Hi! I'd appreciate any help you all could provide. My mower has suddenly quit working, and by suddenly, I mean it worked amazingly last night, then this morning wouldn't start. Sorry for the long post, but I've tried everything I can think of at this point.
So yesterday I hauled the mower out to repair and clean. It's a Craftsman 6 HP mulching mower. Last autumn my husband struck our houses' grounding rod and knew he sheared the flywheel key. It ran 'wrong' from then on, but as the season was almost over, I decided to fix it in the spring. (he didn't think it was the flywheel key, but it was!)
So the first thing I did was clean the mower; scraping the deck and wiping down the rest with a rag dipped in very mildly soapy water. I then replaced the flywheel key. I did it all myself, which I'm quite proud of lol.
The deck was also a mess; the paint had worn off and it was starting to rust, so I took the angle grinder to it and removed as much rust as I could with the wire brush attachment and then primed and painted it. I was very careful to cover everything but the deck itself so no paint leaked.
I then changed the oil and had a look at the spark plug. It was fine, so I left it as it was. I also replaced the air filter.
I had cleaned the carb last autumn prior to winterizing it so didn't both yesterday.
I put a new blade on, added some premium fuel and started her up. She ran like a dream.
I started her again after my husband came home to show him my accomplishment and again, no trouble.
I popped the mower into the shed for the night to let the new paint fully dry before spraying it with WD40.
This AM I propped up the mower and sprayed down the deck and the wheels as well as where the handle attaches with WD40 with intent of cutting the lawn.
I pulled the cord, and nothing. I pulled it again; nothing. I pulled it some more; it sort of tried to start, but then nothing. I managed to get little puffs of white smoke out of the thing if I yanked on it hard enough.
I thought maybe I had caused some oil to leak into something it shouldn't have but I cant imagine what. Google told me I maybe overfilled the oil, so I emptied some out. Still won't start.
I cleaned the carb. Still nothing.
I drained the gas tank of the premium gas and added regular as it recommends. Still nothing.
Anyone have any idea what I might have done wrong?
Occasionally when I try to pull the cord, it will stop and snap back, sort of like it did when the flywheel key was sheared; but if it ran last night without issue and wasn't used at all, just idling.
I'm really at a loss.
So yesterday I hauled the mower out to repair and clean. It's a Craftsman 6 HP mulching mower. Last autumn my husband struck our houses' grounding rod and knew he sheared the flywheel key. It ran 'wrong' from then on, but as the season was almost over, I decided to fix it in the spring. (he didn't think it was the flywheel key, but it was!)
So the first thing I did was clean the mower; scraping the deck and wiping down the rest with a rag dipped in very mildly soapy water. I then replaced the flywheel key. I did it all myself, which I'm quite proud of lol.
The deck was also a mess; the paint had worn off and it was starting to rust, so I took the angle grinder to it and removed as much rust as I could with the wire brush attachment and then primed and painted it. I was very careful to cover everything but the deck itself so no paint leaked.
I then changed the oil and had a look at the spark plug. It was fine, so I left it as it was. I also replaced the air filter.
I had cleaned the carb last autumn prior to winterizing it so didn't both yesterday.
I put a new blade on, added some premium fuel and started her up. She ran like a dream.
I started her again after my husband came home to show him my accomplishment and again, no trouble.
I popped the mower into the shed for the night to let the new paint fully dry before spraying it with WD40.
This AM I propped up the mower and sprayed down the deck and the wheels as well as where the handle attaches with WD40 with intent of cutting the lawn.
I pulled the cord, and nothing. I pulled it again; nothing. I pulled it some more; it sort of tried to start, but then nothing. I managed to get little puffs of white smoke out of the thing if I yanked on it hard enough.
I thought maybe I had caused some oil to leak into something it shouldn't have but I cant imagine what. Google told me I maybe overfilled the oil, so I emptied some out. Still won't start.
I cleaned the carb. Still nothing.
I drained the gas tank of the premium gas and added regular as it recommends. Still nothing.
Anyone have any idea what I might have done wrong?
Occasionally when I try to pull the cord, it will stop and snap back, sort of like it did when the flywheel key was sheared; but if it ran last night without issue and wasn't used at all, just idling.
I'm really at a loss.
