Fuel Power in the Lawn Mower

[VaderSS]

I was given a 1997 Murray/B&S 5HP 20" convertible mower. It had not run in 2 years and the previous owner said it had kept dying the last few times he had used it. It still had 1/2 a tank of gas in it and came with a 2 year old 2.5 gallon refill tank which was about 3/4 full. I mixed in some FP with the gas in the both tanks and filled the mower up.

The oil looked clean so I mixed in a bit of Auto-Rx and figured I'd leave it in a while.

Tried to fire it up and it would not start. No suprise there, until I noticed it had a primer button on it and gave it a couple of squirts. Fired on the first pull after priming and has been running great ever since. Gives off kind of an odd smell while running which I don't know is the old gas or the FP. Not like a stale gas smell at all, but kind of sweet. I've mowed the lawn twice with it and put two tanks of gas through it. Runs great and always fires on the first pull.

Told the former owner about it and he asked what I had done to repair it. When I told him nothing but put some fuel and oil additive in, he was quite suprised and said it had never really run that well after the first season, and that he had brought it in several times for dieing. Has not died once in 2 hours of running so far.

 

[darkdan]

autorx is not intended for 2-stroke engines. =)

Yeah, dad's rider was hesitating this year. So I put 2 oz into the 5 gallon gas can. It now runs fine.

 

[VaderSS]

It's a four-stroke.

 

[Blue99]

Sounds like a gum deposit in the carburetor was dissolved by the FP. Another good application for FP!

 

[GT Mike]

Is it a Briggs or Tecumseh engine? The Briggs carbs are pretty tough to plug up. I have a generator that has gas in it all the time, and sometimes sits for close to a year before it gets fired up and run for a while, and it starts on the first pull every single time. It's a 1973 model B&S 7 HP with a float carburetor and point ingition (haven't retro-fitted it to Magnetron like the rest of my Briggs engines...No reason to yet.)
It never gives me one hiccup or misfire ever. The exhaust doesn't really smell all that bad either.

Tecumseh on the other hand has some of the most miserable junk engines ever introduced to the small engine industry. IMHO, they haven't built a quality engine since the 60s. Even then, they still always drank oil like crazy, even when nearly new.

 

[VaderSS]

Briggs. That's why I was suprised he had trouble with it. The last few mowers I've had with B&S, the decks wore out before the engine. They usually take more prime, for the first start of the season, but after that, one squirt and they fire up every time.

 

[wtd]

The Tecumseh motor on my Murrey push mower is twelve years old and still runs like new and still starts on the first pull of the cord. This is the second deck this motor has been on. I change the oil once a year at the end of the season and drain all of the gas out at the end of the year. I think I will try some FP the next time I fill up the gas can and see if I can tell any difference.

Wayne

 

[TheTanSedan]

Mine loves FP. 5-year old Tecumseh, cheap HomeD lawnmower. Runs much better now than with untreated gas OR gas treated with PRI-G or STABIL.

Fires off with less than a half-pull most days (used twice/thrice weekly this time of year).

Same is true with 20-year old edger I was given.
Will have to get some more LC to do an internal cleanup, but FP has it running steady despite points, etc.

 

[DockHoliday]

My mower (B&S 6 HP) runs better with FP in the tank. I swear it is smoother and handles the tall grass with less strain.