Not bike related: Mower getting bogged down

[natefz6]

Hey all,

So my neighbour got given 3 petrol mowers from a friend, he already has quite a collection and his misses would not put up with more around so he has offloaded one to me for a couple of beer tokens, a much better one to another friend and hidden another in his shed of mowers.

I gave the back lawn a mow on Saturday and while it did the job it seemed like it was lacking a bit of power. I had to get the blades right up in order to cut it without stalling and end up running the motor on high speed on dry grass. I continued cutting it down until it ran out of fuel.. I had to nip out Saturday pm so popped it back in the shed to have more of a play with Sunday.

Sunday comes I pull it out once more and pop some fuel in it to finish off the front garden. Again it starts fine and does half the lawn but then starts to bog down easily, it gets to the point where as soon as I show it grass it coughs and splutters like a child trying to get out of p.e. lesson. Then gives up the ghost completely, and will not start.

I leave it for a while in case I have flooded but while it does sound like its going to start it dies within a few seconds.

I am guessing that it could be blocked jets but before I pull it all to pieces I would consult the oracle of BCF for pointers

Mower type=Mountfield 16 empress push type (Tecumseh engine)


I just found this which looks like it may be useful: https://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/html/engine-specs/tecumseh/Tecumseh_quick_reference.pdf
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[arry]

Had a model with similar/same engine (well; I didn't, bought one s/h for my nan as she needed something self propelling) and had similar problems. Believe it or not - sharpening the blade solved it entirely. Made that much difference to resistance.

[doggone]

Carb Diaphragm kit from ebay might help.

[natefz6]

[jaffa90]

Long grass has to be cut in stages (height settings).
Is the cut grass clogging underneath? Check by lifting the front thus keeping the spark plug uppermost.

[natefz6]

[arry]

[fatjames]

You neighbour sounds like a bit of an enthusiast, couldn't he look over it? (before you spend any money it)
Otherwise, go through the motions..
Is fuel getting to the carb?
Is there compression?
Is the spark plug sparking?

I don't know how to check these things, so probably haven't helped much.

[natefz6]

[Beehive Bedlam]

You're lucky I'm letting you keep this post on my forum.

[Pete.]

If it was a Briggs engine I would say valve clearances but I don't know if the Tecumseh engines suffer the same problems. I got my mountfield FOC coz it wouldn't run and all it needs was a bit of filing on the pushrods to restore the clearances.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[natefz6]

This was err an interesting 18 mins of my life I will not be getting back...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43qFlF8C7Oc

Gives me some more things to check though.
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[MCN]

If it's a stroker it may well be the ignition stuff.

Coil diode lead etc.

Cheap-ish to replace.

The engine should be more than able to beat the shit out of grass even without much cutting edge.

I used a company in UK for parts and info.

https://www.generatorguru.com/

Enjoy.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[stevo as b4]

It's probably fucked and low on compression. Mower engines will run until everything is so badly scored and knocking like a bag of spanners in a cement mixer for ages until they give up.

Rotary mower engines have to be in better condition, and they are worked much harder than cylinder mowers, as they need to always run at 3000rpm to actually cut any grass.

Check the compression and also for up down play in the crankshaft or clanking when you turn it over. If the rest of the mower is sound and solid, you could probably Re-engine it with any similar size vertical crank engine.

Oh and when it comes to mowers,real riders still ride Honda, so ask your neighbour to give you a proper connoisseurs machine next time instead.

[Suntan Sid]

[Cosmik de Bris]

The lawn mower is the ideal platform for a turbocharger, this will cure all your problems. As the grass gets longer engine load goes up and the turbo produces more boost. No more bogging!

You know you want to.

Cheers

[natefz6]

Its a 4 stroke engine. Turbo does sound like a good plan

After watching several hours of you tube I am thinking it could be one of a few things,

Carb related:
Water in the carb, it was outside before I got it and the rain was heavy
Blocked jets, I ran the fuel all the way out so it could have sucked in some crap
Other carb problem with jets, vale or floats.

The other thing that it might be is a sheared key on the fly wheel.. some videos I have watched with similar symptoms say if you hit something with the mower blades it can shear the key between the crank and the fly wheel. I may have ran over some AstroTurf that got sucked up into the mower on Saturday...

Anyway I have some time at the weekend so I will have a check of the carb and key and hopefully spot something off.
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[Stoker]

[quote="Fazer The Bastard"]You're lucky I'm letting you keep this post on my forum.[/quote

It's YOUR forum, is it? Assassinate Korn, did we?

[UncleFester]

Clean and dry the filter if it has one, probably soaked in oil.

Change the oil - it's probably sludge.

New plug, i change ours every year - for the cost it's pointless ( ha) not to.

Drain and clean the fuel lines / clean the carb.
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Module 1 and 2 passed - October 2014. Happy owner of a 2017 Z1000SX, ex owner of a YBR125 / CB500 / VFR800.

[natefz6]

So the wife took the kids out this morning, I said I could not go as I had some important things to attend to...

I pulled the mower out and gave it a yank and still had no joy, I had not expected the mower fixing elves to have visited but you never know. Back to the shed for the tool box and a jerry can and sat down to start pulling things apart.

1st thing disconnected the fuel line and drained the petrol back in to the jerry can, I had filled the mower to the brim before it died .

After that was off I removed the engine cover and then the air filter. I gave the air filter a quick inspection, it looks quite new and was still oily.

Next I popped a rag under the carb and hit the drain plug to get the rest of the fuel out. Once drained I set about taking the carb off, first I removed the throttle plate and then the carb itself.

Once the carb was off I undid the nut on the bottom of the bowl, I expected this to be a the main jet from the videos I have watched but it wasn't unless the holes are that small you cannot see them with the naked eye

When I had finished inspecting the bolt and wondering where the fuck the holes were I pulled off the bowl an saw what I suspect was the reason it was not starting. It looked like a 50-50 mix of petrol and rust crappy water. I dumped this on the rag and checked the condition of the bowl itself. It looked like shit, lots of build up of some white and green crap and the o-ring on the drain plug was turning to powder as I looked at it.

I gave it a clean best i could (with no carb cleaner to hand) and put it all back together.

Once I had double checked all bolts were tight and I had none left over I gave the start cord a pull and the beaut started up I gave it a spin round the front lawn and it was all good. I decided to quickly go over the back too but it started getting a little ropey by the end.

So I am now on the prowl on ebay for a new carb, looking at the prices I might as well as the cost for the gaskets/o-rings/float bowl I am going to be at the same price as replacing the lot with postage on the parts.
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[natefz6]

Two weeks of trawling the internet I cannot find the same carb as as the one on my mower. Lots are similar ones but nothing the same.

I have taken the old one apart and given it a clean with carb cleaner and it is running much better but it needs new o-rings on the bowl, bowl drain and the bowl itself is looking a bit tatty still. I cant seem to find a carb kit for these online either.

Looking at youtube videos there many engines that look exactly the same but have a different carb but with a primer bulb on it and without a choke. I can see these are available from a few places online, worth a punt to see if it works or just live with it how it is and get the use out of it?
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"no I didn't steal it that's just the way I ride"

[Islander]

You can get carb rebuild kits from mower spares suppliers.