Mower won't start, something keeps spinning insde but no start.

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john5246
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Mower won't start, something keeps spinning insde but no start.

Post by john5246 » October 7th, 2018, 4:24 pm

My lawn mower won't start. As I as I was mowing I noticed that it felt bogged down a bit, almost like it was running out of gas. But when it died I knew in my mind right away that's not at all how it sounds when it runs out of gas. It let's you know from the sputtering when ti's going to die without gas. This was a different kind of death. So I pull the spark plug, lift the deck and check underneath. All is good. Gas was low so I filled it up and primed the bulb hoping for the best. I'm guess there's some kind of engine damage but I'm not sure. (20yr old mower). So I pull the string and I can hear something inside moving around for 3 seconds or so (is it the piston?).

I'm pretty sure it's shot but just wanted to get some ideas about what happened before I go buying a new one.

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andy10917
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Re: Mower won't start, something keeps spinning insde but no start.

Post by andy10917 » October 7th, 2018, 5:13 pm

Is it a two-cycle (gas and oil combined) or a four-cycle (gas and oil separate) engine?
This was a different kind of death.
Describe the sounds and behavior when it died. Right now, we have nothing to base a diagnosis on...

john5246
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Re: Mower won't start, something keeps spinning insde but no start.

Post by john5246 » October 7th, 2018, 6:08 pm

It is four-cycle (oil and gas seperate). The sound was that it the RPM weren't as high as normal while I was still making another pass. As I continued on it just stopped. No loud clanking or anything.

I pulled the spark plug out and left it connected and pulled the string, I didn't notice any spark (at least from 6ft away). So it's possible the ignition controller has died, or that there is no fuel being sent into the cylinder. I'm not sure how it works...if it has a fuel injector or not. When I pull the string I believe that is the piston moving inside since after I removed the spark plug it moved even more easily (no compression because of spark plug hole)

This mower is almost 20yrs old so I plan to get a new one but if this can be fixed it would be nice to keep as a backup. This mower uses a briggs & stratton engine 6.5hp engine (a damn good engine if you ask me, maintaining 5000sq ft of lawn for about 20yrs is not bad!)

ENVY23
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Re: Mower won't start, something keeps spinning insde but no start.

Post by ENVY23 » October 7th, 2018, 6:39 pm

Agree with Andy. Another thing you can do is drain the oil in something CLEAN, you don’t want any cross contamination, and then strain it with paint strainer(a 4pk is less than $1 @ Lowe’s) and let us know what it looks like. Curious if there are any metal shavings in it.

craigdt
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Re: Mower won't start, something keeps spinning insde but no start.

Post by craigdt » October 10th, 2018, 10:32 pm

my guess is that if you can't get this diagnosed and fixed, there's probably an old timer in your area that can get it fixed for $45 in half an hour.

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