Lawnmower Engine Starting Tips??

[Andy A.]

I had a similar problem with a VW beetle's carb.

It hadn't been run for a while, and there must have been years of gunk in the carb and intake track.

Since we couldn't get it to take up fuel with out just flooding the engine and/or killing the batter, we pinched the fuel line and had someone just spritz some engine starter in the carb till it caught, and again every time it started to bog down.

It ran very poorly at first, owing to all the gunk in the engine, but after about a minute of running on ether, she was doing pretty well. We hooked up the fuel line again and from then on she managed to carborize on her own. The more she ran, the better she did, and the easier she was to start afterwords.

My suggestion is to try starting it with some starter fluid, and keep it running like that for a bit. My guess is that after a little bit of running, it will manage to take up enough gas to keep running on it's own. Then, just let it heat up at about half throttle, and run most of the tank through. Keep doing it till she's begging to get started again.

Some more conservative minds don't seem to like the idea of using so much starting fluid. I've used it a bunch, and never had anything blow up or die prematurely.

-Andy A.