Lawnmower repair

[Bill S]

There was a place off of Toeperwein we used a few years ago - yeah, I know, it's on the NE side.

[JimD]

Josh, have you tried ripping its guts out, cleaning them, then stuffing them back in? Usually works for me.

[caferacermike]

Or even just some good shots of Chem Tool B-12 sold by Berryman's down the carb throat? Probably needs the airfilter cleaned, a new plug and a dowsing of cleaner through the carb.

[dwdenny]

It also depends on the type of carburetor it is as well. If it is one with a float bowl then it will take a lot of carb and choke cleaner to get to all the ports and needle valves to free up. The newer ones will take less cleaner but still more then just pulling it off and cleaning it out. Not much to the new lawnmower carbs at all. If I lived in SA I would have done it for ya but I am not. What type of engine is it and year and I can see if I can walk you through it if you want really easy.

[erikharrison]

There's Northside Rentals off Nacogdoches... The place that used to have a funny saying on their sign out front!!! I believe they do that type of work as well as rent. Either way it's been there as long as I have been on this earth! (no not yesterday )

[5.0Stang]

I know if your close to Cibolo theres a old man there that has a shop he was also my small engines teacher in high school i think his names Mr. Albert if i remember correctly Right off main street

[alton]

It looks like you out of luck when it comes to the NW side of SA? I take mine to the Fixit Shop in Converse, ask for Rick the owner. Just think about it after you drop it off you can fish shop all the way back to your house.

[brewercm]

Does this mower have one of those little rubber primer bulbs, and if so does it have a hole or tear in it. This sometimes can cause the carburetor to not get the fuel it needs to stay running. You can buy a replacement from many small engine repair places and they are easy to replace. While you are doing it a good cleaning out with carb cleaner wouldn't hurt either.

[captexas]

I had the same problems with my mower recently when I took it out of the shed. Mine's about 5 years old. It wouldn't start for nothing, even after putting in a new spark plug and a new air filter. I took it to a friend who took apart the carb and fuel bowl and cleaned them up even though they didn't look bad. Used a little engine starter and we got it going just fine. A few days later I tried starting it at home and it won't start! I am starting to wonder if it is the primer bulb on it. I know I had the same issue with my gas weed eater. After replacing the fuel line and primer bulb it started very easy.

I'm lazy and don't know much about engines so I never took care of my mower and such in the past. If you are the same way, then the carb and float in the bowl are probably all gunked up from gas sitting in there too long over the fall/winter. Need to either drain the gas at then end of the season or use some Sta-bil.

[brewercm]

Do you know if it gravity fed or has the little fuel pump on the side, most likely not gravity since it's a B&S, I think that most gravity feeds are Techumse motors. If it has the pump it will probably have about three screws and a fuel line going into it. If you take that out and look at it is a small flexible plunger type pump that shaft hits and it just goes back and forth to pump the fuel to the carb from the tank. Check the pump mechanism and make sure there are no holes or tears in the little pump piece. They used to look like a paper style diaphram. I'm not sure, but I don't remember seeing to many newer mowers that have the float bowl any longer but it may have one.
Worth checking out if you feel like messing with it. I used to have a neighbor many years ago when I was stationed in Oklahoma that worked on mowers and stuff as a hobby. He got me into it for a while but it was too much like work since I was a mechanic on the flightline at the time.