Help

I have a Briggs and Stratton Lawnmower, it is about 18 months old. Got its first outing of the year today and its not running well, or at all. Starts first time but smokes heavily and cuts out after 10secs or so. So far I have:
Replaced spark plug
Checked oil level is okay (not over filled)
Cleaned filter
Sprayed carb cleaner in

That is the extent of my knowledge. Any other ideas and idiots guides?

Ta

Have a butchers here

BTW if it isn’t one of three models it might be under guarantee :

http://www.psep.biz/store/briggs_and_stratton_warranty.htm

Does it have a choke or do you have to prime it. Sounds like too much fuel:air = flooding

I have to prime it, seems to run only on the fuel that I push through with the primer, then cuts out.

i’d say that on a day like today you need to retire to your shed/garage and dismantle your carb….
mind you I’ve had several Briggs and Stratton lawnmowers and it’s usually a downhill route from here….. 🙂
you can buy service kits if your carb gasket has had it….
there’s generally some pretty useful stuff from Bub n’ Skeeter in Wichita to guide you in google of course

check that air is getting to the petrol supply (ie where is fuel breather hole and is it blocked), can you take the fuel pipe off the carb and see if fuel flows from the tank, is there a fuel filter, is it blocked

Did you empty out the tank from last year? Is there any water in the fuel. get rid of the old crappy stuff, start with a fresh can and see what happens! Usually improves things.

had another go with the carb cleaner, gave i really healthy spray into all the holes under where the air filter is. I figured one was for air, one was fuel in and one fuel out. Anyway, seemed to do the trick! Running smoothly now.

Thanks for the help!

Run it for a while…probably needing a good run…

its not running well, or at all. Starts first time but smokes heavily and cuts out after 10secs or so

Exact same problem with my father’s. He’d just got ait back from a rather expensive too, big ride-on thing.
I went to do some mowing, filled it with fuel, being really careful not to use the can with petrol/oil mix we keep for the chainsaw. Came to start it and got the problem you describe above.
So naturally I called the man who had serviced and demanded that he come round and fix whatever he had done wrong.
He arrived the next day, looked at it for about 30secs and said ‘you’ve got diesel in that’.
I said ‘no I haven’t, we have no deisel in the garage’
He said ‘yes you have’ and then did the setting fire to a rag test and proved it was deisel. Someone who shall remin nameless had put a can of deisel in the garage as she was going on a long journey and ‘needed the room in the car’ It’s the long journeys when you take the can you plonker!
Anyway, I felt quite foolish. He cleaned the carb and the fuel filter and filled it with petrol and then it worked.
I did the little mower myself when that wouldn’t start the next day…

I would also replace the fuel, might have gone off?

That got one of my chainsaw going this weekend, after trying everything else 😉

[edit]just thought, another thing to try is to pop the plug out and drop a bit fuel directly into the cylinder, that used to get my B&S going after a long rest 😉