The Mower Bench

[Richard Thompson]

i have just sold a ride on ( 36" deck 12 hp b+s engine manual gears) it had been standing for a couple of years but started and ran fine, till the guy ran it today and said it konked and that fuel was leaking from around the carb and it wouldnt start????

so i said i could take a look so just after a few pointers of things to check.

thanks carl.

 

Check the fuel solenoid if fitted? And the gasket O ring of the fuel bowl,

[Richard Thompson]

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQsRbehROv8hRJtpromykj1w2F10vMTFtjycKge6G1LO3F3aOCqIg

 

If fitted to the carb just remove the black pip of the solenoid and give it a try

[GardenKit]

i have just sold a ride on ( 36" deck 12 hp b+s engine manual gears) it had been standing for a couple of years but started and ran fine, till the guy ran it today and said it konked and that fuel was leaking from around the carb and it wouldnt start????

so i said i could take a look so just after a few pointers of things to check.

thanks carl.

It could be that the couple of years storage with old fuel in the carb has caused the bowl ring and/or bowl retainer seal to have perished. New, solvent rich, fuel has then dissolved some of the seal material causing the leaks.

 

It could also be that the fuel lines have degraded causing external leakage from the hoses, and possible also allowing degraded material to stick in the float valve allowing the carb bowl to fill right up and overflow into the carb throat from where it can flow down the inlet manifold into the upper cylinder, causing flooding.

 

The rubber tip on the solenoid could also have degraded with old fuel, but will not cause starting issues or fuel leaks.

[carlos]

cool thanks for the replies, i now know where to look first. carl

[GardenKit]

So today we had a call from a lady saying she had been on to Mountfield about a problem with her mower smoking badly. She had told them it was only 2 years old and this simply was not good enough.

 

Mountfield suggested that she call us as her local service agent , which she did and repeated her moan.

 

"Bring it in and we will have a look" was our reply. So she did, and repeated her moan.

 

We dipped the oil and found it to be 50mm above the full mark, hence the smoking. Turns out she tops it up with a little oil before every use 'just to be sure'

 

Sweet little old lady really, albeit with a bit of a sharp tongue, but she mellowed after a helping of humble pie.

 

She muttered her thanks and went on her way, after buying some more oil "just to be sure" she said.

[Vespasian]

So today we had a call from a lady saying she had been on to Mountfield about a problem with her mower smoking badly. She had told them it was only 2 years old and this simply was not good enough.

 

Mountfield suggested that she call us as her local service agent , which she did and repeated her moan.

 

"Bring it in and we will have a look" was our reply. So she did, and repeated her moan.

 

We dipped the oil and found it to be 50mm above the full mark, hence the smoking. Turns out she tops it up with a little oil before every use 'just to be sure'

 

Sweet little old lady really, albeit with a bit of a sharp tongue, but she mellowed after a helping of humble pie.

 

She muttered her thanks and went on her way, after buying some more oil "just to be sure" she said.

 

Alan Benet's the lady in the van... sounds just like her..

[pycoed]

My mate dropped off his Viking MB505MM mower to me saying "It'll start but not stay running". He was right enough, so I said I'd take a look.

I found the whole engine was loose on the resilient mountings, so I nipped up the mounts.

Question 1

Should there be 4 mounts? There was no mount at all under the exhaust i.e the left front side as you push the mower. If so, does anyone have a part number for the resilient mount?

 

On taking off the air filter (filthy & soaked with petrol), & backplate, I found the

plate the carb mounts to was held by only one loose bolt, the other was missing. After a lot of searching my bits & pieces bins, the only bolt with the right threads I could find was an Allen bolt (damn these American threads!). Fitted that & confident the primer bulb would now seal without leaking & all would be well. Ummm no! Just the same issue as before, so I told him to leave it with me & I'd clean the carb.

 

Removing the carb I noticed the manifold was loose, so investigating further I found the plastic manifold snapped in two, also the carb mounting plate (now nicely secured with two properly tightened bolts, was still wiggly... the reason was soon apparent:- see crack in plate in bottom picture.

Question 3

Does the plastic manifold often crack?

Question 4

What is the proper name (part number too, if not too cheeky) for the cracked carb/governor lever mounting plate in the picture)?

 

I'll give him a ring in a moment to ask him to get the parts from the dealer, but I can see him asking me to weld the carb/gov plate though it's a bit thin for my "Turn up the juice & use the biggest rod you can find/pigeon sh1t" level of welding expertise!

[Richard Thompson]

So today we had a call from a lady saying she had been on to Mountfield about a problem with her mower smoking badly. She had told them it was only 2 years old and this simply was not good enough.

 

Mountfield suggested that she call us as her local service agent , which she did and repeated her moan.

 

"Bring it in and we will have a look" was our reply. So she did, and repeated her moan.

 

We dipped the oil and found it to be 50mm above the full mark, hence the smoking. Turns out she tops it up with a little oil before every use 'just to be sure'

 

Sweet little old lady really, albeit with a bit of a sharp tongue, but she mellowed after a helping of humble pie.

 

She muttered her thanks and went on her way, after buying some more oil "just to be sure" she said.

 

any of my customers that are unsure about the oil levels get the dipstick painted with a paint pen on the min>max marks before the mower goes back.

i wipe the steel dip sticks then a blast from a jet torch to cook off the oil and a line of paint, the plastic dips get a wipe with acetone soaked cloth then painted.

this saves a lot of head aches in the future and i demonstrate that the mower oil is at the correct level before the customer blames me for a seiezed engine in the future

[GardenKit]

My mate dropped off his Viking MB505MM mower to me saying "It'll start but not stay running". He was right enough, so I said I'd take a look.

I found the whole engine was loose on the resilient mountings, so I nipped up the mounts.

Question 1

Should there be 4 mounts? There was no mount at all under the exhaust i.e the left front side as you push the mower. If so, does anyone have a part number for the resilient mount?

 

On taking off the air filter (filthy & soaked with petrol), & backplate, I found the

plate the carb mounts to was held by only one loose bolt, the other was missing. After a lot of searching my bits & pieces bins, the only bolt with the right threads I could find was an Allen bolt (damn these American threads!). Fitted that & confident the primer bulb would now seal without leaking & all would be well. Ummm no! Just the same issue as before, so I told him to leave it with me & I'd clean the carb.

 

Removing the carb I noticed the manifold was loose, so investigating further I found the plastic manifold snapped in two, also the carb mounting plate (now nicely secured with two properly tightened bolts, was still wiggly... the reason was soon apparent:- see crack in plate in bottom picture.

Question 3

Does the plastic manifold often crack?

Question 4

What is the proper name (part number too, if not too cheeky) for the cracked carb/governor lever mounting plate in the picture)?

 

I'll give him a ring in a moment to ask him to get the parts from the dealer, but I can see him asking me to weld the carb/gov plate though it's a bit thin for my "Turn up the juice & use the biggest rod you can find/pigeon sh1t" level of welding expertise!

Before I replaced any items on that mower I would be taking a good look at the blade and crank.

 

If either, or both, are bent, the mower will shake itself to bits causing all the problems you quote.

[GardenKit]

This afternoon, despite being busy with customers machines I took time out to prepare 2 recent Part Exchange machines for sale.

 

As any mower is only as good as the cutter deck, and the decks on these were looking a little tatty, I fitted brand new decks to both.

 

Full services on the tractor units and a good old polish up and the results are pretty good, especially on the articulated Park which is a 2006 machine.

 

Preparing them to this standard allows me to get top dollar for them, and its quite satisfying work.

Next task is to upload them to my website for sale.