What the cat drug in.

[PTmowerMech]

You never lose business when you do the right thing. Any GOOD customer will appreciate your honesty.

He's old school. Rig it till it can't be rigged. Then toss it out.

 

[tom3]

All he'd have to do is look at it and know it's a wreck. But some people just have no mechanical concept at all. (ie my brother-in-law)

 

[Ron_AU]

Good that you walked away from it.
Or were allowed to.

 

[PTmowerMech]

When I told him the blower shroud was needed to keep the engine from overheating, he says "I've been running it like that for years."

I'm thinking that Kawasaki engine is one awesome engine. A Briggs or Kohler would've probably overheated and blew up.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Most likely it has overheated, many times and that is what is frying the coils. Glad it had a happyish ending. When you see stuff like this you know they don't want to put money into it. Don't be afraid to tell someone a piece of equipment would cost more to repair than it is worth. I do it all the time with the box store $100 chainsaws and $50 string trimmers. Some folks do get frustrated when i tell them to fix the cheap string trimmer they left gas in will cost at least $75. At least an hour labor and a carb kit and fuel lines and filter.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Most likely it has overheated, many times and that is what is frying the coils. Glad it had a happyish ending. When you see stuff like this you know they don't want to put money into it. Don't be afraid to tell someone a piece of equipment would cost more to repair than it is worth. I do it all the time with the box store $100 chainsaws and $50 string trimmers. Some folks do get frustrated when i tell them to fix the cheap string trimmer they left gas in will cost at least $75. At least an hour labor and a carb kit and fuel lines and filter.

He did mention that if I could fix it for $300, then he might go for it. But I told him I couldn't guarantee it to stay under $300. I was thinking about a new wiring harness, coil, blower housing. Plus a few other things, PLUS the $300 labor. A new harness, if I could find one, would drop the labor time down a lot. But without the OK to start making repairs, I didn't even bother looking up the cost or availability for one.
Thinking now, I should've looked it up first.

Oh well. Live & learn.

 

[NorthBama]

I agree run from that project