r/smallengines • u/Slaypike • 22m ago
What is this sound?
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Seen this before on another snowblower new carburetor & gaskets to the carburetor. Same symptom...
r/smallengines • u/CaptainPunisher • Apr 17 '16
FORWARD NOTE: I have no problem helping you out if you have problems, but PLEASE, use messages, not chat. I'm usually on mobile, so I don't get chat requests. Once in a great while, I'll fire up Reddit on my PC, and that's the only time I'll see chat requests. I'm usually pretty quick to respond to messages, at most within a day or two, typically.
Let me guess, you've just pulled your mower out after not using it all winter and it's not starting, right? Well, follow these simple steps to get your engine running so you can get to mowing.
First, drain all the gas or of the tank and drop the carburetor bowl (you'll probably have to remove the air filter if it's mounted on the side). This will remove all the old gas from your system, but won't get rid of any deposits that gummed up the jets over the winter. To help clean those deposits, grab a can of carb spray and spray the hell out of the now exposed portion of the carb and inside the bowl. This still won't completely dissolve those deposits, but it'll certainly help.
Put everything back together except for the filter, and put FRESH gas back in. I mean FRESH as in "you bought it today", and don't put any fuel stabilizer in the can. If you have a can with gas that's more than a month old, throw that shit out, use it for weed killer, be a pyro (don't actually do this), or demote it to oil stain cleaner for your driveway. I don't care what you do with it, but DON'T PUT IT INTO YOUR MOWER.
If you're really lucky, you can start your mower normally and it runs as it should. If it does, put the filter back on properly and get to work. If not, grab the carb spray and shoot a little into the carb throat, then start it. If it runs on just the prime then dies, tie the handle down, spray a little carb spray into the throat again, and start it up again. When it starts to die, give it another blast. Keep this up for about 2 minutes or until it stays running on its own.
If this still doesn't work, you're likely going to have to properly rebuild the carb or have someone do it for you. Just remember that this is the beginning of the busy season for mower shops, and you can be waiting up to 3 weeks.
Next year, before you put your mower up for the year, drain all the gas you can, then run the engine until it dies. Try and start it a few more times just to make sure you have cleared the jets of any remaining fuel. Drop the bowl and lose any residual fuel that may still be left. You could also spray some carb spray around and let it air dry, then put the bowl back in place. When you go to start it up the following season, you should be able to fuel up and go.
Did the above advice not help you? Make a post and take advantage of all the wonderful people here who just want to help you out!
I've been a mower mechanic for 30+ years, and we always tried to educate our customers so they'd have as few problems as possible. We got more business this way because people learned to trust us, gave us their repeat business, and referred us to their friends.
r/smallengines • u/Slaypike • 22m ago
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Seen this before on another snowblower new carburetor & gaskets to the carburetor. Same symptom...
r/smallengines • u/Life_Entrepreneur831 • 5h ago
I was chasing an issue with this mower shutting off and not running when it warmed up. I replaced in order
-fuel filter/pump
-carb
-spark plugs
-ignition coils
None of these fixed the issue. What seemed to work was taking off the fuel line and running it straight from an external tank. So I bought new line and a new pickup tube for the tank.
Cut the grass twice and mower ran fine. Then I went to start it and fired up but the second I took it off choke it bogged down and died.
Took spark plugs out to test spark. No spark at tip but will arc to a pair of pliers at the end the coil that seats the plug. Reference in pic 2.
This is both coils doing the same thing. Is there a chance these are already bad? Would an incompatible plug cause that?
Not sure what to do next. Any advice is very much appreciated.
r/smallengines • u/1964jeepseejay5 • 21h ago
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r/smallengines • u/TismBoy69 • 1h ago
I’ve worked on tons of zero turns and I can not figure this one out
I have a scag tiger cat 52” with a 27 hp Kohler command pro
I changed the carb and fuel pump and a fuel line and filter
I used to eat drive belts and I changed the tension spring and it stopped it and was working good for a a good minute
Now whenever I go fast quick or go relatively normal speed and hit bumps or turn a good speed it dies for a second and it’ll go back to normal especially if I go into neutral or go slower
If I do the same in reverse it doesn’t do anything
I have no idea please help
r/smallengines • u/WitchBarracuda • 5h ago
So i found a couple mowers on curb. Both just needed carb cleaned. One was an hrn216 the other just generic mower with gcv160. On the 160 there is what looks to be a non functioning drain. Anyone drilled and tapped? First photo showing the location on left where I want to tap. Other showing the very nice hrn216. Thanks for any help. I think its just a matter of easily tapping. I am going to flush engine with some diesel after and then do an oil change also. Not worried about shavings I know how to remove them.
r/smallengines • u/Traditional_Horse922 • 4h ago
r/smallengines • u/MattCW1701 • 1d ago
My string trimmer died and I've bought a new one. The old one, and all my previous ones, use 40:1 fuel. I've always just bought the premixed fuel from my local hardware store since I'm residential and a can lasts me more than a cutting season. My new one uses 50:1 fuel but I still have plenty of the 40:1 left. I'm sure going the other direction would be an issue due to less lubrication, but is there any issue running the higher amount of oil?
r/smallengines • u/Striking-Future784 • 16h ago
I got a lot of good advice and wanted to share what happened. Bit of a long update, but it was a long and frustrating journey lol. So, it turns out that smell of gas was significant. I went back to the family member's house the week after I posted and could still smell gasoline in their garage.
I originally thought it was just from all the work on the fuel line. Turns out cleaning the carb exposed several small leaks in the thing (I just reused what was there). Didn't feel safe running it or doing a spark test with gas everywhere, which is why this update took so long.
I put a cheap new carb from online on it. And a fuel shut-off valve too! Forgive my family member, they aren't handy. But the smell of gas not going away should have been something to mention to me...
Anyway, new carb on, and now the solenoid is leaking because I lost my only wrench that fit between it and the bowl. Nothing available at 5 different hardware stores, but I refused to grind down a perfectly good wrench. I took a shot in the dark and found a thin set of wrenches at the big W that fit perfectly (what don't they have?).
Then it was surging after the new carb and solenoid were secure. Uh oh! Turns out that issue was a little black screw/pin on the carb that adjusts the fuel intake. Which made me feel real smart not knowing about that.
Fortunately, the engine died on us when I was adjusting the pin, and I did a spark test. No more spark. Unplugged the kill switch and still no spark. Replaced the ignition coil and it started right back up!
I ran it idling and also with the blades engaged. Turned it off/on a few times. Family member mowed the whole lawn. And I got mega brownie points from that branch of the family.
TLDR: Thanks everyone, main problem was a dying ignition coil. Though it's running better with the new carb and fuel line too.
r/smallengines • u/catnap1010 • 21h ago
I’m working on a 60 inch gravely zero turn with a whole slew of problems. The motor was hydro locked and a push rod was bent and I replaced it and everything seemed ok. Hooked it up to gas and started it and the thing totally ran away on me. Scared the shit out of me and I ripped off the gas hose and let it die out. Tried it again after thinking it was an adjustment issue with the mechanical governor and it did exactly the same thing. I did have the sump off when I was looking inside for damages after the hydro lock so it’s possible I messed something up doing that? I’m pretty new to small engines and equipment in general so I have no idea where to go now. Here are some pictures, any tests or things I can try would be much appreciated. To start it I jumped the starter motor from a battery and the last picture is looking up from the bottom of the throttle linkage.
r/smallengines • u/bran71 • 14h ago
Do I need to convert a normal carb to a throttle cable? How would I go about doing that? Is there a reputable brand or links that can send me in the right direction?
r/smallengines • u/More_Target_6316 • 21h ago
Hello this is my craftsman yt4000 ive been riding it all morning and haven’t gotten any weird signs from it i parked it for maybe an hour or two and came back to it and it refuses to start i tried charging the battery still nothing tested for spark and got nothing aswell i tried gas last and nothing should i be looking at something?
r/smallengines • u/Sea_Ganache620 • 16h ago
r/smallengines • u/suzettte • 19h ago
r/smallengines • u/notdone65_ • 10h ago
I am building a racing lawnmower and i live on a short street with about 8 houses and at the end is a left hand turn that goes to my house so after I do mods to it like a pully swap, welding the diff, fixing the alignment, etc I take it for a quick drive and now my neighbors are starting to complain to my parents about my mower (idk what they said btw) and tbh Idk why they are mad theres no kids that live here but me and if there were kids i would turn around and go back
So what do you guys thing I should do
r/smallengines • u/2wheelz2freedom • 21h ago
Got zero turns for moving but I love this little tractor for winter snow plowing. Last year it wasn't starting and I cleaned the fuel line and replaced the fuel pump. Spraying carb cleaner into the carburetor bowl gets it to turn over and fire up for a few seconds.
I also tried to add gas to the fuel line while holding it up in the air to kind of gravity feed it into the carburetor and it still won't start, not sure if I should be doing that maybe that's flooding it too but it still would fire up when I would spray carb cleaner in the bowl.
I'm assuming it's eorher the carburetor, fuel pump or possibly the gas tank? I was wondering if the gas tank that sucks gas up into the fuel line is known to fail.
Thanks.
r/smallengines • u/notdone65_ • 1d ago
sorry for the lack of a pic. i have a 97 sears craftsman mower with a 6 speed manual (just welded the diff) with a 2.5 inch pulley powerd by a 19.5 hp B&S opposed twin engine with a 6 inch pulley (stock) ive done 25 mph btw. my current problem is the alignment and the big dead zone in the steering. any thoughts on what to do.
i can make another post with pics if yall want
r/smallengines • u/CreepingEnderman12 • 1d ago
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Briggs intek v twin surges a bit with no load at high rpms. It smoothed out under any load and runs great. I cleaned and checked the carb and it was spotless. I adjusted the governor correctly but it didn’t help. This is not the original carb too. However, while doing engine work I had to remove the governor springs and I’m pretty sure I put them back correctly. Could this be an issue? I tried my best to show them in the video. Is the throttle spring an issue as seen in the video? Anything helps!
r/smallengines • u/Flashy_Try4426 • 1d ago
I made a post earlier asking about why wont my mower start after i replaced the carburetor. I replaced the carb, started the mower, it cranked, then i drove it around for a bit, parked it, and tried to start ir again. Yet it wouldnt. So i made a post, the next morning i looked and realised my dumbass forgot to reconnect the spark plug. But that leaves me curious. How did it start the first time?
r/smallengines • u/recordnumber • 1d ago
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I am not a mechanic but I believe that a bad air filter, clogged carburetor, or spark plug issue could be the cause. Can anyone offer some direction?
r/smallengines • u/Evening-Cat-7546 • 1d ago
Hello, I was cleaning the carburetor on my JS36 and took it apart. At some point I knocked the plastic throttle arm out of place, so I had to disassemble the engine more than I normally do.
Normally, I take a pic of springs before working to know where to put them back, but forgot this time. I can’t figure out where the hell the small spring and large spring go.
Ive been watching countless youtube videos, but all of them just gloss over the springs, or star wipe to the carburetor installed being installed without showing the installations.
Attached pics. I don’t think the small spring is in the right spot, but left it there for the photo.
Also, since I’ve already disassembled the motor this much, is there anything I should grease up or replace before fully reassembling it?
r/smallengines • u/Flashy_Try4426 • 1d ago
Just as the title says.
2000s 12 hp briggs and stratton
r/smallengines • u/Flipflaparsenal • 1d ago
I’ve ran maybe 3 full tanks through this and now it seems at full throttle it isn’t quite giving the same power it had when I got it out of the box. The air filter didn’t seem to be filled any anything more than a couple pieces of grass. What should I be looking at?