On Thu, 12 May 2011 13:15:28 -0500, jim
wrote:

wrote:

On May 7, 5:50 pm, Joseph Gwinn wrote:
I have a lawnmower and a snowblower, both from Honda, and both are hard
to start at the beginning of their season. The lawnmower is the worst
offender, by far, so I'll focus on it.

I would always get the mower going, but it could take all day the first
time. After that initial difficult start, starting was reasonably easy
for the rest of the season.

I have heard various theories on why this is so:

1. Gas varnished up over the winter. I took the carb apart - clean as
a whistle. Nor did gas stabilizer make any difference.

2. Water (from condensation) in the gas. Hmm, hard to do with the 10%
alcohol in all gas available these days.

3. Volatiles evaporating from the gas in the tank over the winter.
Also, various stories saying that winter gas and summer gas are
different, the difference being how volatile the gas is, with winter
needing more volatile gas than summer. Hmm, this could be at least part
of an answer.

So, this year, when I first tried to start the lawnmower for the summer,
had the usual problems. Tried the usual dodges, like leaving the mower
out in the sun to warm up, and putting fresh gas in the tank, but no go.

Volatiles? Ether! So, I gave it a squirt of starting fluid.

Started right up on the first try, and subsequent starts were of normal
difficulty, probably because all the old gas was by then flushed out of
the carb.

So, theory 3 seems to be correct.

And a dash of Naptha in the gas may do the same.

Joe Gwinn

Ran the gas out of mine completely last fall, got some fresh 91 octane
last week, filled the tank, it fired off in three pulls, needed
another pull to keep going. Has a gravity feed tank. I've found 91
octane is needed with the alcohol contaminated gas for it to chop
through the heavier weeds, otherwise it stalls. Difference in
performance is quite noticiable. Briggs engine, about 25 years old.
In the past, if I left gas in it, even if the float bowl was left dry
I'd have to disassemble and hit all the parts with carb cleaner, then
it would run. I also think the alcohol is the reason they're sticking
6 hp engines on the same mowers they used to put 3.5 hp engines. That
and CA smog specs. Either that or the horses have shrunk down.

The horses have shrunk down. I think what they were calling a 5 hp was
practically identical to what they sold as 3.5 hp for 50 years. There
was a Nationwide class action lawsuit against B&S. As a consequence they
no longer use hp ratings. They are rated by torque.

-jim



Stan
The REASON they now sell by torque is the HP rating was at 3600 RPM,
and with the safely regulations today most lawn mowers are running
their engines BELOW that speed - many only 2400 RPM
A 6 hp motor at 3600 rpm is 8.75 ft lbs of torque. At 2400 RPM that's
only something like 4 HP.