Sometimes, you'll fix a problem only to prove that there are more things wrong. I have been working on a guys walk-behind mower now for a few weeks, off and on. I first showed up, he had overfilled it with oil. I drained the oil to an acceptable level, ran the mower till it ran clean and called it a fix(no problems arose). He said it ran for about 30 minutes and stopped. I checked it out and found the carb had some dry gas in it and the float needle was sticking. I cleaned out the carb and it ran long enough for him to mostly finish his yard. Then it stopped working again. I think the carb had some dry gas inside some of the small orifices and they got plugged up as it ran longer and vibrated some of that junk loose. Now i'm in waiting for the new carb to arrive in the mail so we won't have to worry about it anymore.
The biggest problem with trying to save the customer as much as possible is that it ends up coming out of your overhead. If I had just had him replace the carb in the first place, like most would have done, it would have fixed the problem and cost me less and him the same(in the end). But had the carb cleaning done a good enough job, it would have cost him $40 less. I find it hard to replace before I try to fix.
Another job for a non-running mower. Took the carb off, used a spare carb and it fired up like a new one. Bought the new carb yesterday, replaced a fuel hose and she was ready to go. Walbro carb's.....I have more trouble with these than any other carb's I see. I don't know if it's a design issue or not, but when they go, they go hard. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to repair these.....I'll let you know when I figure it out. I'd really like to get a mechanical cleaner, one that pumps the solvent continuously through a bin that you lay the material in.....but everything costs money, and I don't have a lot of it.
I went out to check the Murray lawn mower, and it was flooded.....the carb was still not working correctly. I know that the seals are good, the needle and seal are good, the only thing left is the float. I took the float off and didn't notice anything wrong with it. Then very, very slowly liquid began to seep out of a pinhole crack in the shell. I drilled a hole in the shell where the crack was, drained it completely of all the liquid inside, then patched the hole with J.B. Weld. Works like a champ now, no leaks and runs better than ever. A damaged float is such a rare problem that it's really easy to overlook. You don't expect it because the float does nothing other than float in gasoline and work the needle. Anyway, have it posted to sell on Craigslist, so hopefully I find a buyer soon.
I went to a job today to change the oil in one mower and figure out the problem with a second. The first was just an easy oil change, the second mower fired up, then died and wouldn't start again, so I took it with me to troubleshoot in my shop. I figured that the carburetor had been sitting with gas in it and needed to be cleaned. I took it apart and found not only was the carb pretty gummed up, but the bowl bolt was clogged and the intake gasket was broken. I ordered the gaskets, cleaned all the parts, and am just waiting for the parts to get here to finish the job.
Just finished the Murray 20" Lawn Mower with the 3.5hp Tecumseh Engine. Runs great, super quiet, not really powerful with a 3.5hp motor, but great for a small yard. Super easy pull start, everything went back together flawlessly. Had a little trouble with the carburetor, some of the old seat was still left and had to clean it out. So I snapped a few pictures and posted it on Craigslist.org for $80, which isn't a bad price for a practically brand new mower. Here's a few pictures of everything dismantled.
I went ahead and ordered the parts for the 20" Murray lawnmower with the 3.5hp Tecumseh engine on it. I figured that I didn't need to replace the rings which brought the repair price back down quite a bit. I received the parts this weekend and hope to have it rebuilt soon. I will keep you all updated.
I looked into the parts for the murray 20" lawn mower engine and realized it wasn't going to be cost effective to replace all the parts that needed replacing. I hate to abandon a project like this, because most of the parts are still good on it, but what can a small business guy do. Hopefully I will find another job soon to keep busy with.
The last lawn mower I rebuilt I ended up trading for this lawn mower plus $50. It was pretty much shot, wouldn't run, leaking oil out the muffler, carburator shot, etc. I have the engine dismantled now. I'm looking for parts, but finding it a little disconcerting to spend $50 dollars on a lawn mower that I was originally planning to sell for $40 before I found some additional problems.
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