Lawn mower is an indispensable machine if you have a small yard. Usually, the mower will stall within a second or two after starting it up. There are many reasons that may lead to this concern, involving the parts of the lawn mower clogged with dirt or debris. Today, let’s go into how to repair a lawn mower starts then dies. To solve it, we will go through the mower, part by part, to see which composition is the culprit.
Fix lawn mower starts then dies
*Note: Before disassembling anything, make sure that you have fresh gas! Gas deficit or soiled gas both makes your lawn mower starts then dies.
1.Air filter
See to it if your air filter is clean. Otherwise, that can restrict the air flow into the carburetor and affect how the zero turn mower runs.
To check the air filter:
- Unscrew and remove the air filter box from the side of the mower. Inside, you can see the white mesh part of the filter.
- If the mesh is brown and spotty of dirt, then it’s the reason your mower doesn’t work properly.
**Note: if the mesh filter is old, it may look dirty even when it doesn’t seem to.
- In either case, just bang this filter on a hard space to shake the dust out, with the metal mesh facing up.
- After that, you just have to reinstall it to fix the lawn mower starts then dies.
2.Primer bulb
If the air filter is clean, you will need to perform a little test. The purpose of this test is to confirm if the gas quality is the problem.
Is the primer bulb working properly?
Check if the primer bulb has to be good.
If you could push it three times, and pull the cord to make the mower start, that’s an indication the primer bulb is working properly.
If your primer bulb is alright…
When you have made sure that the primer bulb is working properly, we’ve yet another test to do.
Have someone to help you and start the lawn mower, while you stand to the side of the mower.
Once the machine starts up, and it’s getting to dilly-dally, you will need to push the primer bulb in.
It may take a few pushing.
If doing that keep the lawn mower running, then that’s a confirmation that the problem is about the primer.
Replace the primer will fix you with the lawn mower dies when on.
3. Gas bowl
If the engine does not run and still stalls out, that can be the gas bowl or the bolt.
- From the test above, if you push the primer in and the mower is getting ready to stall, keeps the engine running.
- Access the carburetor and the fuel bowl.
**Note: If your mower does not already have a fuel filter in line, be sure to add one.
- Next, remove the air filter housing, which bolts directly on to the carburetor. On some mowers, you may not have to remove it because it’s easy to access the bowl on the carburetor without removing that housing.
**Note: If your tank is full of gas, place a rag under to keep things clean.
- Crimp off the fuel supply line going into the carburetor. You can use a C clamp or a spring clamp.
- Next, remove the bolt on the bottom. The fuel will start draining out, so take the rag and put it there.
- Take the bowl out, make sure you don’t damage or lose the oil C ring.
- Is the bowl nice and clean? If there’s any varnish, take some brake cleaner or carburetor cleaner, and use a toothbrush and a paper tissue to get it nice and clean before reassembly.
A clean bowl will solve the problem of dying lawn mowers.
4. Float
Place the bowl off to the side, we can see the float.
The float should not have any gasoline inside of it.
If it does, that indicates a faulty float. You would have to replace it.
5. Bolt
If the bowl and float are both clean, you will need to see to the bolt.
The bolt may make your lawn mower die because the tiny ports on the bolt are blocked.
- Take the bolt out and use a wire to clean through the tiny ports.
- Reach through the port to make sure the hole is clear, especially on the inside, because that’s where the gas get drawn in.
**Note: The gas needs to flow into these ports to spray gas to other parts for the mower to work.
Sometimes, if you don’t have a fuel filter, the debris may stack on and it would clog the hole in the bolts.
When it is clogged, the fuel cannot find its way through the ports and up to the carburetor. That’s why the engine stalls out.
- Once you’ve cleaned the bolt carefully, use WP-40, place the tube over the center tube and push the button.
- Push a few times after you’ve cleaned the bolt to push whatever debris is there.
- After using the WP-40, you can reinstall everything and start the engine.
These steps should solve the problem with lawn mower halting, no matter which part is making the trouble.
Happy lawn mowing
Lawn mower starts then dies is a frustrating problem. With these instructions, you can solve the problem by yourself at home quickly and easily. So, just try and let us know the result.
