Lawnmower ceased - what are my options

splashthecash

Hi all,

Took the lawnmower out for a quick cut (first this year) yesterday and the started fine but started to make a bad sound about half way through.

Turned it off immediately, and have been unable to restart since....the chord won't pull out at all, and after checking the oil chamber is empty.

Realistically, what are my options here....is there any way to lubricate the necessary areas in the engine, do I need to take the engine apart for this? or is it a "just dump it" job?

God damn it?! :mad::mad: - should've remembered to check the oil levels...

corglass

I think you know yourself, new mower time.

Harsh but true. You'll waste the guts of 2 days and 100 quid fixing the old one and ultimately it won't be worth it.

Sell the old one for parts if you're bothered to ease the sting

Chemical Byrne

You could try refilling with cheap oil, turn it upsidedown and try wrench it free by turning the blade. That will give you much more leverage than pulling the rope.
Keep turning it by hand till it gets freeish and then try starting it.

If it starts, it probably won't run near as good as before but it might get you by.

Change the oil again after the first use to flush out any metal debris in the crankcase.

Long shot, but it might work.

splashthecash

Thanks to you both, I'll try to manual loosening and see if that does anything, but yeah I'd agree - its a long shot

737max

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

You could try refilling with cheap oil, turn it upsidedown and try wrench it free by turning the blade. That will give you much more leverage than pulling the rope.
Keep turning it by hand till it gets freeish and then try starting it.

If it starts, it probably won't run near as good as before but it might get you by.

Change the oil again after the first use to flush out any metal debris in the crankcase.

Long shot, but it might work.

Do not do this without first removing the air filter and disconnecting spark plug lead.
You will have to engage the deadman's lever as it clamps on the flywheel preventing you from turning the crankshaft.
Pour some(very little) oil in to the spark plug hole and lubricating spray oil in to the barrel too.
If this doesn't work then you might be able to free it up after taking off the cylinder head but this should be avoided as you don't know how much to torque the head bolts when the head is replaced and ideally the gasket should be replaced every time the head is removed.

Obviously fill up with oil again and maybe drain once or twice to get rid of grit.
Let the engine run while under no load.
The cylinder block is soft alloy so it will wear back to some sort of reasonable shape.

I inherited a lawnmower which had been seized solid. After freeing it up it ran for many hundreds of hours more before the conrod snapped and came out through the side of the engine at which stage the engine was replaced with another secondhand engine. hundreds of hours = many seasons of normal use.

Stephenc66

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

You could try refilling with cheap oil, turn it upsidedown and try wrench it free by turning the blade. That will give you much more leverage than pulling the rope.
Keep turning it by hand till it gets freeish and then try starting it.

If it starts, it probably won't run near as good as before but it might get you by.

Change the oil again after the first use to flush out any metal debris in the crankcase.

Long shot, but it might work.

Disconnecting and removing the spark plug first 1)if by chance it started you will lose your fingers 2) If it did turn over it will do so much easier with no compression

Hocus Focus

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

You could try refilling with cheap oil, turn it upsidedown and try wrench it free by turning the blade. That will give you much more leverage than pulling the rope.
Keep turning it by hand till it gets freeish and then try starting it.

If it starts, it probably won't run near as good as before but it might get you by.

Change the oil again after the first use to flush out any metal debris in the crankcase.

Long shot, but it might work.

Please, please please DISCONNECT THE SPARK PLUG before you do this.

Hocus Focus

I once took my old but reliable Snapper to be serviced by a lawnmower dealer in a horsey area between the N2 and the N3 in Co Meath, and when I collected it he said it was "finished" and I should buy a new one. When I got it home I discovered that he had given it back to me without a drop of oil in it, obviously hoping that it would sieze up on the first use. Helluva way to do business!

Chemical Byrne

For fúck sake, that's desparate carry on! What a chancer! IIWY I'd name and shame him.

There's plenty of fellas out there who would do the likes of this if they though their customer was a bit clueless. Even car mechanics who sell cars also are a group I would steer clear of for my repairs. It's in their interest to screw up your car and then try sell you a replacement.

Hocus Focus

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

For fúck sake, that's desparate carry on! What a chancer! IIWY I'd name and shame him.

There's plenty of fellas out there who would do the likes of this if they though their customer was a bit clueless. Even car mechanics who sell cars also are a group I would steer clear of for my repairs. It's in their interest to screw up your car and then try sell you a replacement.

People who live around Rathoath or Fairyhouse would know him.

Hocus Focus

Haven't been there for years, but that looks like the place, all right.

splashthecash

Hey all, update on this is I threw some oil into the mower and DISCONNECTED THE SPARK PLUG (:p), turned it upside\sideways and all around to slosh that stuff around in there....then turned it on its side and sprayed some WD40 into and around the blade shaft, whilst giving it a few manual turns.....it loosened a little bit but wasn't completely free. Then turned it over right way around and connected the spark plug again, and the pull line actually freed itself, gave it a few pulls and away she went!! Cut the back lawn without any issue.

http://i.imgur.com/7BoafnR.gif

Stephenc66

splashthecash wrote: »

Hey all, update on this is I threw some oil into the mower and DISCONNECTED THE SPARK PLUG (:p), turned it upside\sideways and all around to slosh that stuff around in there....then turned it on its side and sprayed some WD40 into and around the blade shaft, whilst giving it a few manual turns.....it loosened a little bit but wasn't completely free. Then turned it over right way around and connected the spark plug again, and the pull line actually freed itself, gave it a few pulls and away she went!! Cut the back lawn without any issue.

http://i.imgur.com/7BoafnR.gif

Good news

And if you didn't actually take the plug out you would still have had compression, this would be why it didn't feel free. Which is a good thing.

Hopefully many more hours of grass cutting..

Chemical Byrne

Ha! Fair play to ya lad!

After an hour's work see what the oilnis like. If it's filthy with metallic looking stuff drain it, flush it out with kerosene or disel and refill with clean oil.