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The thing is, I never have any problems starting it. She says it's doing something, so I come over and fire it up and it runs fine. I end up mowing her yard to see if there is some sort of hot soak, temperature, weirdness going on and it starts and runs even better after it's warmed up. I've started giving her a hard time that she's just using "mower problems" to get me to come over and mow her huge yard for her.

Also, last time I was over tinkering with it, the plug was in good shape.

jwscab wrote:that makes a lot of sense that even straight 30w will have detergents today. Most of what I've dealt with is the guy with that 'old' bottle on the shelf that is non-detergent.

for rough start/running issue I'd suggest the plug, but it sounds like there are more experienced small engine guys here than myself. I can tell you that my left shoulder is still affected by attempting to start poorly starting small engines for years.

that's why i keep plugs "in stock", the moment i feel a tough start coming on i toss in a fresh plug.

Halgar wrote:The thing is, I never have any problems starting it. She says it's doing something, so I come over and fire it up and it runs fine. I end up mowing her yard to see if there is some sort of hot soak, temperature, weirdness going on and it starts and runs even better after it's warmed up. I've started giving her a hard time that she's just using "mower problems" to get me to come over and mow her huge yard for her.

Wow, that whole sentence can be understood in a completely different way...maybe my mind's in the gutter or I can't get the memory of Booger shouting "We've got bush...we've got bush!" out of my head.

Coelacanth wrote:Wow, that whole sentence can be understood in a completely different way...maybe my mind's in the gutter or I can't get the memory of Booger shouting "We've got bush...we've got bush!" out of my head.

Well when you put it like that, sure it sounds dirty! For the record, I was mowing the yard, not her bush-es.

Actually, I said I'd update when I knew more, so here ya go.

I mowed half the yard to warm up the mower for the oil change. Before I started, I added the MMO to both the oil and the fuel. It did start hard, I ended up putting a rag into the intake to get it to pop. Once it started and ran a moment or two, it was fine. I emptied the bag on the mower probably 10 times in the half hour I was mowing (still only half done with the yard ) and the mower started easier each time. Don't know if that was actually happening or wishful thinking, but it did seem to start easier.

Pulled the blade off to sharpen as the oil was draining and I find that it's bent on both ends fairly bad. Tried to hammer it a little to no avail. The oil was nasty and looked like it had some sludge deposit in it and there was a little bit of metal filings on the drain plug magnet. Put in fresh oil with more MMO and put the blade back on just to fire it up and circulate the new, clean oil a little bit.

At the moment, the mower is parked awaiting a new blade before I finish mowing the yard. It will be interesting to see if the little bit of running it did with the MMO helps the start-up any. I plan to go back on Thursday to finish it all up.

I have to do some work on my truck tomorrow, so I'll probably finish the oil change in my mower and add the MMO to it as well. It will be interesting to see how things go.

if it has a tank mounted carburetor on it instead of a bowl type put a diaphragm on it that solves 90% of start up and fuel problems. most people often over look them and its got to be one of the most common problems with a briggs. comming from a karting background i literally have a bag of thoes that i use in the karts and my snowblower.

wyldbill wrote:if it has a tank mounted carburetor on it instead of a bowl type put a diaphragm on it that solves 90% of start up and fuel problems.

I wish it were that easy! I've replaced tons of those diaphragms and cured hard start/no run problems immediately. Unfortunately, this particular mower (Craftsman ) has the separate bowl type carb. Worse still is that the shroud screws are seized so you can't get in to the darned thing to take it off and clean it out. I mean, you could, but then you'd have headless screws welded in the head and no way to reattach the shroud and rope pull.

Oh, that's another thing, the rope pull doesn't rewind so well either, but as I just said, without sheering off the screws, there's no getting it off, and I just don't want to go there . . . I'll wait until she breaks the rope pull, then take it to a shop for them to deal with.

Went back today, installed the new blade and the mower fires right up and runs great. I'm thinking there may be something to this MMO stuff.