Worked on my push mower this weekend. Last week while mowing it started revving up and down. Surging. That's never good. My first thought was a fuel or spark plug issue. Changed out the spark plug. Still had the same symptoms.
Went to change out the fuel filter and realized it didn't have one. Seems the previous owner must have removed it for some reason. Never figured out why.
Started thinking. Since it had been running without a fuel filter, I figured the carburetor had to be dirty as hell. All that unfiltered fuel running through it. Carburetors for small engines are cheap. At least for my model. So instead of taking it apart and cleaning every little part, I just bought new. Got a whole tune up kit. Didn't really need all of it right now, but might as well have the parts on hand.
Installed the new carb last night and found my fuel line had a crack in it. Of course it did. So I ordered new fuel line. Got it last night. Installed everything this morning.
Runs like a charm now.
The good lady mowed this morning. No surging. No sputtering. Just a mower doing what a mower is supposed to do.
Sometimes fixing things is just a matter of working the problem. One part at a time until you find the culprit. In this case it was a missing fuel filter, a dirty carb, and a cracked fuel line all working together to make my life difficult. All fixed now.
On to the next project. And back to cleaning my garage.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
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Nice job! Changing out the carburetor was a lot easier than cleaning out the old one and adding a fuel filter will prevent that from happening again. Nice that you have a reliable mower that works again!
!BBH
!PIZZA
Yeah I thought buying new one was much easier too. Wasn’t sure I’d get it installed right, but did.
Machines are still one of the areas where I fail completely. Never caught my interest, really. Also because I never had machines that weren't electrical, besides a beaten down car that broke down every 2 miles and was sold quickly.
A lawn mower is a different story, though. I don't have a lot of lawn, so I don't need it much, and the manual one I have is more than enough. One of those with spinning blades, like a tube, that circle when you push it and the wheels spin. It's a lot of fun, brings up childhood memories.
Sounds like my first car :-)
I know exactly the type of manual mower you are talking about. They are good for small yards and exercise.
Takes me 10min to cut the yard here. And it's so much fun! The raking afterwards is not my favorite, but I converted it into a meditation in my mind, so it's fine. Did some nice yard work yesterday, breaking up the soil besides the lawn mowing. Looks a lot better now.
Mowing the lawn, when was able, was meditative for me as well. I liked mowing the nice neat rows. The rhythmic sound of the engine. But usually she wants to push mow for her exercise for the day. Even though I have a riding mower.
Remove the fuel filter, what the fluff did they do that for I wonder!
I have no idea. The old carb was all kinds of gunky though.
Nice job! I need to do a tune up on mine at some point. I also need to take a look at my generator since I used it so much last week. I really wish I had taken a small engine repair course in college.
I learned mostly by watching others, watching YouTube videos of not sure and just diving in and doing.
Maybe he forgot to put the fuel filter back in. It happens.
This is very useful and helpful and I would love to have this one
Curious, how did you find it useful?