This is what happens when you try to mow the ocean floor

[Intrepidation]

Or try to run your lawn mower using seawater. It's the only explanation I can come up with for what you're about to see.

For reference, this is what a Tecumseh what a typical carburetor looks like:

This is a carburetor I worked on last week. The gas in it was sold old it had evaporated and left corrosive, nasty varnish.

This was the worst carburetor I've worked on.

And then this came along.

All I could say was:

The customer had bought it last year from me. At the time the carburetor was in the the condition of the firs image. Perfectly fine. He told me at some point last year he had to hold the governor to get it to start and then it eventually wouldn't start at all. Well here's yer problem. Thing is even with water in the gas there's no way that should have happened, especially in less than a year.

[FAPTurbo]

You didn't happen to recommend 'Seafoam' products to your customer, did you?

[daves87rs]

Wow!

[SAmadei]

The customer had bought it last year from me. At the time the carburetor was in the the condition of the firs image. Perfectly fine. He told me at some point last year he had to hold the governor to get it to start and then it eventually wouldn't start at all. Well here's yer problem. Thing is even with water in the gas there's no way that should have happened, especially in less than a year.

Simple. He left the mower out in the weather. One of my friends went through like 4 mowers in rapid succession over a couple years... each a Tecumseh with that style carb. I don't know why the water gets in it, but after I pronounced the 4th mower too far gone, they admitted they were keeping them under the deck _when_ they didn't just leave the thing where they stopped cutting grass (frigging kids). Afterwards, they emptied out the shed and put the next mower in there, and they haven't seemed to have a problem since.

[Intrepidation]

I've worked on Tecumseh mowers left out in the elements for some time, (4 years with one) this is by far the worst.

Of course, there's a reason why Tecumseh went bust.

People don't care for their lawn equipment. It's why decks rust out and engines stop working.

[Robert Hall]

The Tecumseh-powered Snappers my folks had back in the day always seemed unreliable compared to their Briggs & Stratton powered Snappers...fiddly carburators among other issues IIRC. Always stored in a dry barn.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Intrepidation]

They are known for their finicky carburetors.

[SAmadei]

They are known for their finicky carburetors.

The only one I ever owned isn't finicky at all. Its like 15 years old, and fires right up, regardless of what vanish it has to run on. ;-) OTOH, its never seen rain.

I used to have a lot of problems with the Snapper B&S old style carbs not wanting to start... seemed like I spent half the summer taking them apart to soak and clean them out.

[Intrepidation]

The first two Tecumseh engines I dealt with were on a couple of cheap old mowers. One had a rotted out deck and the other needed to be repainted. Both looked rough but they both started up without needing any carburetor work, despite the obvious lack of care. At that point I wondered what all the fuss was about. I've worked on enough of them now to see the naivety of that thinking.

So far I've only had issues with on B&S carburetor, off a Quantum engine. No matter how much I cleaned it, it wouldn't start on the first pull. It would always take 4 pulls. After it warmed up it would start first pull, and it ran great, so I gave up on it.

I like the newer tank mounted carburetors B&S uses. They're made of some kind of plastic. Which means they get dirty but they don't corrode.

[G. David Felt]

So what did the customer expect from you and what did you do for the customer?

[Intrepidation]

He wanted it looked at. I've sent him a message letting him know the problem, what it will cost to fix, and photos of the damage.

[Drew Dowdell]

Sounds like you have a nice side business going here....

[Intrepidation]

It's going pretty well! I made $280 Tuesday, and another $45 Thursday on a service. It's not steady but it is nice side income, and is going towards my a/c components.

I had started posting my progress in a thread, but I figured no one cared so I stopped on this site.

[ocnblu]

Sorry, you were saying?

My mower is going into its 5th season this year, Craftsman push model. I have done nothing to maintain it yet, shamefully. Only preventative thing I've done so far is put Sta-Bil in the gas. With a few squeezes on the primer bulb, it starts and runs well so far. I got a blade for it 2 years ago but have not installed it. The deck gets scraped out or sprayed with a hose after mowing if the grass is wet, and it gets wheeled into my shed between uses.

The book goes into maintenance by hours run, which I don't bother to keep track of.

Edited May 14, 2012 by ocnblu

[Drew Dowdell]

If you were closer, I'd drop off my 7 year old Craftsman for a cleaning and tuneup. It always starts on the first or second pull, but the years are starting to catch up with it.

[Intrepidation]

Sorry, you were saying?

My mower is going into its 5th season this year, Craftsman push model. I have done nothing to maintain it yet, shamefully. Only preventative thing I've done so far is put Sta-Bil in the gas. With a few squeezes on the primer bulb, it starts and runs well so far. I got a blade for it 2 years ago but have not installed it. The deck gets scraped out or sprayed with a hose after mowing if the grass is wet, and it gets wheeled into my shed between uses.

The book goes into maintenance by hours run, which I don't bother to keep track of.

Change the oil, spark plug, air filter, and sharpen/balance the blade once a year is a good schedule. It's just like a car, i needs to be cared for to keep it going well. Of course at least you clean the deck off. Rotting grass will release acid that will in turn eat away the paint and rust out the deck. Unless of course, you have an aluminum deck or compsoite, then rust isn't an issue.

[ocnblu]

Regler old steel. And I do have a tuneup kit I got 2 years ago. I should prolly, you know, USE IT.