On 8/26/2020 7:36 PM, TimR wrote:
On Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 7:09:30 PM UTC-4, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 8/26/20 5:17 PM, TimR wrote:
Update.

It hasn't run since April 2019.

I didn't have a place to work on it while I repaired my shed, rotted sill plate and studs, all replaced now.

So I tried starting it; by priming the heck out of it I could get it to start but only run a few seconds.

So I ordered a cheap carburetor on Amazon. About $20 US. It's a Tecumseh LV196EZ engine. To my surprise the new carburetor matched the old one, all the bolts came off without breaking or rounding, all the parts fit. The only thing that broke was the fuel line clamp. I just touched it with pliers and it fell apart.

Ethanol free gas is quite a ways so I grabbed a can of Truefuel at Home Depot to start this thing ethanol free.

It started. I had to prime the heck out of it but it started and I got about half the lawn mowed. I had to stop a couple times to move lawn furniture but it always restarted.

Now it won't restart. I pull the cord and a puff of blue smoke comes out the exhaust.

It also bogged down in thick grass, but the lawn did get away from me this year and mulchers do that.

So, did I replace the wrong part? Or the right part, and something else is broken?

Blue smoke means it's burning oil. Did it do it before the last
time you stopped it? Did you tip the mower over for some reason? Maybe
add oil and overfill it?
Try pulling the plug out and pull the cord a few times then put the
plug back in. Try starting it again.

I may have been hasty. I was a bit discouraged having put the effort in and thought I'd failed. I gave it an hour to cool off. It started right up, ran fine, I finished the yard without trouble. It does bog down in thick stuff. The self propelled feature is nice. I've never had one and don't really need it but it sure is convenient.

What else goes wrong? Rings, valves, head gasket?

Also - save the old carburetor and rebuild it for a spare, or pitch it?

You might want to clean the linkage to the governor and adjust. That
might keep it from bogging down in heavy grass.