Help - mower won't start

[Team Canada]

Yesterday I hit a stump with my mower (which I've gone over countless times before, grr) and bent the blade. So I put it on its side to replace the blade, but didn't think to drain anything first, and noticed some oil and gas seeped out in the process. Now after replacing the blade today, I can't get it to start. It'll chug for a couple cycles and then peter out.

 

I had started it again initially after I hit the stump, before I realized it was horribly bent, so I'm hoping that it's not a bad crankshaft but something to do with being on its side. Any advice?

[Teatoe993]

Probably flooded the thing out. Take out the spark plug and replace if you can. Or just let the old plug dry out a bit before putting it back in.

[TSack27]

Yesterday I hit a stump with my mower (which I've gone over countless times before, grr) and bent the blade. So I put it on its side to replace the blade, but didn't think to drain anything first, and noticed some oil and gas seeped out in the process. Now after replacing the blade today, I can't get it to start. It'll chug for a couple cycles and then peter out.

Had nearly the exact same experience last week. Flipped the mower on its side at the end of the day to scrape out the build up, then couldn't get it to run continuously the next day (would always start after priming, but then chug and die after a few cycles). Gave up after 10-15 minutes of this and let it sit over the weekend. Went back to work on it this week and everything ran fine... fluids must have settled back where they belonged on their own. If you can't speed up the drying process like Teatoe suggested, then maybe just give it some time to correct itself.

[Team Canada]

Cool, you have given me hope. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Spark plug is out and drying as we speak..

[Viva La Grinch]

I have a lawn mower question myself. My pull string has locked on me. The plastic handle and string is wrapped at the motor and I can't budge it back an inch. Any ideas what it could be without tearing apart the motor?

[Team Canada]

FYI, I had tipped it over over the wrong way and the air filter was clogged with oil. The good news is that's an easy fix, the bad news is I had to pay someone else to figure it out for me. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[mtrebs]

I have a lawn mower question myself. My pull string has locked on me. The plastic handle and string is wrapped at the motor and I can't budge it back an inch. Any ideas what it could be without tearing apart the motor?

I had the same thing happen to my snow thrower this year. When I did some research online I found a suggestion to remove the sparkplug and see if that frees it up. I guess an air bubble could be trapped in a fuel line that locks everything up and by removing the sparkplug it must allow the bubble to be released. This wasn't my case, but it's worth a shot.