Tag: lawn mower dies after starting

Lawn Mower Repair Tips

Lawn Mower Keeps Dying Right After it Starts

This is a frustrating experience when you are ready to cut your lawn and have made the time to do it. All you want to do is pull the cord or turn the key and get that job over with.

In most cases what you are dealing with is a fuel problem. The carburetor is not allowing fuel to pass through one of the jets and it normally is the idle jet. The main jet could also be partially plugged up or is sucking some debris into it from the carburetor float bowl.

A lack of fuel is causing starvation and the engine is dying because of it so you must get to the root of this problem to find out why. This will often require the carburetor to be taken apart and thoroughly cleaned inside and out. The ethanol in the fuel today will leave a powder like residue when it dries up and this will clog those ports. Dipping the carburetor with the plastic removed in Chemdip is one such way to clean them very well.

After you have cleaned up your carburetor, reinstall it and test your engine to see if it cures the problem with it dying right after it starts. If it does not, you may have to replace the carburetor but also check your air filter to ensure that it is not plugged with dirt and debris.

Lawn Mower Repair Tips, Outdoor Power Equipment Reviews, Push and Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Repair, Riding Lawn Mower Repair, Zero Turn Lawn Mower Repair

My Lawn Mower Dies and Will Not Restart

This is a fairly common problem and it seems to get worse when it gets hot outside. After a while the lawn mower will restart and then you can mow for a while and then the same thing happens over again.

The most likely culprit here is that the ignition system is heating up and then breaking down inside. When it breaks down, it will cause the ignition coil to stop producing spark and thus the engine dies.

When your engine does die, test for spark by installing an inline spark tester and then cranking the engine. If you do not see any spark, you can assume that your ignition system is at fault. Further testing will need to be performed to narrow down the issue. You will need to know if it is the engine or the machine kill system. You can isolate this by disconnecting the kill system and then checking for spark.

If you need technical assistance with your lawn mower that dies, visit our Locations page to find a shop near you. Professional lawn mower repair companies are available to help.

Push and Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Repair, Riding Lawn Mower Repair, Zero Turn Lawn Mower Repair

My Lawn Mower Runs For a Few Seconds and Dies

This could happen with a push mower, self-propelled or riding lawn mower. It doesn’t matter what kind of engine it has on it or the brand. What matters is that the engine is not getting the fuel it needs to continue to run. It will have enough fuel to run for a brief time but then it will die.

This problem with your lawn mower runs for a few second and dies normally occurs in the springtime when you first start the lawn mower. The carburetor is usually the culprit that causes these problems and the fuel that was left inside of it has gelled up and plugs up the ports inside it.

You will need a professional lawn mower mechanic to resolve this issue for you because the carburetor will need to taken apart and cleaned. This is not a job for someone that is not familiar with or have worked on carburetors before. It has many different ports that you must need to know how to clean and where they are located.

You can find a lawn mower repair professional at our Locations page to help resolve my lawn mower runs for a few seconds and dies problem.

Lawn Mower Repair Tips

My Lawn Mower Will Run For a While and Then Dies

This is not a very common problem but it does occur with some regularity. The lawn mower will be running just fine and then it may slowly die or it will just quit like you turned the key off.

So now what? There are some things you can check to see if you can get your lawn mower going once again. First, check the obvious. Is there fuel in the tank? When you opened the fuel cap did you hear a hissing or vacuum sound? If you did then your fuel cap is not venting and needs replaced.

If the fuel and cap are not the issue, then you can crank the engine over and the remove a spark plug to see if it is wet with fuel. If it is wet, then you have an ignition problem and if it is dry, you have a fuel delivery problem.

This is where you want to have your lawn mower repair Technician provide a diagnosis of the lawn mower to correct the problem. By knowing the intricacies of the engine and its systems, a good lawn mower repair Tech can quickly isolate the problem and get your lawn mower running again soon. Check our list of locations for a lawn mower repair Technician in your area.

Lawn mower repair professionals can resolve the lawn mower will run for a while and then dies problem.

Lawn Mower Repair Tips

My Lawn Mower Dies After Starting

This is one of the most common things that happens to a lawn mower. You pull the rope or turn the key and it starts and then dies quickly. It may run for a few seconds or less than a minute and then it dies as if you flipped a switch.

It almost always turns out to be a fuel problem that is causing this issue or more specifically, not getting enough fuel.

If your lawn mower dies after starting, the first thing you want to do is remove the gas cap and listen for a vacuum type sound. Kind of like when you pull the tab on a can of pringles.  If you hear that vacuum sucking sound, the gas cap vent is not working and it needs to be replaced.

If the gas cap is not the problem, you could have stale fuel or water in the fuel. A fuel sample should be taken from the fuel line going to the carburetor. Pinch off the fuel line and then disconnect it from the carburetor. Then allow fuel to flow into a small glass jar and if you see water collecting or the fuel is cloudy, it is bad.

If the fuel is good, then the problem most likely is in the carburetor and it will need to be removed and thoroughly cleaned. After cleaning the carburetor, re-install it and then start the lawn mower.

If it runs better but is now surging up and down, then the carburetor still requires cleaning and pay particular attention to the main and idle jets. Also be sure that your carburetor gaskets are good and that the bolts are tight holding the carburetor on.

Other things can cause your lawn mower to start and then die, but in most cases the fuel is the problem and is a problem that can be solved.

Lawn Mower Repair Tips

My Lawn Mower Dies After Starting

This is one of the most common problems you can have in the early spring when you pull out the lawn mower for the first time. The mower will run for a few seconds and then it will die as if you shut off a switch.

Most of the time this is caused by not using a fuel stabilizer like Ethanol Shield  or Stabil . When your gasoline or diesel fuel is stabilized, it prevents the fuel from phase separating into different parts and then drying up while inside of a carburetor or fuel injected mower. Once dried up, they plug up those vital ports that allow the engine to continue to run. Just enough fuel will enter the engine to start but the full throttle it needs to run will happen because the engine is starving for fuel.

The carburetor will need disassembled to clean all the ports properly. In some cases you can remove the float bowl screw at the bottom of the bowl and clean out the main jet that is in that screw. On Chinese and Japanese lawn mower engines, the idle jet must be cleaned in addition to the main jet and emulsion tube which is inside the fuel tower that runs vertically through the carburetor.  The idle jet is located inside a plastic plug that is held in place by the idle speed control screw that is also plastic. The idle jet has a very small port size so use something like one strand of wire from a small electrical wire.

Use carburetor cleaner to spray out all the ports and then blow them out with low pressure compressed air. Re-assemble the carburetor and install and test to see if it works as it should. It is runs but surges, you still have a blockage somewhere in the carburetor that will need to be cleaned. Repeat the process until you find that port that is blocked. You could also have an air leak and may not have the bolts that hold the carburetor tight enough.

Make sure you have fresh fuel in the engine as well because stale fuel will not light off very well or produce the power you need to keep the engine running. By cleaning your carburetor, you will fix the problem of my lawn mower dies after starting.