New Toro 22” Recycler Mower, 163cc (21462) Will Not Start

[dengebre]

I purchased one week ago a Toro 22” Recycler Mower, 163cc (21462) equipped with a B&S engine (m/n 104M020010F1). It was filled with new gas, oil topped off, and started great right out of the box. It operated perfectly over the course of two days (3 total operating hours) until it started to sputter. I refilled the tank thinking it was out of gas. It never started again.

I returned the mower and exchanged it for the same model. Again, it was filled with new gas and started great right out of the box. It operated perfectly over the course of two days (3 total operating hours) until it started to sputter. It still had about an inch of gas left in the tank, but was refilled anyway with new gas. It never started again.

It is important to note that the mowers are new (no carb or spark issues), gas is fresh, the mower did not bog down until it started to sputter, and it did not strike any objects.

At this point I am returning the mower and getting a different brand (very unhappy with Toro “support”). It is, however, driving me crazy as to what could be causing the same issue on two different mowers. Any thoughts?

 

[slomo]

Sure, go to a real mower shop. You will never have this issue.

My guess is you bought it from home cheapo or lowes. Some big box store....

Most of the time, new doesn't mean new. I would look for a clean used Snapper.

slomo

 

[Rivets]

As Slomo stated I to think you purchased this unit at a Big Box store. They put in old fuel and over filled the crankcase with oil, twice. Unless You saw them take them out of the box and set them up, I’ll also bet both those units were returned units they wanted to get out the door. Reason I say this is that they just gave you a different unit instead of troubleshooting the problem. If you would have purchased it from a dealer, they would have found the problem and fixed it. Second you are blaming Toro when it is an engine problem, not equipment problem. Any service tech worth a half his weight in salt should have fixed the problem in 30 minutes. I highly doubt that a dealer would have given you two bad units.

 

[Born2Mow]

I think the OP's fuel is at fault.

A new mower would indeed run about 3 days on the first tank of fuel. Then he adds his own fuel and things start to go wrong. Twice at exactly the same time. That's not a coincidence, that's a reason.

The proof of this is he's too quick to blame the store, Toro, and anyone watching. Rather than ask the obvious question, "What did I do wrong ?"
Next he'll be blaming Slomo for responding !

 

[slomo]

I think the OP's fuel is at fault.

A new mower would indeed run about 3 days on the first tank of fuel. Then he adds his own fuel and things start to go wrong. Twice at exactly the same time. That's not a coincidence, that's a reason.

The proof of this is he's too quick to blame the store, Toro, and anyone watching. Rather than ask the obvious question, "What did I do wrong ?"
Next he'll be blaming Slomo for responding !

What, ok I did it. LOL.

My guess is he filled it with fuel. Probably got it from lowes or HD which sells factory seconds and store returns. They usually come dry in the BIG box.

slomo

 

[slomo]

I purchased one week ago a Toro 22” Recycler Mower, 163cc (21462) equipped with a B&S engine (m/n 104M020010F1). It was filled with new gas, oil topped off, and started great right out of the box. It operated perfectly over the course of two days (3 total operating hours) until it started to sputter. I refilled the tank thinking it was out of gas. It never started again.

I returned the mower and exchanged it for the same model. Again, it was filled with new gas and started great right out of the box. It operated perfectly over the course of two days (3 total operating hours) until it started to sputter. It still had about an inch of gas left in the tank, but was refilled anyway with new gas. It never started again.

It is important to note that the mowers are new (no carb or spark issues), gas is fresh, the mower did not bog down until it started to sputter, and it did not strike any objects.

At this point I am returning the mower and getting a different brand (very unhappy with Toro “support”). It is, however, driving me crazy as to what could be causing the same issue on two different mowers. Any thoughts?

Sorry to hear about the mower issue.

I've been told by my local mower shop that the best engine to get was the Toro engine. They see a tiny fraction of these compared to the Briggs and Honda. They said the Honda has the most shop visits for repairs next to the Briggs. Something about the choke system on the Honda.

Guess the Toro engine is Chinese built to high standards. Supposedly it's a pretty darn good engine.

slomo

 

[dengebre]

Both mowers were purchased brand new in the box at Tractor Supply. I filled them with fresh gas (purchased last week) and I filled them with oil (no overfill). The purpose of this post was to find out "what did I do wrong" because, I agree that it is odd that both mowers died at the same time. If bad gas I would expect them to at least sputter, but there is nothing.

 

[slomo]

Shot in the dark is maybe the fuel you got had water in it??? Maybe a bad load of fuel?

Check for spark, fuel, air and compression.

Does yours have the air vane that controls the choke? Need to see a picture with the engine shroud off. Post up some pictures on here.

slomo

 

[gotomow]

Purchase a new gas container