QuestionQUESTION: I've tried everything under the sun it seems to start it, and still nothing. I've had the Mower for 7 years, and ran it maybe 50 times total, never a hiccup. Changed the oil+plug+filter every summer, ran beautiful, and perfect every time. One day I accidently left it outside, and ever since I can't get it to start. I've drained the fuel, at the delivery to the carb, and refilled it several times. I've changed the spark plug, checked for spark, and I've sprayed starter fluid into it, still nothing. I also checked all connections for the throttle cable, and it's perfect, ground wire present, checked continuity to what it should be contacting to and also perfect. Then, went ahead and took the carb off and checked for any buildup there, and found nothing. An absolutely perfectly clean carb. The gaskets were a bit tricky to put back on, but also went on perfect from what I can tell. I read some previous questions, and thought 'how do I check if the head gasket is blown?' 'how do I know if the valves are opening? 'how do I know if this engine is still any good?' What Gives with this darn thing? I'm ready to just toss this new looking engine in the garbage and buy another, I'm so fed up. Any help would be appreciated. I'm so glad I found you guys. Thanks in advance.
ANSWER: You said yu checked for spark, but never said the outcome, was it a good solid blue snapping spark, or a weak orange one?. Also just how long was the mower outside? Some times rust will form on the magneto, and the flywheel magnets making a poor spark. If your getting a good spark, and the starting fluid is making it's way to the cylinder, I would next be taking a compression test to check the condition of the cylinder. It very well could be a stuck valve, blowing a head gasket isn't very common on those engines. You can pull the valve cover and see if the valves are opening and closing. .....Tom
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QUESTION: First, thank you so much for the reply.
Now, funny you ask about what kind of spark I got. Come to think of it, sometimes its a good strong blue spark, and sometimes it's a weak spark I can hardly detect. A friend of mine looked at it a day that I was away, and unknown to me why he did it, he changed the spark plug wire for a new one. I thought, why the heck would you do that, a spark plug wire doesn't just change it's mind over one night of getting wet. It was just one night that it was left outside, but it was pouring rain that night, here in Austin, TX. I'm thinking the magneto and flywheel magnets is a very good idea to check. How would I go about checking them? Also, I have a compression tester for a car, would that work? I tried using it on the engine, connected it where the spark plug goes, and gave it a few pulls, but nothing happened (needle didn't move), I thought maybe there was something I was doing incorrectly. Did I miss something, or is my engine gone? Lastly, what is the torque for the valve cover bolts [for when I go to put it back on], on a Honda 4-cyl it's 7lb-ft, same thing here?
Again, thanks in advance for your help, and your service is a huge blessing to all, thank you.
AnswerYou will have to remove the shroud cover to expose the fly wheel , and coil. (How your fiend changed the spark plug wire is a mystery to me, it's permanently attached to the coil) Can't replace it correctly without replacing the coil. After exposing the fly wheel and coil, gently with a fine sand paper sand, and clean the ends and center of the coil, then locate the magnets on the fly wheel and clean them too. Two screws hold down the coil, when re-installing it the gap MUST be correct, this is done by placing a business card between the magnets and the coil, it will suck the coil into the magnets with the card between them, tighten the screws and turn the fly wheel a little by hand to make sure it is not hitting anywhere, thats the correct gap. This could be your problem by the sound of the weak spark. Sounds like you did the compression test correctly, you should have around 140lbs compression. You just might have a stuck valve. Use the same torque as the honda it will be fine......Tom
