Petrol Lawnmower pull cord trouble

shere1

I got a lawnmower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. The user manual is useless. The lawnmower started fine but then turned off. Now the pull cord will not go past a certain point when pulling. Is there some sort of hidden reset to get it to fully pull out so it engages and starts ?

Thanks in advance.

stormbreaker

You prime the engine first with 3/4 pushes of a squishy thing. Hold the handle and slowly pull the cord as far as you can, then release the cord and pull cord again, this time with some effort, keeping the handle held. HTH?

It does feel like you can go passed a certain point but if you do it slowly it will.....hopefully

shere1

Thanks.

Tried it as slow as I could but it gets to a certain point and then appears to be mechanically stopped from pulling out any further, a repeat fast pull does no better and it gets stuck at the same place.

It started fine first time but now the cord will not budge beyond that particular spot.

jabba4

Check the oil.

If it started, then stopped, the engine may have seized. It would account for not being able to pull the cord out.

Or the spring may have broken. Try taking the pull-cord housing off and having a look. Watch out though because the spring has a tenedency to spring out.

hotcookie101

I just started using my honda petrol mower the other day. when the pull cord got stuck it was because the blade was jammed with wet grass. maybe worth checking?? (am complete petrol mower novice though so feel free to ignore me )

shere1

hotcookie101 wrote: »

I just started using my honda petrol mower the other day. when the pull cord got stuck it was because the blade was jammed with wet grass. maybe worth checking?? (am complete petrol mower novice though so feel free to ignore me )

Thanks.

It was the same problem wet grass was jamming the blade so no movement. :beer:

Not too impressed with the mower though, might be the grass is too long but it turns off when the going gets a bit tough. My old electric flymo never used to turn off in similar conditions. I though these petrol mowers had more torque and could cope with tougher conditions.

eco

i have one of those mowers and I think it's fab, if you are going over longish grass just tip the machine a bit so the grass doesn't get jammed, damp grass always seems to clog and jam tho.

WestonDave

If I'm doing long grass I tend to run with the front of the mower lifted up fully(height adjustment is via adjusting the wheel settings) and the back lower - that way the grass gets cut progressively as the mower goes over it, rather than the blade trying to cut and clear it all in one go. It also clears better when the grass is really dry. Most petrol engines will take a while to bed in, so although it might choke at the moment, when you've done a few more cuts it will get stronger.