I figured it was time for a mid July update.
The mower was initially running well. A couple of weeks ago it developed a small backfire. It got progressively worse, and the right cylinder was not firing well. I decided to give it a going over and checked and reset all the valve and coil clearances, along with another oil change and new set of spark plugs. I had good spark and 155lbs compression on both cylinders. It has not used any noticeable amount of oil since the new rings finished seating.
While I had the covers off, I figured I would give the carburetor a complete tear down and cleaning. Originally I had only pulled the float bowl and sprayed everything with carburetor cleaner. This time I took it completely apart and scrubbed everything.
On first start, it ran on both cylinders, but needed a bit of choke to run well. I couldn't figure why it seemed to be running lean, so off came the carburetor again. It seems as though I had misplaced a small gasket. I thought about ordering it, but being me and in a hurry I decided to get a small piece of gasket material and make it myself.
I just gave the mower a run in low 90 degree temperatures and it's running great again. Initial issue must have been some carbon blocking the flow to the right cylinder jet, and the second issue was the missing gasket allowing excess air in leaning the mixture. I'm now hoping for a few years of trouble free mowing.
The mower was initially running well. A couple of weeks ago it developed a small backfire. It got progressively worse, and the right cylinder was not firing well. I decided to give it a going over and checked and reset all the valve and coil clearances, along with another oil change and new set of spark plugs. I had good spark and 155lbs compression on both cylinders. It has not used any noticeable amount of oil since the new rings finished seating.
While I had the covers off, I figured I would give the carburetor a complete tear down and cleaning. Originally I had only pulled the float bowl and sprayed everything with carburetor cleaner. This time I took it completely apart and scrubbed everything.
On first start, it ran on both cylinders, but needed a bit of choke to run well. I couldn't figure why it seemed to be running lean, so off came the carburetor again. It seems as though I had misplaced a small gasket. I thought about ordering it, but being me and in a hurry I decided to get a small piece of gasket material and make it myself.
I just gave the mower a run in low 90 degree temperatures and it's running great again. Initial issue must have been some carbon blocking the flow to the right cylinder jet, and the second issue was the missing gasket allowing excess air in leaning the mixture. I'm now hoping for a few years of trouble free mowing.
