My daughter could really do with a patrol lawnmower as her electric one is
woeful. As it happened, I discovered that my neighbour had a "broken" 16"
lawnmower sitting in his garage (that "he thought" was a two stroke).
Consequently I offered to buy it off him if I could fix it.

It has a B&S 450 series engine and quick google confirmed my suspicion that
it wasn't a two stroke.

It turned over alright on the recoil starter but not a hint of ignition so
I had a look at the air filter that was absolutely saturated in oil. Oil
spatters were also on the deck by the exhaust. The dipstick confirmed that
it was well over-filled.

After cleaning the oily spark plug and with the air filter off I could get
it to start easily but not keep running unless I pumped the priming bulb
continuously. Clearly it wasn't drawing fresh fuel from the tank so it was
off with the carburettor, a quick clean, drained the engine oil and
refilled with the right amount and lastly drained the fuel tank which had
reddish petrol in it, presumably some sort of two stroke mix.

After reassembly it started and ran on the first pull, emitting clouds of
smoke for the first five minutes as excess oil residues were presumably
burnt out of the exhaust & silencer.

Best of all, my neighbour refuses to take any money for it. ;-)

Tim

--
Trolls AND TROLL FEEDERS all go in my kill file

On 26/06/2016 16:35, Tim+ wrote:
My daughter could really do with a patrol lawnmower as her electric one is
woeful. As it happened, I discovered that my neighbour had a "broken" 16"
lawnmower sitting in his garage (that "he thought" was a two stroke).
Consequently I offered to buy it off him if I could fix it.

It has a B&S 450 series engine and quick google confirmed my suspicion that
it wasn't a two stroke.

It turned over alright on the recoil starter but not a hint of ignition so
I had a look at the air filter that was absolutely saturated in oil. Oil
spatters were also on the deck by the exhaust. The dipstick confirmed that
it was well over-filled.

After cleaning the oily spark plug and with the air filter off I could get
it to start easily but not keep running unless I pumped the priming bulb
continuously. Clearly it wasn't drawing fresh fuel from the tank so it was
off with the carburettor, a quick clean, drained the engine oil and
refilled with the right amount and lastly drained the fuel tank which had
reddish petrol in it, presumably some sort of two stroke mix.

After reassembly it started and ran on the first pull, emitting clouds of
smoke for the first five minutes as excess oil residues were presumably
burnt out of the exhaust & silencer.

Best of all, my neighbour refuses to take any money for it. ;-)


Congratulations. Nice one!

Nick

On Sun, 26 Jun 2016 16:38:41 +0100
Nick Odell wrote:

It turned over alright on the recoil starter but not a hint of
ignition so I had a look at the air filter that was absolutely
saturated in oil. Oil spatters were also on the deck by the
exhaust.

Remember that this engine has an oiled foam air cleaner. I have one
similar.

--
Davey.

Nick Odell wrote:
On 26/06/2016 16:35, Tim+ wrote:

Best of all, my neighbour refuses to take any money for it. ;-)


Congratulations. Nice one!

Nick



I rather think his problems have been caused by an overenthusiastic
father-in-law who fancies himself as a handyman. His new mower is
currently languishing at a local repair shop with oil in the carb after he
"serviced" it.

I say languishing as it's run by a totally disorganised nutter who has a
reputation for taking months to fix anything. My neighbour only heard about
his reputation after he had dropped it off there. I've told him to get it
back and I'll have a look at it.

Tim

--
Trolls AND TROLL FEEDERS all go in my kill file

Davey wrote:
On Sun, 26 Jun 2016 16:38:41 +0100
Nick Odell wrote:

It turned over alright on the recoil starter but not a hint of
ignition so I had a look at the air filter that was absolutely
saturated in oil. Oil spatters were also on the deck by the
exhaust.

Remember that this engine has an oiled foam air cleaner. I have one
similar.


There's "oiled" and then there's "totally saturated and dripping oil".
This was definitely the latter. Oil was puddling inside the carb venturi.

--
Trolls AND TROLL FEEDERS all go in my kill file

On Sun, 26 Jun 2016 15:54:29 -0000 (UTC)
Tim+ wrote:

Davey wrote:
On Sun, 26 Jun 2016 16:38:41 +0100
Nick Odell wrote:

It turned over alright on the recoil starter but not a hint of
ignition so I had a look at the air filter that was absolutely
saturated in oil. Oil spatters were also on the deck by the
exhaust.

Remember that this engine has an oiled foam air cleaner. I have one
similar.


There's "oiled" and then there's "totally saturated and dripping
oil". This was definitely the latter. Oil was puddling inside the
carb venturi.


Yeah, that'll do it. I also found one of those.

--
Davey.

Nick Odell wrote:
On 26/06/2016 16:35, Tim+ wrote:
My daughter could really do with a patrol lawnmower as her electric
one is
woeful. As it happened, I discovered that my neighbour had a
"broken" 16"
lawnmower sitting in his garage (that "he thought" was a two stroke).
Consequently I offered to buy it off him if I could fix it.

It has a B&S 450 series engine and quick google confirmed my
suspicion that
it wasn't a two stroke.

It turned over alright on the recoil starter but not a hint of
ignition so
I had a look at the air filter that was absolutely saturated in oil. Oil
spatters were also on the deck by the exhaust. The dipstick confirmed
that
it was well over-filled.

After cleaning the oily spark plug and with the air filter off I
could get
it to start easily but not keep running unless I pumped the priming bulb
continuously. Clearly it wasn't drawing fresh fuel from the tank so
it was
off with the carburettor, a quick clean, drained the engine oil and
refilled with the right amount and lastly drained the fuel tank which
had
reddish petrol in it, presumably some sort of two stroke mix.

After reassembly it started and ran on the first pull, emitting
clouds of
smoke for the first five minutes as excess oil residues were presumably
burnt out of the exhaust & silencer.

Best of all, my neighbour refuses to take any money for it. ;-)


Congratulations. Nice one!

Nick

Congratulations!