lawnmower (petrol) engine - fix it or buy new?

New one is £600 instead of previous £1300 and before that £1800. So I only want it to last a year.

Have they put fibreglass decks on a decent cutting lawnmower ?

We used to get through a 1300quid honda every 3 years due to Ali deck rot depsite washing the grass off the undersife regularly.

Also had an fibreglass etasia . It was a great mower if you were doing acres but was on wheels and was shit for doing gardens.

And we had a hayter for doing the walled garden and tennis courts.

Are you wearing a suitable shirt while working on the mower?

Is that a young James May?

Trail_rat - how about a Stiga ?

My mum has an acre and a half site, mix of paddock and lawn and a 2nd hand Stiga Park is excellent and seems very well made.

I'm no longer in that industry so don't need one now but a quick look at stigas shows their self propelled unit has an alu steel deck same as the Honda's.

The spring will be under your fridge. Sure someone hasn't been using 2 stroke in it :p

The mower man is picking mine up this morning.... He's basically going to do what you guys have suggested and sharpen/balance the blade for £110.

So well done to the gents who've save themselves a pretty penny.

Next time I'll have a go myself (I hadn't read this thread before arrange for the service)... but having only ever replaced the spark plug once in 9 years I reckon I can "afford" to let someone who really knows what they are doing give it some loving care to my Hayter Sprint 41.

But I am going to have a go at the strimmer.... It's a 4 stoke so I'm guessing the principles are the same.... It's ticking over ok but cuts out when you rev it up.

for the strimmer my first check would be a leaky fuel pipe especially if you have left it sitting with fuel in.

ironically the fuel pipes on most hand power tools - strimmer-hedge cutter-blower - chainsaw use a rubber pipe from the tank to the carb that degrades when fuels left in and goes brittle. picks up a hole - idles fine but when you stick it on throttle the sucking of fuel increases and it sucks in air through the hole.

Used to keep a roll of it in the van for when we got the symptoms you describe as it wasnt really practical for us to drain all tools after each use.

Thanks TR ... that'll be the first thing I check

update! failure..... 😥

its maybe even worse than before

im sure i put the carb/gasket/diaphragm back together ok, and a new air filter rubbed in oil.

anyone care to hazard a guess? 😕

thanks

Sounds like it may be a fuel supply issue.

There's no smoke so I'm presuming the compression is good and rings are not worn.

Shouldn't you have a cable running from lever on 'handlebar' to the black lever attached to the spring in that last vid?

Shouldn't you have a cable running from lever on 'handlebar' to the black lever attached to the spring in that last vid?

The springs look roughly right, but there's something wrong as the linkages aren't moving freely - the throttle (turny thing in the middle) should spring back fully clockwise, and it should take very little pressure on the linkage to close it (turn it anti-clockwise). Everything should move like a Swiss watch - it relies on the breeze from the cooling fan to close the throttle when the engine is up to speed and the springs to open it again under load. Be gentle with them! The carb is probably OK.

The link by your finger isn't in its hole properly, and is probably binding:

[IMG] [/IMG]

Disconnect this and check that the arm near your finger (connected to the vane inside the cowling) is also moving very freely - may need a bit of a clean up. Provided it is, connect the linkage properly and check that the whole thing moves freely.

Have a look at this for inspiration:

Edit: You may need to take the carb off again to get that linkage in right - don't force it!

The link by your finger isn't in its hole properly, and is probably binding:

Provided it is, connect the linkage properly and check that the whole thing moves freely.

Have a look at this for inspiration:

do you think these springs are they key to solving this issue?

EDIT: just watched the vid again and see what you mean about the doobery springing back clockwise, need to try and work out why mine isnt. done a close up of it again and looks the same as mine :-/

I think the springs are right - 99% sure that the binding is the issue. Look how freely the linkage moves in that video, and how it always snaps back to the same place.

I think you will need to take the carb off again to get that linkage hooked up correctly. It needs to be put in place as you fit the carb back on to the engine so that you have enough movement to wiggle everything into place. It's not right as it is now.

yep, will do then, but one things baffling me. as you rightly say, the doobery springs back to the right every time until its pulled to the left and then springs back. but i cant see anything at all that would put any tension on it to keep it to the right. anything thats connected to it is to the left of it so youd imagine the opposite happening.

[url= http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=29clzwi&s=4#.WMbj-JCLTrc ]found another pic.....[/url]

I did the filter, carb, oil, plug thing to mine. It was still crap.

Sold it for £40 and bought a brand new Honda.

Never looked back.

I did the filter, carb, oil, plug thing to mine. It was still crap.

Sold it for £40 and bought a brand new Honda.

Never looked back.

yeee ha, fixed it!!

I think the springs are right - 99% sure that the binding is the issue. Look how freely the linkage moves in that video, and how it always snaps back to the same place.

I think you will need to take the carb off again to get that linkage hooked up correctly. It needs to be put in place as you fit the carb back on to the engine so that you have enough movement to wiggle everything into place. It's not right as it is now.

thanks a lot for your help, much appreciated, this place is great.

Good stuff. Now for the most important thing; a picture of your lawn with fresh stripes! I love a stripey lawn. 🙂

Well done - and a nice view of the field!

Result! Well done 🙂

My lawn is available for extended trials...

ingwerfuchs - Member
Good stuff. Now for the most important thing; a picture of your lawn with fresh stripes! I love a stripey lawn.

POSTED 7 HOURS AGO #

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holy thread resurrection batman.

just asked the mods to re-open this but it says i can still post, so lets see......

lawnmower seems to have given up the ghost now, wont start at all.  its done a few cuts this year already but mrs ex-p cant start it at all, and now i cant either.

i'd go over all the above again and service it again but ive noticed that the squidgy priming jobbie spurts petrol out when pressed too, so not sure how much of a deal-breaker that is.

as with the OP 7 years ago 😱 mrs ex-p is desperate to buy another, whereas id like to keep it going forever, the 'triggers broom' of lawnmowers 😆

is it finally time to lay it to rest do you think?

cheers

Any trigger's broom is a challenge to keep it going forever. You don't just retire a trigger's broom when a small part can be replaced or fixed.

Fix it!
Fix it!
Fix it!
Fix it!
Your wife is having a 7year lawnmower itch!

excellent, my wifes soooo chuffed to bits with your answers 😀

and that squidgy prime button that leaks doesnt mean death to the lawnmower then no?

and i just need to service as above all those years ago, assuming that the links still work of course?

thanks

I have just done mine.

Gasket and diaphram, springs and plug, primer bulb, fresh petrol and good as new.

Ebay for the kit, Youtube for the how to. Mines the 35 too.

Ebay for the kit, Youtube for the how to. Mines the 35 too.

would you mind linking me to the exact kit that you bought then please mate?

ta

Love this thread. I have the same engine in my mower! I've had it for 22 years now and never serviced it, other than giving the spark plug a clean every now and then. I've never even put oil in it! Oh, I did just put a new throttle cable on it last week.

It's struggling a bit now and the plug gets choked sooner so I think I'm going to have to strip and service it. Will read this thread in full with great interest!

Great thread. Fix it. It's the right thing to do for the planet, for your personal pride and satisfaction, for your bank balance, as an antidote to the 'bin it and buy more shit' culture etc. etc.

You know this. Your wife will come to know this. Everyone on STW is now rooting for  sadexpunk's unkillable zombie mower. You simply can not let us down!

Seeing as we've lawnmover peeps in, I'm having a bit of trouble with mine....HOT starting.

Fires first time from cold, stop to empty the grass cutttings and it won't restart. Have to wait 10mins before it'll start again. Any ideas?

Last year it had plug, fuel filter and new carb. Emptied fuel over winter.

Mine's a Webb WER400

Another saying fix it – I have a B&Q special but it has a B&S engine and had a couple of issues with it – once I smashed the throttle linkage against something and bent bits and snapped a return spring, but YouTube and a few new parts and it was right as rain. Then it started running roughly and leaking fuel as the carb gasket had split - replaced that and it was still doing it then I realised it was actually the carb base that had warped (it's only plastic) so replaced that and all is fine. They really are easy to work on.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186353812114

well the 'unkillable zombie mower' lives on, quite by accident for now really.

i was reading through the thread again and noticed....

Not sure if lawnmower’s are ripcord/ pullstart (I’m guessing they are) but don’t just go flalling away on the cord – SLOWLY pull and turn the engine over till at TDC (maximum resistance on the cord), let the cord go back in, slowly take the slack out then give it a good pull. Repeat until started.
Pull cords will thank you.

thought nothing ventured and all that so tried it.  still nothing.  just sat staring at it and with my super-scientific boffin head on i thought 'well if that squidgy prime button leaks its maybe not even priming it but just drawing air in'.  we'd discounted filling it as it already has petrol in it, but i thought i'd at least try filling it up, so that even if it leaks a little, at least therell be fuel behind the button for priming.

so..... filled it to the brim and it struck up!!  no idea how scientifically correct that theory was but its worked.

not resting on my laurels tho, it does need a service, so ill order a new kit including 'squidgy prime button' when i know which is the right kit to buy.

thanks for your help chaps, it lives on!

In my experience lawn mower mechanics are very helpful and like to share their knowledge, parts purchased from them whilst more expensive are usually the correct ones!

Carb kit or new carb both cheap and easy to change. Put in an inline fuel filter.

still it lives!

after getting it started for the last cut by just topping it up, this now didnt work a couple of days ago, so i waited patiently for my ebay service kit to come, wife chuntering away in the background about it being the final straw, its definitely had it now, links to shiny new B&Q mowers being constantly sent by messenger 😀

kit came yesterday, followed the youtube video to the letter (thanks for the link @mugboo) and put it all together again.  only thing i couldnt do was take the ripcord top off as one of the bolts was rounded off but...... lets give it a try.

also changed the air filter (didnt fit quite as well as the old one but the old one was really manky) and the spark plug (no feelers so couldnt check gap) and the priming button.

smug look towards my onlooking wife as i pulled the cord and..... nothing.  b*st*rd! 🤬

started thinking about what the problem could possibly be and checked the fuel again.  half full.  nothing to lose by filling it, tried again and bingo, it worked!!

well...... i dont like to think that this is beyond me so i looked more closely at the priming button.  i think that its all ok but thought id run a couple of things by you experts 😉

firstly, i wasnt sure that the locating clips on the new button definitely pinged into place, altho they were definitely down as far as they could go. i even pushed a socket over the ring and pushed it as far as it would go, just not sure that the aftermarket locating ring is exactly the same (the little plastic lugs below the red retaining ring below).  but then again, im not convinced that this is the problem anyway as it started again after being filled up.

secondly, after filling it, i watched as i primed it and saw small amounts of fuel being expelled through a small hole next to it, shown below (centre of photo)

that to me suggested the primer worked fine and was just expelling air until filled with fuel.  but..... i just wondered whether this happened prior to topping up, and whether itll still work on half a tank.  just checking, there shouldnt be a cap on it should there?  i assume its supposed to expel air then fuel?

like i say, it lives for now, but im just not convinced that the kit has solved the problem and that for some reason it needs a full tank to start.

cheers