South Louisiana we cut grass almost all year round. I did the routine check with checking the oil first....Then trying to start it on it's own..... Nope NADA nothing except for a pop when I pumped the primer bulb toooo many times.... Then dying out after a 2 seconds......

If it runs for 2 seconds it has enough spark and compression to run without a load cutting grass........And such...

Ok then I popped the tank and carb off..... Did the usual rebuild and cleaned the tank out well...... It ran great for a few minutes cutting grass..... Then it bogged down and just kinda choked itself to death..... Primed it a few more times and it started right back up Encore' (Cajun French for Again) Like in my videos....

" Hey it's Boudreaux in Eunice Encore' "

Ok back to the story..... I took the carb and tank off again and noticed something strange........The intake tube was a tad loose..... So I took that off and guess what ????

A Red starting fluid tube was in the friking intake tube and was all beat up with the intake valve hitting it...... It seems like somebody had done work on it a year before and sprayed starting fluid in the intake and got left in there... Which Is A NO NO for any small engine.... I guess the heat from the engine softened the red tube and worked it's way into the valve.....

I got that out and all was hunk dory after I put it all back up...........

Plus Tard Mes Amies ~!~!
 

ILENGINE

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Not a repair, but a funny story. Last year I had a lady call me up and was totally irate that her lawnmower that she had just purchased a week ago at Menards was leaking oil all over the bed of her pickup truck. She was totally upset that the Menards had her bring it to me to look at and couldn't figure out why they won't give her money back without me looking at it. So I tell her to bring it out in the morning and I will look at it. I have exclusive rights at this Menards so even though it was a briggs engine, if it was to be exchanged I had to approve it.

Next morning her husband arrives with the mower, and I can see oil all over the bed of her ranger pickup, and can also see a crack down the side of the oil sump So the husband helps me to unload it, and since he is on the other side of the mower from the direction I tip it to look underneath can't see what I am looking at. The blade has a nice 90 degree bend, which also bent the shaft and cracked the block. So I look at the husband and in a sarcastic calm voice say "So what did you hit" His reply was we didn't hit anything, as he walks around to my side of the now tipped mower and sees the blade. His response was "She didn't say anything about hitting something" Then his next question was "can you do anything with it" and I replied no, and then he calmly asked me to help him load the mower before leaving. I could see the cell phone in his hand before even leaving the business property.
 
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