Hard Starting Mower?

[Russ Filtz]

I've got a nice Ariens mower with a Kawasaki engine. Supposed to be one of those one-pull start jobs. It's about 3-4 years old now and the first start is always a bear. 20-30 pulls and then it kicks over. After that it runs fine and starts on one pull every time during the session. Why the hard cold starts? Fresh gas, replaced the plug, still no good.

[David Epperson]

My cheap Murry has a priming bulb, does yours? But you might try spraying some starting fluid to the carb first (I use WD-40 for this, the propane carrier works pretty well).

[Rob Russell]

Could be problems with the gas gumming up the carb. Talking with our local power equipment dealers, the quality of the gasoline these days is terrible. They said not to use gas that's more than a month or so old - really! They said we're a lot better off buying smaller lots of gas more frequently. Cleaning carbs is something they've been forced to do a lot more of recently - gummed up jets and the like. They're not really happy about that because pulling and cleaning a carb is time-consuming and adds significantly to a service bill. It backs up their ability to turn machines around for the guys who depend on the mowers for a living.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Russ,

I'll tell you what my professional mechanic ex-S-I-L told me 20 years ago. We had a '86 Toyota 4-Runner with 2.2L 4 cylinder engine that was fuel injected. Every 18-22 months, it would get to idling poorly. It had an automatic transmission, you 'd pull up to a stop sign and the little thing would misfire. Once you were driving things were great....only happened at an idle. We'd take it to the dealer....$200 later after the injectors had been cleaned, it was fine for about 18-22 months. I'm fairly mechanically inclined and I asked my then-SIL what a pro injector cleaning kit would cost. His advice..not worth it for just cleaning my injectors every 18 months. He advised us to go to a Chevron station and buy 2 bottles of Techron (their injector cleaner) and pour it in the tank; fill the tank and put it on the highway until the tank was empty...not city driving highway mileage. He also advised using Chevron gas as it all contains varying amounts of Techron. We drove from Lewiston, ID to Missoula, MT to Spokane, WA and back to Lewiston. That little 4 got 25 mpg. The injectors were cleaned by the gas additives and the driving and it again idled normally. I haven't used anything but Chevron gas for 20 years in any of my 3 vehicles and haven't cleaned an injector since switching. Recently I noticed Texaco advertising they are putting Techron gas in their gasolines. I was having problems with my Stihl 2-cycle weed trimmer. I switched to Chevron gas ....no more problems. I'm promoting the use of the Techron gas additive to eliminate carburation or injector problems.

[Phil Thien]

Had similar problems on my mower once.

I'd pull it twenty times, use every four letter word I knew (and then some). Walk away, come back two minutes later, and it would start.

It finally got to the point where I'd need fifty pulls to get it started. Once running it was fine. I could turn it off, and restart it, too. Just couldn't cold start.

It was the coil.

[Jim O'Dell]

Ken, I try to use Chevron for the same reason. Even if it is a couple cents higher per gallon. Ford even recommends the Techron additive for certain repair problems with injectors. But at 20.00 + per bottle, I'll get it slowly with the gas! ;) Jim.

[Fred Voorhees]

I always store my equipment with dri-gas for long term storage. Even with that, I often get hard starting when it is brought back out. That is when the starting fluid comes out. Works pretty much every time. Out with the plug, spray a little starting fluid directly into the plug hole and replace the plug. Once the engine fires, it usually begins to work properly and no longer needs any coaxing.

[Russ Filtz]

Not sure what's worse, 20 pulls or taking the plug out every time!

[Johnny Fischer]

Ya know,
If ya bought a Billy Goat you wouldn't have these problems.
Just stick him in the barn until the (yard & the trees & anything else he can get a hold of) needs trimmed.:)

[Pat Germain]

I add a fuel stabilizer to my gasoline powered machines over the winter. Draining all the fuel tends to let everything dry out. Then the seals leak when you put gasoline back in. The stabilizer seems to work well. My mower and snow blower always fire right up. They both have priming bulbs.

Small engines tend to be hard on spark plugs. It's a good idea to always go with a fresh plug every season.

[Steven Wilson]

When you buy gas for your mower, weed whacker, whatever, look for non-oxygenated (i.e. no ethanol added) gasoline - usually premium sold for classic cars. Then add some Stabil (or your favorite stabilizer) to it. If you add Stabil to fresh gas it will last for around 18 months. If you add stabilizer to older gas (i.e. more than a month old) it doesn't do much and you will eventually end up doing a carb rebuild. If you still have some issues then add a bit of seafoam to your tank. Seafoam does a pretty good job of cutting through fuel system crud (varnish). All of my small engines run like a top and have for many years.

[Russ Filtz]

Where do you find that gas! Every pump I've looked at says ethanol added these days.

[Tom Godley]

The Kawasaki motors are said to be first rate. You could have a gummed up float -- very common with the Honda GX motors.

It could be a bad coil -- but I bet it is a float or some thing with the choke

[Al Willits]

Assuming its being gummed up, I'm another one who recommends stabil and sea foam.
Use it it just about everything, I have a old McCullough chain saw that gets started about every other year and I leave the gas in it and it fires with 4-5 pulls, which is what it takes to start no matter what.

I've heard good things about Techron, but its a lot more expensive than sea foam, not sure how the two compare though.

For non oxygenated gas try goggling that and your state, I know here in Minn there's quite a few that sell it.

Al

[Brent Dowell]

Proper winterizing also helps. Biggest thing is to run the thing dry, so you aren't storing gas in the carb. It will get sticky and make things run funny.

One other thing to look for is to make sure there's no dirt or junk in the gas tank.


I've got a bunch of small engines. I got frustrated when they started running poorly so I bought a book on small engine repair.

I can pull a carb off, clean it, and get it back on the machine in under a half hour. It's not all that bad.

2 tips:
1) Take a picture of the linkages with a digital camera before you start and print it out and keep it with you while you work.

2) Be careful about using compressed air when cleaning. You might just blow out some very tiny parts to who knows where and then you have to find a place to order them... (DAMHIK).

[Mike SoRelle]

I'm another big fan of Stabil, no more season to season problems since I started using it a few years ago.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Pull the plugs and clean 'em & re-set the gap.

Then squirt a scosh of Alcohol into the carb when starting.
Alcohol is a "very" forgiving fuel, ask any Alcohol fueled racer. You can flood the cylinder to death with the stuff and so long as there's a bit of air, it'll ignite - unlike other fuels that can flood the cylinder.

[David Epperson]

When you buy gas for your mower, weed whacker, whatever, look for non-oxygenated (i.e. no ethanol added) gasoline .......... If you still have some issues then add a bit of seafoam to your tank. Seafoam does a pretty good job of cutting through fuel system crud (varnish). All of my small engines run like a top and have for many years.
Have you ever read the MSDS on Seafoam? Light pale oil, Naphtha, IsoPropyl Alcohol. Works good. I just thought it strange to first say no alcohol, and then to say add some. :D

[Steven Wilson]

Have you ever read the MSDS on Seafoam? Light pale oil, Naphtha, IsoPropyl Alcohol. Works good. I just thought it strange to first say no alcohol, and then to say add some. :D
IPA and Ethanol aren't the same, and yes I have read the MSDS on Seafoam. Ethanol, in the concentrations present in regular gasoline (5-10%) isn't the best for long term storage which is why I prefer to use non-oxygenated gasoline for boats, small engines, and others that may have fuel in tanks for a long time. The IPA in Seafoam would represent a very tiny fraction of gasoline (<<1%) when mixed correctly and wouldn't be a problem when it breaks down. Besides, it's probably there to act as a drying agent (latch onto water). Adding a bit of Seafoam to a small engine tank, or mixing a can in with 2-3 gallons of gas in a small marine tank, helps carburated engines run better. I like to use a heavy dose of Seafoam (in a small portable marine tank) to keep my kicker motor running well during fishing season.