Hello all, and thanks in advance for the advice.
Last fall we moved into this ranch home from a duplex. Needless to say I didn't have a mower so I was given an old used one that lasted for about 4 mowings. We then decided to buy a new Craftsman rear bagger, 21" with large rear wheels but NOT self propelled. That thing worked great for the rest of the cutting season. Because there was so much to do to get the house winterized I neglected to properly store the mower and left it with some old gas in it. Well, this spring it began to act up by surging and using way too much gas. The yard isn't very big and last fall I could mow the whole yard twice with 1 tank of gas. Now it takes more than a full tank for just 1 mowing. When it first starts it runs fine for about 30 seconds and then starts to surge and puffs small amounts of black smoke. It starts up fine, just as it did when new. Just 3 or 4 pumps of the primer and away it goes. It also restarts fine when hot. I have ran through about 3 tanks full of fresh gas, gas that was also put in my car and used in the trimmer and both those run fine. I also noticed that it runs really good for about 30 seconds just when it is running out of gas.
So, I am wondering if something got gummed up and is causing it to run rich.
There are no carb adjustments on these things so that isn't an option and there is no speed control as it is adjusted by the govenor.
Any suggeations as to what my options may be?
I did clean the air filter and that didn't help. I also ran it for a minute without the filter and it still surged. I pulled the spark plug and it was covered with black carbon. Cleaned it and finished mowing and when checked again it was again covered with carbon. I doubt that it needs a new spark plug this soon, especially since it starts up fine.
Dale
Last fall we moved into this ranch home from a duplex. Needless to say I didn't have a mower so I was given an old used one that lasted for about 4 mowings. We then decided to buy a new Craftsman rear bagger, 21" with large rear wheels but NOT self propelled. That thing worked great for the rest of the cutting season. Because there was so much to do to get the house winterized I neglected to properly store the mower and left it with some old gas in it. Well, this spring it began to act up by surging and using way too much gas. The yard isn't very big and last fall I could mow the whole yard twice with 1 tank of gas. Now it takes more than a full tank for just 1 mowing. When it first starts it runs fine for about 30 seconds and then starts to surge and puffs small amounts of black smoke. It starts up fine, just as it did when new. Just 3 or 4 pumps of the primer and away it goes. It also restarts fine when hot. I have ran through about 3 tanks full of fresh gas, gas that was also put in my car and used in the trimmer and both those run fine. I also noticed that it runs really good for about 30 seconds just when it is running out of gas.
So, I am wondering if something got gummed up and is causing it to run rich.
There are no carb adjustments on these things so that isn't an option and there is no speed control as it is adjusted by the govenor.
Any suggeations as to what my options may be?
I did clean the air filter and that didn't help. I also ran it for a minute without the filter and it still surged. I pulled the spark plug and it was covered with black carbon. Cleaned it and finished mowing and when checked again it was again covered with carbon. I doubt that it needs a new spark plug this soon, especially since it starts up fine.
Dale
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