Lawnmower... hard starting and low powerJust thought I'd put my experiences out there for posterity... and
maybe it will help some poor schmuck like me.
Had a lawnmower... about 15 yrs old. Nothing fancy... it's a cheapo
Murray with a Briggs & Stratton engine. The thing was hard to start...
couldn't get it going without starting fluid... and springtime was
worse. I thought ALL lawnmowers were hard to start in the spring and
that was just a law of nature.
In addition, I though my mower was just getting "old" and it was time
for a new one.
Well, last fall I took it upon myself to try and resurrect it. After
all, aren't those motors bone simple and designed to last forever?
I replaced the spark plug. The old plug didn't look too bad, but since
it was the plug that came with the motor, I figured it wouldn't hurt.
But that wasn't the problem.
I can now PRECISELY define the problem in two statements... number one
being the more important...
1) OLD GAS.
2) Wrong motor oil.
Everyone has heard the old bit about gas "going bad". I heard it too.
But once my mower got started, it ran... more or less OK... but I
didn't think the low power had anything to do with the gas. I thought
it was just a worn motor. I didn't think the gas was the problem.
BOY WAS I WRONG.
I got rid of the old gas in my can... was probably over a year old...
maybe two. Also drained the mower gas tank. Bought some FRESH gas...
dumped it in the tank.... pushed the little primer bubble the
requisite number of times and pulled.
Started RIGHT up... like an Indy racer. Even SOUNDED more powerful. In
fact, it WAS more powerful. It was like a whole new mower.
Moral of story.... OLD gas is BAD. It still fires, but not as well and
may very well be the source of all your woes. From what I hear,
anything over 3 months old is bad. So from now on, I'll dump that last
gallon of old gas into my truck where it is diluted into about 20
fresh gallons and can do no harm.... and I go buy FRESH gas for the
mower.... and any other small engines I may own. Not every time I cut
the grass of course... just when the gas is more than a few months
old.
Remember.... FRESH GAS makes ALL the difference in the world.
Now... number two... OIL. I always thought oil was pretty much oil.
So, when I ever DID get around to changing the oil in the mower (which
was almost never), I'd dump in some generic 10W-40 and thought I was
good to go.
WRONG.
If you look closely at your average mower's operating manual, you'll
probably see that it calls for a certain weight oil.... and it's NOT
10W-40.
It's a single weight oil.... thinner than regular oil... in general no
good for cars.... but MUCH better for small engines like lawnmowers.
It seems that THICK oil, like you might put in a car, makes it harder
for the engine to turn... especially when it's cold. The thinner oil
stays thin and the cold engine can more easily turn.
So... if you change your mower's oil, first check the manual and use
the proper oil. Barring that, go to any store than sells lawnmower
supplies (Walmart does) and get a quart of LAWNMOWER OIL. It's marked
lawnmower oil, or small engine oil, or something like that. Might even
be labeled Briggs & Stratton engine oil. At any rate, DON'T use car
motor oil... there's a difference.
Anyhow, I write all this because today is the first day I mowed the
grass this season. I had about a gallon of gas in my can left over
from last year. I dumped it into my truck, went to the gas station and
filled it with some FRESH (87 octane) gas. Came back home... dumped
out what was left in the mower tank... filled it up with the FRESH
gas... pushed the little primer button a few times and pulled the
cord.
STARTED RIGHT UP ON THE FIRST PULL.
It's like I discovered one of the Secrets Of The Universe.
So now, if you've read this far, YOU know the secret too. Well, it's
probably not a secret... let's just say now I know that when people
talked about gas going bad... there's really something to it.
Anyhow, that's all and happy mowing!
Joe Barta