Top 5 Ways To Fix A LAWN MOWER That WON'T START (Fix It In Minutes)

You are not showing where all these problem areas in the lawnmower exactly is and how to remove rhem, which tools to use etc. Much talk but where action?

If you don't want to buy fuel stabilisation fluids just run your mower out of fuel before storing

Steve,
I have a new Briggs&Stratton lawnmower and they recommend winter storage with a full tank of gas and their fuel stabilizer. I thought draining the fuel would be better.
What’s your opinion?
Thank you .

Craftsman mower m140 start cold runs shut off will not start after it gets hot

Thanks Steve. Once in late October I wanted to cut the lawn for the last time, but the mower wouldn't start. What I found is the choke wasn't closing enough in the colder weather. One thing I did for all my mowers that has them start every time, I installed an inline fuel shutoff valve to my mowers. Before stowing, I shutoff this fuel valve and let the mower run until the carb is out of gasoline...That's how I winterize my mowers, and they startup every Spring. I first used this fuel shutoff valve was to prevent hydro-locking due to the carb's needle and seat not closing off the fuel flow to the engine when the mower is not in use. Weeks after installing a new motor in my LT1000 Craftsman, I checked the oil level before using the tractor, when I notice the excessive oil level and the smell of gasoline. Hydro-locked! So, before using any of my lawn equipment I check the oil level first. I had an old 1998 Lawn Boy RWD that leaked onto the wooden garage pit floor. I thought it was the moisture leaking from the bottom exhaust plate, but it was a bad Needle and Seat instead. I simply installed an inline fuel valve for this Lawn Boy, and no more leakage onto the garage floor. That mower is still running strong to date.

All them additive for the gas tank are called snake oil

To much rabbit inbetween

#6 top reasons, there's no beverage to take the edge off so you can go in to a deep thought process, as in this video. HUGE mistake Steve

I have a scag cheetah with a kawasaki engine. Battery is good, key switch is good, bypassed safety switches. No start no click no nothing.
Any ideas on how to get this piece of crap to start ?

QUESTION: At the start of the year, my Cub Cadet SC300HW self-propelled mower bought in 2020 sounded like it was skipping a few beats. I then bought some Gumout and put it in the gas. This seemed to severely hurt fuel efficiency and caused other problems. For example, the mower would stop cutting all by itself as if it were out of fuel, even though 25% of the gasoline still remained in the tank. The mower also was clearly slipping beats and didn't sound right. The mower eventually reached a point where it shut off and clearly was severely defective. The mower would always start on the first pull, but never remain on for more than 20 seconds.

At that point in time I had a friend come over and look at it. This buddy of mine did all the standard checks. He confirmed the oil was good and that there was plenty of gas. He confirmed the sparkplug was good. And he confirmed the air filter was good. Those did not have anything to do with the problem.

This friend of mine then looked at the carburetor. He took it apart and there was nothing wrong with it. While he took it apart, he clamped the gas line to the carburetor. Some of the gas spilled out onto the mower. The carburetor then was put back together and the gas line connected again. After that, the mower worked (or so I thought). I told this same story to people online. I was told that what likely happened was the Gumout cleaned out the gas tank, and when the gas line was disconnected from the carburetor, it finally allowed the gunk to have somewhere to drain out. But, this ended up not being the case.

When I finally had the opportunity to mow the entire yard, the mower only rank for 90 minutes. After that, the mower would again start on the first pull, but never run for more than 20 seconds.

I then hired a small engine repair specialist to fix the mower. This man said the Thermostat was the problem. He said the Thermostat was "Automatic" and it was reading the temperature wrong and causing the Choke to turn off, which turned the mower off.

This man said he ran two tanks of gas through it, so there is no doubt it would not shut off from overheating. However, this was done with the mower sitting in the same spot on a cement surface.

When I first saw the mower, it started within two pulls, but it was started on my driveway - which provided no resistance. Today, I went out to mow the yard for the first time since having the mower back. I tried starting the mower in the grass - in a relatively short area of grass. It took SIX PULLS to start the mower. I'm a big guy 6' 3" tall and over 300 pounds. I was pulling as hard as I could and I was concerned the mower was not going to start. Eventually it did start, but I really didn't like it that the mower took six pulls to start.

After the mower started, it didn't take long to hear the mower was still skipping beats every once in a while. It was clearly not "smooth" like it was the three previous years I owned it.

The mower ran for about 70 minutes. I had noticed the mower was starting to get hot. This was what had happened when the mower eventually stopped at 90 minutes. Unfortunately at about 70 minutes I had a health problem (long story). I needed to stop mowing for about an hour. This allowed the mower to cool down again. When I came back, the mower again took SIX PULLS to start! It was not like that prior to taking the mower to the small engine repair specialist.

I then went and mowed a very long part of the yard that had grown while the mower was being repaired. I did this for about an hour. During that time period, the long grass caused the mower to stop mowing several times. I no longer could mulch, so I switched to the device that shoots the grass out the side. Even with that tool, the mower would still stop sometimes. But, the interesting thing was that the mower would no longer need to take six pulls to be restarted. Now, it would take only two pulls and sometimes one pull to be started. It was as if being hotter made the mower easier to start.

Unfortunately, I was not able to finish mowing the yard - which usually takes about four hours. It started raining out, even though there was only a 1% chance of rain for that time of day.

I told the small engine repair specialist all of this. He said the gumout had nothing to do with anything. He also said nothing he did would change the number of times needed for the mower to start. I am personally not a believer in that second statement, because the mower always started on the first pull prior to giving it to him.

At this point, I have a couple concerns after having paid money to the "Small Engine Specialist." Those concerns are:

1. Why does the mower take six pulls to start when it is cold?

2. Why does the mower still sound like it is missing a beat sometimes and not smooth the way it did all season long and not like the first three years of its life? This makes me think another problem is inevitable.

Hi dear Steve & April,
I appreciate learning much from you.
In another video, I asked please, for the Oil Conviction recipe that your brother made to oil for compression.

I've not yet received your reply & can't find the link to the Oil recipe on your website either.

I'm having compression issues & would very much use the Oil Conviction that your brother made.

Thanks kindly. 🙏🕯️🙏

I have run the same spark plug for 15+ years in my mowers. So changing it, isn't needed very often.

Mine stoped mid season. Carb is one year old, I cleaned, drain gas and new plug. It has compression.

So the elephant in the room is : what is the fix for the plugged main jet?

Always run em dry before stowing

Getting old so I started experimenting with using a impact driver to start my ridiculously configured cultivator. Starter pulls away from throttle control and handle

Where are you from Steve I Would love to buy you .Adrian

Couldve been something else, but Stabil gas stabilizer ACTUALLY restored bad gas already in the tank. Crunk right up.

One spring when my lawnmower refused to start it turned out that a mouse had built a nest under the cowling of of paper towels. I was never sure what the nest effected but once I vacuumed it out the motor started

Easiest way I've found for no starts is to start mowers every couple weeks to keep the fuel flowing and burn up the stank stuff.

Even "Karl" from Sling Blade knows to check the gas - remember ? (some people call it a Kaiser Blade.

She always appreciate all you do showing us how to work on lawnmowers in these you do it’s really satisfying and it really easy Thanks for everything.

Thanks. Some call me , a teacher, or smart. But I recognize you as one. Thanks bro

Ok but where is the main jet? Where are the other things you mentioned located? I understand that the location is probably different on different mowers but can you please give me a general idea of where to look?

Do u have a tractor video how to get ur tractor to start, it turns over ran great just bought it used it ten or so times, went to start it it started up then quit has week n half gas in it new plug n filter, getting spark an gas into the gas filter thingy, cleaned the plug it was wet put it back in, it's a cub-cadet series 1500 1515 tractor 249hrs on it, put a gas shut off on it last week turn it off let the gas in the bowl run out then next time I turn it bk on an start the tractor, parking break isn't on, it's not in gear, blades arnt on, push the pedal in to start it, can hear a click when I turn the key on, battery's new less then a year old it cranks over but won't start, please help

What about the solenoid ? How do you change that ?

I’m sorry but this is just taking too long to watch

Does it make a differance to use no eathle fule

Just love the collection of beer cans/bottles:). Thanks for the help and now I'm thirsty!

I’ve had a push mower I bought from Kmart around 2013 cheapest one to I believe iv Never put oil in it it gets left outside all year around. Never had a problem with it

Please Hurry up and get to the solutions.......

This video would be more helpful if you can show us on an actual lawn mower

well i have seen bent crankshafts and gripped pistons but i dont think that qualifies as it ran when i last used it ....

You done fixed it? Well I'll be damned. Scooter told me it couldn't be fixed. 'Course Scooter is about as shiftless as one poor son of a bitch can be. You done fixed it. I'll just be damned.

Hi Steve I have a question on cam's for intek engines I have a briggs and stratton 21 hp OHV with a bad cam (compression ) how do you know which to buy there are cheap one's and expensive one's thanks

"Ain't got no gas in it"

Nice one April and Steve.
What beer do you recommend when attempting to start the mower after winter

Your coil can go bad when you put it up for the winter and it is running fine then all of a sudden it won't start

lol on out of gas my snowblower chute clogged shut it off cleared the chute pulled the cord it fired up and died hit the bulb a few times it fired up and died push it back to the garage and trouble shot it for 10 minutes before I checked the tank and found it must have run out of gas just as I shut it off.

How about water in the fuel?

Thanks!

My mower runs. But it doesnt get gas properly. If i tilt it back and gas goes toward carb. I can crank it. But it instantly bogs down. But the moment i tilt it back down, it fires up, cause gas flow from gravity. Is it bad carb? Or seal?

I have a really dumb question: I needed to replace the gaskets in a B&S 500 series lawnmower motor. Ordered a kit from Amazon which includes a spark plug which is obviously not the right one. I went looking online for confirmation of the spark plug that was needed and I didn’t have much success. I simply replaced the plug with the type I already had but it sure would be helpful if you could devote a video to the types of plugs that exist and how to determine which plug is appropriate. Until then, spark plugs remain a mystery to me.

Reason No. 1 it won't start: you over-wintered it with ethanol gas. Don't do that. Spend a little extra money and use ethanol-free gas in your mowers! They will run like hotrods and you wont have to go see Steve! :)

Steve, where did you get your orange table top mat?

Not a mower, but my snowblower wouldn't start one fall because a rodent (mouse? chipmunk?) had filled the carb throat with his winter food seed cache.
In the end, I had to take the head off because a maple key got sucked into the cylinder, and it lodged between valve and seat .. so zero compression :(

Using only rec-gas (no ethanol). A shot of starting fluid seems to do the trick each spring. Get one of those suction tools to suck the engine oil out and change it, and change the air filter whether or not it looks like it needs it.

Found a loose valve spring nut because of this video. Would have never thought to look at the valves to get a scrapped personal pace started. Thanks!

Hey beer drinking lawnmower dude, I watched a "what to do when the lawn mower runs then stops"....I did whatever it was on his video....Runs like 🏆 champ now