I had a mower in last week where the solenoid was stuck and no amount of cleaning would unstick it. Someone in the shop came over and cut the plunger off with a pair of heavy wire cutters and said try it now. I reinstalled it and the mower ran fine. I never would have thought to do that but it certainly worked in this case. I would love to know if anyone else has done the same before. The solenoids job is to shut the fuel off to prevent backfiring so it's not needed for the mower to run. You can minimize the likelihood of backfiring by reducing your throttle input to low before shutting off the mower. It would be a good idea to install an in-line fuel shutoff valve and shut it off after each use. Hope this helps and good luck!!