The evil lawn mower .... part 2

**BigDaddy** · 05-17-2005, 06:57 AM

Well, after getting home from work last night and dandilions rising about a foot high in my lawn now (I never got around to fertilizing it) ...

I tackled the mower again ....

after about 10 more chain pulls it started making some noise .. a few more starts and finally it started ... white smoke poured out of the exhaust ....

I store my lawnmower upright against the wall .... could this be why I seem to have problems starting it? Seems to me that the engine is getting flooded?

Anywho .... after yelling at the mower saying who's the boss now ... my son came out and got the gas cut ...

and then, i had to play with the dang weed whacker engine .... but that wasn't too hard :)

**Cody Colston** · 05-17-2005, 07:04 AM

Before you store your mower for the winter, start it and just let it run until it runs out of gas. Do the same thing with the weed whacker.

Cody

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

**BigDaddy** · 05-17-2005, 07:08 AM

actually, when I pulled it ouf the first time about 2 weeks ago, it started on the 2nd pull ... had no problem with it then ... I have mowed already once this year ...

then 2 weeks later when i pulled it out to start it it wouldn't work :(

**Sawduster** · 05-17-2005, 07:49 AM

The white smoke is, like Cody said, an indication of water and other contamination of the fuel. Now if the smoke was a sort of light blue color, that could mean some oil managed to get across the rings and into the combustion chamber, something which could very well be caused by storing it such that the cylinder is below the level of oil in the crankcase, i.e storing it with the motor sorta sideways to its normal configuration.

If you've had a cold or wet spell since the last time it was used, the gas could have been contaminated. And gas in a gas can will also go bad if stored over the winter, especially one that is only partially full.

BTW black smoke is a too rich fuel mixture which can be caused by having to yank the cord too many times, pouring too much unignited gasoline into the combustion chamber.