Remindes me of the tech. at my college. The computer wouldnt start in the classroom and he would not let us touch it or listen to us. After 20 minutes of messing around he did what i said, checked to see if it was pluged in. It wasent. Everyone start cracking up. Good times

Forgive me for digging up an old post... Brando, did you ever get the mower all finished?

Lawnboy has not made 2 cycle mowers since the 2005 model year. The EPA says that they no longer meet emmisions. There are maybe a handful left in dealer stock, as alot of edealers bought lots of em to horde. They also have done away with the offset deck wheel. Lawnboys new niche is user friendlyness. They are still a good mower, and you can get a honda engine on one. BTW, Lawnboy has been owned by Toro for 10-15 years now... Actually the only 2 cycle stuff you can get anymore is weedeaters, chainsaws and other handheld stuff.

Adjustable jets were wonderful. EPA regulation mandates carb jet size now, and that is why we have fixed jet carbs in lawnmowers. It is also why they are more finicky. They are set as lean as possible to reduce emmissions.

I didn't do anything but use it....
Added a bagging kit to mulch the leaves up for fall...that's about it.

I have other projects right now. A Craftsman weed whacker that I got off ebay, along with a blower for $36. The catch? They won't start (I knew that before buying them). I got the weed whacker started with a new coil. Runs like a champ and it is the convertible kind, I got an edger and 12 foot pole pruner for it....pretty cool, it's actually a 2005 model....so pretty good deal there. I haven't gotten the blower started yet....compression checks good, there is spark, seems to be too much fuel...so I'm thinking it's a carb problem. Idea?

I also have a Craftsman Blower/Vacuum, it's 2005 model....it was running good and then it stopped. Compression is very low....gasket blown? what would happen in these small engines to cause the compression to be low? It was running real good and then just quit. I don't understand why. Spark is good, fuel is good, compression is just too low....it was running real good before. Idea?

Thanks for digging this old topic up.

TOC Admin
Brando

Most likely it would be a gummed up carb. Or, the carb could be set too lean, but I think it would at least attempt to start if it was too lean. Every once in a while my weed eater will do that and I will just reset the needles and it runs great. (course I removed the limiters, stupid EPA restrictions)

On the Craftsman, Is it 2-stroke? If it is you can look into the exhaust port with the exhaust out. Does the piston look very scratched up or scored? If it is, then it probably has very low compression. Though it's a 2005 model, it might not be that, unless it was run too lean. If its a 4-stroke, well there could be a couple reasons for compression to be low. Head gasket would be first to check definitely if it is 4-stroke.

There are many problems surfacing in these. It is not most likely a gummed up carb if it flooding. If it is gummed up there will be no fuel entering the cylinder even if the needle is stuck open. Small 2 -cycle stuff like uses diaphragm carbs, and if the needle doesnt hold pressure, there will be no fuel flow. If the needle is stuck, or gummed up, no fuel will flow. Since its flooding and compression is very low, it is most likely that the lack of compression is the cause. Low compression means it wont fire, because it can't build any pressure. There are 2 main causes for this. The first is a cylinder or piston problem. There are 2 general types of failure in this area. One is making it run lean, and the other is dirt gut. If the unit has been run lean, you will have too much compression. Max compression in this stuff is around 120 lbs, with the exception of hi performance units like cut off saws and big chainsaws (not anything craftsman would make) You can determine what type of failure you are dealing with by what side of the piston is affected. Scoring on the exaust side always indicated a lean condition. When the engine is run lean, you are running the unit with little to no lubrication on the cylinder. This often results in metal transfer, scoring of the piston, port transfer, and seizure. It can also result in the rings being buried in the piston, and that can cause a low compression situation. The latter is not very common. In a dirt gut situation, dirt is ingested, and this scores the intake side of the piston and cylinder resulting in bad ring seal and there for low compression. In the craftman stuff, their airfilters are junk and they dont really seal as well as they should. The other type of failure is a vac. leak. Often times, vac. leaks are what cause lean conditions. Things such as bad crank seals or a cracked fuel line can kill one of these thing in a heartbeat. These things run lean enough as it is, the dont need anymore air. Some things specific to craftsman...

Alot of their units are rebadged Ryobis, I believe. They have had problems with the coating on the piston coming off and trashing the whole thing. Its a warranty issue, but if you are not the original owner, so you have no warranty. I also have not seen this on a blower yet, so Im not sure if that applies. I would check out the cylinder as described above in that blower, but be ready to bury it as they arent worth the money to fix.

After re-reading your post about too much fuel in the weed eater, I have a couple things for you to try. If it is adjustable, reset the screws. Screw them in untill they bottom, the a click over 1 turn out is roughly where they should be. Now, if you are getting fuel, and you have spark and compression (between 80 and 120 lbs) then it should fire up unless it is flooded really bad. Take off the muffler and blow it out. Sometimes they get filled with fuel and can restrict the exaust. Also check the spark arrestor screen. If it is plugged with carbon, burn the carbon off with a torch, and reinstall. A plugged muffler screen may as well be a blocked muffler, no airflow. Now, if this doesnt work, try a new plug. If still nothing, put a carb kit and fuel lines in it and try again. If you are border line on that compression range I gave you, it may not be salvageable. If you have any questions about any of this stuff, feel free to ask, I have lots of experience with all this stuff, and I am glad to help.

Andrew

Whoops, thanks for correcting me on that, I didn't read correctly. Thought it said he wasn't getting fuel.

No, I'm getting fuel in the older craftsman blower, which has good compression, and has spark...just getting too much and not letting it ignite.

Andrew....the craftsman weedeater works fine...as I said, I replaced the coil and it works good...I probably should have put a line inbetween there when I switched from talking about the weed whacker to the older craftsman blower...

The newer craftsman blower...I'll have to take it apart and see what's up...these are all 2 cycle...

TOC Admin
Brando

Speaking of lawn equipment, I was digging around my Photobucket account and found the picture below. Since It was bought in April 2001 it never seemed to run right. Never really though of it till June of this year. It just acted up and ran rough so I gave it to a friend. Got a 2 year old riding mower off the grandparents for free becasue they were moving to Mississippi. Week later heres what eventually happened to it...





Funny thing is he still mowes the lawn with this thing!

Great for halloween.

TOC Admin
Brando

looks like some of the stuff I work on....and they want it fixed for free.....

Yeah, a week or two ago we tore it apart. The rings were pretty much toast. It was a pretty good mower, but always ran like crap. It was mighty expensive at $400 too for just a push mower.

My Ol' Tecumseh 7HP snow blowers starting to smoke a little bit when you change throttle positions. Its never let me down so I guess it's time for a re-build after this season...

With the price of new equpiment, be sure to look at cost of repair versus a new unit. Anymore, it just isnt worth the rebuild compared to getting a new one.

400 bucks would be a mid grade pushmower. I would suggest getting a good mower to replave it. Its more of an investment than a burden. If you get a cast deck Toro, you will be very happy. JMHO.

Andrew

As soon as I gave the pusher to my friend my grandparents replaced it with their older (well, 2002) Self-Propelled Craftsman 6.5HP Briggs mower. Only thing was it never had an oil cange since it was bought and needed a couple of things. I did the required work and she starts first pull every time, as long as I use fuel stabilizer in it.

1 month later the same grandparents gave me their 10HP rear-engine rider becasue they were moving and couldn't take it. It was only a year old at the time too. Bout $1200 new at the time. Fact, that was the exact same weekend my folks bought my Olds, so I guess it was a sweet week.

Anyways, Brando, any word on the staus of the two blowers?