[mdelliott]

So, I've got a poulan pro push mower (briggs engine)that's maybe 2 years old. It starts after being primed & I pull start it, but only runs for a few seconds. After I had problems several times I decided that I needed to look into it.

So first off I found the filter to be pretty nasty & thought that maybe that was part of the problem. Cleaned it (it's a foam one), put it back in. After that I attempted to start it again... same problem. I checked into the primer bulb & whatnot everything seems to be doing what it's supposed to, I also took apart the top piece that the pull string attaches to & cleaned it out. I also lubed up the parts that spin the blades. After all that I figured that it would be fine. I put things back together & it ran for about a few seconds more than before.

Any ideas on what to look for? I'm fairly certain that it's something simple as I've had no problems with it & everything is pretty new.

 

[davidg]

i had the same problem with a Bolens push mower. tie the safety handle back and crank it. each time it tries to die, hit the primer button 1-2x. if it keeps running then it ain't sucking fuel from the tank. i ended up soaking the cabr in carb cleaner and that helped some, but i finally fixed it by cleaning everything and adding some seafoam to the gas then letting it run a full tank thru it.

 

[Mouse]

That davidg is a smart man, no more to be said !! Ok 1 thing add fuel stablizer in the fall, keep fuel filled or run dry in winter- 2 things.

 

[Croc]

I find it a lot easier to run an engine dry before storing it, also it's a good idea to put a few drops of oil or something in thru the sparkplug hole to lube things up before storage. Even if you just put a shot of WD-40 in there, it will protect it from rust and moisture.

 

[Kbeitz]

Check for plugged gas cap....

 

[ggsteve]

Check for plugged gas cap....

This was my first thought.

 

[mdelliott]

i had the same problem with a Bolens push mower. tie the safety handle back and crank it. each time it tries to die, hit the primer button 1-2x. if it keeps running then it ain't sucking fuel from the tank. i ended up soaking the cabr in carb cleaner and that helped some, but i finally fixed it by cleaning everything and adding some seafoam to the gas then letting it run a full tank thru it.

Worked like a charm. Oh and I read somewhere about the spark plug getting build up on it if the filter had not been changed/cleaned recently enough. So I cleaned the **** out of that too.

Thanks to all.