Briggs and stratton mower probs ???
 

Anyone know anything about lawn mower engines ?? have a Briggs and stratton petrol one here that has done me well for well over five years now that is until yesterday !!

mower will start okay but start missing within a few minutes off use and eventually just cut out, the only thing I have noticed lately is that the small rubber primer buton on the mower is taking that bit longer to actually fully retract once pushed in, ie you will press it in to first start up the mower but it can be several minutes before it fully retracts where as before it came out almost instantly.

now this cutting out sounds more like fuel starvation but if the primer button was stuck in would this posibly cause cutting out problems ??

not entirely sure how these push primer buttons works exactly ?? - anyone know ?? thought there would have been a small spring or whatver behind it but from a quick look it appears not.

does this sound as if it could indeed be the problem ?? plenty fresh fuel in the machine, the only thing mentioned in the troubleshooting section off the handbook regards cutting out when running was to check the air vents were not blocked within the fuel filler cap - off which they are not !!!

any other ideas I could try ??

My old petrol mower did this

Sussed it that the Air Filter was clogged up

It also took a while to prime it

I think the primer is done on Suction ???

Not sure but I'm about to buy a pretty heavy duty one (21" blade) and have been strongly advised to avoid B&S engines!

Honda all the way.

Thanks guys, must admitt again it really has been 100% troublefree up till now which is not bad for five years off use.

Jono, we had this problem just the other day, and it was caused by me leaving the mower out overnight, and water getting into the petrol tank via the air expansion holes in the lid.
I emptied it and refilled it, and the engine was 100% again.

If that's not it, I'd say it's either air filter dirty, or the spark plug needs changing (or maybe just cleaning).

Good luck.

Thanks again folks, well with a combination off another top up off fresh petrol, wd40 down the hole where the rubber primer button is located and well touch wood its all been running fine for the last hour !!

thanks again.

Mine did this after 6 years of use. A good clean of the airfilter & all is well again :thumb:

Sevice it once a year, Clean air filer more often depending on the grass you are cutting.
Mine gets a new plug, oil change plus the foam filter cleaned every year and its been faultless ohh a bit or Carb cleaner every so often directly into the Carb keeps everything tickety boo.

For the price Briggs and Stratton mowers cannot be beaten imho.