Hi All,

I bought a new Hayter Hawk mower last year which came with a Briggs and
Stratton 40 engine (4 stroke). Auto Choke and a govenor instead of a
throttle.

I will cut a long story short, but it has never been a very good
runner, it has been running very rich, fouling the plug and now refuses
to start at all.

Unfortunately whille trying to figure out what was wrong I took the top
cover off while it was running and this hit the flywheel/fan as it was
coming off and broke a couple of the fan blades. I don't think this
has affected the way it runs, but the manufacturers or their agents
might consider it to breach the warranty terms :=((

It seems like it has been running with full choke, but I can't see any
choke mechanism. Previous threads speak of a carb where the choke is
shut by a spring and opened by vacum. There is what looks to be a
vacum connection to the carb (pipe about 1/4" bore) which connects to
the carb (to the bowl under the air filter) I can't see any way this
can act as a choke though. The connections on this seem sloppy so it's
possible it's not getting the necessary suck, also I put my finger over
the end while the mower was running and couldn't feel any "pull".
(Don't know if i would though??)

I've spoken to the supplier (Hilliers - Large garden centre/nursery) -
"We don't have a service dept, contact Horace Fuller for warranty
claims".

Horace Fuller "Probably because you are using last years fuel - we
could take a look, but it's unlikely to be covered by the warranty"

I did run a tank full of new fuel through, but it got no better and has
now stopped altogether.

I also emailed Hayter a couple of days back and got an automated reply
saying they would be in touch soon.

I am dischuffed! The previous mower had a Briggs and Stratton with a
manual choke and throttle which ran great with just the occasional oil
change for about 20 years. I only got rid of it as it didn't have a
grass box.

Questions.......

Anyone know what the problem might be? how to fix it?

Also how should I proceed with the supplier/manufacturer/agent?