It “almost caught” (I wasn’t there, that’s what my husband said) once among the bazillion pulls he tried.
He was supposed to take it somewhere today but turnaround is 2.5 weeks because I assume everybody else is doing the same thing. I asked him if he’d changed the gas and he said “wellll…” This is his damned problem, I am sick and tired of being in charge of everything around here. If I get a note from the city it’s on his head.
Friendly with any neighbors? Can you borrow a mower for a minute? The longer you let it go the harder it is to cut.
My push mower went out at the beginning of my last season with a push mower (I upgraded to a John Deere!)
Problem? The spark plug wire - which is sitting there as plain as day in the front of the mower - came off the spark plug. Didn’t realize until I’d cleaned all the filters, changed the oil and re-filled with gas. (obvs not your problem if you’re getting to catch)
In the meantime I took the opportunity to introduce myself to my neighbor and borrow his mower. You could do the same, and get the mower fixed in the meantime.
Er, I mean your husband can do these things.
He did not get me anything for Mother’s Day. Mmmhmmm.
Sounds a lot like me. I have a Yardman mower with a 4-horse Briggs engine that I bought in spring of '02. I never drain the gas, never put stabilizer in it. I have a one-gallon gas can that I refill whenever it gets empty. If that happens in mid-summer, then it may be next spring before I use the last of it and refill it. IOW, the mower is sometimes running on fuel that may have been stored for as long as nine months. Every spring it starts on the first apathetic pull of the starter cord, no issues whatsoever.
Is this all really because I’m using premium gas for it?
There are a ton of mower-repair videos on YouTube, some of them showing how to get rid of the varnish/lacquer that coats carburetor parts caused by ethenol.
Unfortunately, the above link goes to a Toro infomercial (I searched for mower bad fuel on YouTube). But it’s short and states the problem clearly and quickly without the viewer having to watch some epic gas-line and carburetor repair video.
My Toro just started back up on the first pull of the season today. Just checked the oil and added gas (gotten in/around Jan for the snowblower). Last season let the tank run dry, no stablizer. Still runs like a champ. Not sure of the age, but 5 years is a good estimation.
Had some issues end of last year and beginning of this. My broblem was the rubber washer at the bottom of the carb. Last fall it was shot, and when I replaced it, I ripped it wrenching too hard.
Like someone said, loads of vids on the web. And there really isn’t that much to these engines. Just clear a space to work on it, get your tools together, and get a good light. It is quite a feeling of accomplishment when you troubleshoot and fix something you couldn’t have done before.
The big debate is whether to drain or add stabilizer at the end of the season. IMO, either works.
Yep. Every year, the first mow of the season has been a pain in the ass, sometimes taking me up to 10 minutes to get the damn mower started. I always forget to drain the gas from last year.
This year, I finally just drained the gas, changed the air filter, cleaned the carb, put in new gas, and the mower started up on the very first pull. That has never happened to me before.
There’s a thread somewhere about my rotten luck with lawnmowers. Every year I have to take the mowers in for a ‘tune up’ to make them run. (Actually, last year I only took one in.) I tried to start the last-running mower in February, Winter being extremely mild this year. I put in fresh fuel. Wouldn’t start. Not to worry. Plenty of time before the grass gets too high. And then suddenly the grass was too high. I had to call in the yard guy last week.
I’m not going to bother getting the Craftsman mowers serviced. I’ll just put them on Craigslist and see how much I can get for them. (How much can I get for them?) As of Saturday, we have a new Toro self-propelled mower with ‘blade stop’.
Sort of, but with a major caveat. Using higher octane gas makes absolutely no difference, it’s only the ethanol content. There’s no reason why premium gas has to have less ethanol, and in fact sometimes the opposite is true because ethanol is a cheap way to boost the octane number.
Now, some gas station owners have figured out that marketing ethanol-free premium is an excellent way to sell more premium gas (although sometimes there’s some sleight-of-hand in that their other grades might also be ethanol-free but they don’t label them as such.) Using that will reduce the varnishing issues, but you need to make sure it’s a station that’s advertising ethanol-free premium; you can’t just use any old premium gas. Usually the ethanol-free premium has a higher price spread too, so it might be 50 cents more a gallon as opposed to 30.
Now that I think about it, part of why I never have gas problems might be because around here they switch to higher ethanol content winter gas around September, but I am an exceedingly lazy lawn mower and so I’m usually still using gas I bought in July when I park the mower.
You’ll be sorry.
Is there enough gas in it? My mower has trouble starting unless the tank is nearly full.
I have not heard the ethanol argument around here, however the ethanol content is regulated by law as part of the compliance with the clean air act. So when all 3 grades are required to contain 10% ethanol (and +/- limits are also imposed and pretty much at that 10% mark), I don’t see how that can fly.
However I have heard that premium gas is the original fraction of gasoline from the oil refining process, while the lesser grades is more of a produce of cracking and other processes that make heavier (and lighter?) oil distillates ‘good enough’ for gasoline. So supposedly the premium is the real stuff and should last longer. I don’t believe that to be true but IDK.
The only federal requirement is that the EPA requires fuel to be oxygenated during the winter months in places with high CO levels. That is most commonly achieved these days by blending ethanol (although not necessarily 10%) but the old additive MBTE is still available in most states (with the notable exception of California.) MBTE has turned out to be a big groundwater pollutant so the liability costs associated with it means it’s significantly more expensive, so these days it’s usually only used for gas labeled as ethanol-free premium and sold for a premium over normal premium.
During the summer months, though, oxygenation isn’t required and so it’s possible that all three grades are going to not have ethanol. Of course every gas pump in the country that isn’t specifically selling non-ethanol gas has the “up to 10% ethanol” sticker on it, but that “up to” could potentially be 0%.
Remove the oil filter and pour a little bit of gasoline right in the carburator. Directly in the carb. Replace the filter and give it a rip.
And by oil filter he means air filter.
tl;dr. Sorry if someone else has said this already.
If you’re either cleaning/regapping the old plug, or putting in a new one, ALSO change the air filter on the carb. Lawn mower engines are simple; if they won’t start, either they’re not getting fuel, or the spark is bad. A dirty air filter is the fastest way possible to foul a sparkplug, and new filters are very inexpensive.
Still not sure why so many people say this about Toro (unless you meant the blade system specifically).
I’ve owned the Recycler 20322 for ~4 years now and literally no issues besides routine maintenance. YMMV I guess.
Our fucking piece of shit is, by the way, a Toro Recycler.
Gonna recycle it?