My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

On 05/10/2013 01:10 PM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?

My suggestion is to state the brand and model of the motor next time you
ask a motor-specific question.

Jon

On Fri, 10 May 2013 16:10:25 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?

- Screw adjustments...

- Clean and reset the plug gap

- check the gap on the new plug.

Three things make it run: oxygen, fuel & fire

(no debris in the mechanics of the carb - leaves / sticks)

My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?



gas cap vent hole plugged

On Fri, 10 May 2013 13:32:20 -0700, Jon Danniken
wrote:

On 05/10/2013 01:10 PM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?

My suggestion is to state the brand and model of the motor next time you
ask a motor-specific question.

Jon

They all requi oxygen, fuel & fire.

What would do; absent the OP?

Mark wrote:
My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works
and then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of
stabil in it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark
plug. Any suggestions?



gas cap vent hole plugged

My guess too. Loosen the gas cap and see if that keeps it going.

On Fri, 10 May 2013 16:10:25 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?


I had a mower that did that. Turned out to be a fair amount of water
in the bottom of the carburetor bowl. Some mowers have carbs with
bowls and some don't. Mine was a Sears brand, don't recall the brand
of the engine it used. It must have had some water in the gas tank
too as it did the same thing the next time I used it. Solution was
the same, drain the bowl. Was ok after that.

On Friday, May 10, 2013 4:10:25 PM UTC-4, Kurt Ullman wrote:
My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and

then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in

it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any

suggestions?

--

America is at that awkward stage. It's too late

to work within the system, but too early to shoot

the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

I had a problem with my lawn tractor; it would only run when the choke was out. I posted here recently and there were many good suggestions on what to try. Turns out the fuel shut-off solenoid was bad; don't know if your engine has that on it, but that's a last resort.

On May 10, 7:07*pm, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Fri, 10 May 2013 16:10:25 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?

I had a mower that did that. *Turned out to be a fair amount of water
in the bottom of the carburetor bowl. *Some mowers have carbs with
bowls and some don't. *Mine was a Sears brand, don't recall the brand
of the engine it used. *It must have had some water in the gas tank
too as it did the same thing the next time I used it. *Solution was
the same, drain the bowl. * Was ok after that.

add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

I suggest that you write a post which tells us the make, model, horse power, type and brand of engine, how long is "for a while", and what you have tried so far.
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message ...
My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

Would that be a solution of 2% alcohol in water?
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
wrote in message ...

add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

On May 10, 8:41*pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
Would that be a solution of 2% alcohol in water?
.
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
* *www.lds.org
.
.

wrote in ...

add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

pure 100% alcohol, at about 2% of the volume of gas it is added to.

" wrote:
On May 10, 8:41 pm, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:
Would that be a solution of 2% alcohol in water?
.
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.
.

wrote in
...

add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

pure 100% alcohol, at about 2% of the volume of gas it is added to.

Might make it 12%

Greg

wrote in message
...
add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

For small tanks that are easy to drain and bowls that are easy to remove,
just drain the old gas.

Now if it was a car or truck, the alcohol would be easier.

And we can invent a catchy name for it. How about "gasohol"?
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
"gregz" wrote in message ...
add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

pure 100% alcohol, at about 2% of the volume of gas it is added to.

Might make it 12%

Greg

Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
...
add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the
gas.

For small tanks that are easy to drain and bowls that are easy to
remove, just drain the old gas.

Now if it was a car or truck, the alcohol would be easier.

And acetone would be better (water is soluable in acetone).

In article ,
Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Fri, 10 May 2013 16:10:25 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?


I had a mower that did that. Turned out to be a fair amount of water
in the bottom of the carburetor bowl. Some mowers have carbs with
bowls and some don't. Mine was a Sears brand, don't recall the brand
of the engine it used. It must have had some water in the gas tank
too as it did the same thing the next time I used it. Solution was
the same, drain the bowl. Was ok after that.

I just did that and it didn't seem like there was a lot of water in the
gas. I'll try to run it today to see if that works before taking it in.
Thanks for the assist.
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

On Sat, 11 May 2013 06:40:39 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

And we can invent a catchy name for it. How about "gasohol"?
.
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.
.
"gregz" wrote in message ...
add a little 2% or so alcohol to dissove any possible water in the gas.

pure 100% alcohol, at about 2% of the volume of gas it is added to.

Might make it 12%

Greg
100% pure alcohol does not exist "in the wild" and is pretty hard to
buy anywhere.

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

We should empanel National Geographic to study the matter.
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
wrote in message ...

pure 100% alcohol, at about 2% of the volume of gas it is added to.

100% pure alcohol does not exist "in the wild" and is pretty hard to
buy anywhere.

http://www.fuel-testers.com/expirati...hanol_gas.html

On May 11, 7:35*am, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
*Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Fri, 10 May 2013 16:10:25 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and
then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in
it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any
suggestions?

I had a mower that did that. *Turned out to be a fair amount of water
in the bottom of the carburetor bowl. *Some mowers have carbs with
bowls and some don't. *Mine was a Sears brand, don't recall the brand
of the engine it used. *It must have had some water in the gas tank
too as it did the same thing the next time I used it. *Solution was
the same, drain the bowl. * Was ok after that.

I just did that and it didn't seem like there was a lot of water in the
gas. *I'll try to run it today to see if that works before taking it in..
Thanks for the assist.
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

Any water is too much water!!!!

On 5/11/2013 10:12 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.



Air filter dirty?

In article , John
wrote:

On 5/11/2013 10:12 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.



Air filter dirty?

Nah. One of the first things I looked at.
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

Valve clearance. (very likely)
Bad motor oil. (less likely)
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.

On Friday, May 10, 2013 1:10:25 PM UTC-7, Kurt Ullman wrote:
My lawn mower works for awhile, starts to sputter but still works and

then no longer works. I have brand new gas, there is a lot of stabil in

it, and the tank looks clean. I have replaced the spark plug. Any

suggestions?

--

America is at that awkward stage. It's too late

to work within the system, but too early to shoot

the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

Does it have a fuel filter?

On Sun, 12 May 2013 10:00:32 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article , John
wrote:

On 5/11/2013 10:12 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.



Air filter dirty?

Nah. One of the first things I looked at.

The MTD site gives 6 things to check for: Engine runs erratic

1 Spark plug wire loose -- Connect and tighten spark plug wire


2 Blocked fuel line or stale fuel -- Clean fuel line and fill tank
with fresh gas


3 Vent in gas cap is plugged -- Clear Vent


4 Water or dirt in fuel system -- Drain fuel tank and refill with
fresh fuel


5 Carburetor is out of adjustment -- Adjust carburetor according to
your engine manual


6 Engine is overfilled with oil -- Drain oil and fill to proper amount


http://www.mtdproducts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/DiagnoseTroubleshootArticleView?storeId=10500&cata logId=20500&langId=-1&pageName=en_US%2fsupport%2fdiagnoseTroubleshoot% 2fdiagnoseTroubleshootArticles%2fSelfPropelledMowe rs_EngineRunsErratic.html&categoryId=1341898&categ ory=SelfPropelledMowers

In article ,
Oren wrote:

On Sun, 12 May 2013 10:00:32 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article , John
wrote:

On 5/11/2013 10:12 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.



Air filter dirty?

Nah. One of the first things I looked at.

The MTD site gives 6 things to check for: Engine runs erratic

1 Spark plug wire loose -- Connect and tighten spark plug wire


2 Blocked fuel line or stale fuel -- Clean fuel line and fill tank
with fresh gas


3 Vent in gas cap is plugged -- Clear Vent


4 Water or dirt in fuel system -- Drain fuel tank and refill with
fresh fuel


5 Carburetor is out of adjustment -- Adjust carburetor according to
your engine manual


6 Engine is overfilled with oil -- Drain oil and fill to proper amount



Cool. Only the first 3 were included in the manual and it never
occurred to me that the website would be different. (Although I did
figure out the water or dirt part on my own-grin).
--
America is at that awkward stage. It's too late
to work within the system, but too early to shoot
the *******s."-- Claire Wolfe

Valve clearance.
Bad oil.
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message ...
The MTD site gives 6 things to check for: Engine runs erratic
1 Spark plug wire loose -- Connect and tighten spark plug wire
2 Blocked fuel line or stale fuel -- Clean fuel line and fill tank
with fresh gas
3 Vent in gas cap is plugged -- Clear Vent
4 Water or dirt in fuel system -- Drain fuel tank and refill with
fresh fuel
5 Carburetor is out of adjustment -- Adjust carburetor according to
your engine manual
6 Engine is overfilled with oil -- Drain oil and fill to proper amount

Cool. Only the first 3 were included in the manual and it never
occurred to me that the website would be different. (Although I did
figure out the water or dirt part on my own-grin).

On Sun, 12 May 2013 13:32:07 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article ,
Oren wrote:

On Sun, 12 May 2013 10:00:32 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article , John
wrote:

On 5/11/2013 10:12 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.



Air filter dirty?

Nah. One of the first things I looked at.

The MTD site gives 6 things to check for: Engine runs erratic

1 Spark plug wire loose -- Connect and tighten spark plug wire


2 Blocked fuel line or stale fuel -- Clean fuel line and fill tank
with fresh gas


3 Vent in gas cap is plugged -- Clear Vent


4 Water or dirt in fuel system -- Drain fuel tank and refill with
fresh fuel


5 Carburetor is out of adjustment -- Adjust carburetor according to
your engine manual


6 Engine is overfilled with oil -- Drain oil and fill to proper amount



Cool. Only the first 3 were included in the manual and it never
occurred to me that the website would be different. (Although I did
figure out the water or dirt part on my own-grin).

Double check your papers. Seems that mower has a two year warranty.
The MTD site has links to service centers.

For those thumping about valve clearance, I say hogwash!

The spark plug ceramic can be cracked.

Zoom in this:

http://abakos.com.ar/por/wp-content/uploads/spark-plug-condition-guide-i1.jpg

On Mon, 13 May 2013 10:29:54 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Sun, 12 May 2013 13:32:07 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article ,
Oren wrote:

On Sun, 12 May 2013 10:00:32 -0400, Kurt Ullman
wrote:

In article , John
wrote:

On 5/11/2013 10:12 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:

The carb bowl did not do any good after all. As per usual, it
started, I was able to mow for about 10 minutes, it sputtered for about
another minute and then shut down entirely. IT is a 139 cc PowerMore
engine on an MTD self-propelled mower. Only about 2.5 years old.



Air filter dirty?

Nah. One of the first things I looked at.

The MTD site gives 6 things to check for: Engine runs erratic

1 Spark plug wire loose -- Connect and tighten spark plug wire


2 Blocked fuel line or stale fuel -- Clean fuel line and fill tank
with fresh gas


3 Vent in gas cap is plugged -- Clear Vent


4 Water or dirt in fuel system -- Drain fuel tank and refill with
fresh fuel


5 Carburetor is out of adjustment -- Adjust carburetor according to
your engine manual


6 Engine is overfilled with oil -- Drain oil and fill to proper amount



Cool. Only the first 3 were included in the manual and it never
occurred to me that the website would be different. (Although I did
figure out the water or dirt part on my own-grin).

Double check your papers. Seems that mower has a two year warranty.
The MTD site has links to service centers.

For those thumping about valve clearance, I say hogwash!

The spark plug ceramic can be cracked.

Zoom in this:

http://abakos.com.ar/por/wp-content/uploads/spark-plug-condition-guide-i1.jpg


On that engine it could be anything - Chinese engine with short
history.