Lawnmower Needs Work—Carburetor?

[mrlynn]

My little 22" push Poulan was running rough at the end of the season last year. Now that the grass is (finally!) starting to grow, I started my regular beginning-of-season prep: sharpen blade, clean air filter sponge, change oil, and new spark plug. I pulled the plug, and see that it's black with carbon. So it was running rich, I think. This is a Briggs and Stratton 500-series engine. I don't think there are any adjustments on the carburetor (these new-fangled, regulated engines don't even have a throttle!), so I assume it's either take it apart and clean it, or just get a replacement. Are they available?

Or could it be valves?

Advice welcome.

/Mr Lynn

[OWC Jamie]

does the air filter look like seed starting medium ?
likely gummed carb
although the carb in my 026PRO was corroded beyond wasting time trying to clean it.
Still have the little thing here somewhere - insides looked like someone dunked it in the Atlantic.
darn ethanol. ( my fault for keeping a tank of it too long )

[PeterW]

Put it all back together and see if it's still running rough. A dirty air filter is enough to cause a rich condition.

[GuyGene]

Do a YouTube search on how to repair it. I had same problem couple years ago, best video I found was done by a 12 year old boy! All the pros talked over my haid (ain't hard to do), but the kid helped me fix mine!

[DRR]

See how it runs without the air filter. I tend to suspect clogged filter also. Filter wasn't wet, was it?

[Grateful11]

billb wrote:
does the air filter look like seed starting medium ?
likely gummed carb
although the carb in my 026PRO was corroded beyond wasting time trying to clean it.
Still have the little thing here somewhere - insides looked like someone dunked it in the Atlantic.
darn ethanol. ( my fault for keeping a tank of it too long )

Bill if you find that 026 don't toss it I might be interested in it.

[mrlynn]

DRR wrote:
See how it runs without the air filter. I tend to suspect clogged filter also. Filter wasn't wet, was it?

Good idea. Filter uses oil-soaked sponge, so is normally 'wet'.

/Mr Lynn

[Grateful11]

Mr. Lynn if you clean and oil your foam filter I'm going to tell you a neat little trick that won't leave your
hands so messy.

Wash and dry the filter, put it in a ziploc bag, put a small amount oil in the bag with the filter, zip it up,
squish it around throughly and naturally remove filter and install.

[OWC Jamie]

Grateful11 wrote:
[quote=billb]
does the air filter look like seed starting medium ?
likely gummed carb
although the carb in my 026PRO was corroded beyond wasting time trying to clean it.
Still have the little thing here somewhere - insides looked like someone dunked it in the Atlantic.
darn ethanol. ( my fault for keeping a tank of it too long )

Bill if you find that 026PRO don't toss it I might be interested in it. Ha!
I guess I should have added I bought a new carb for it and it's running like new.
Cut 9 cord of firewood with it this last Winter.
( I still have the corroded carb somewhere )

[mrlynn]

Took the air filter off, put some gas in the tank, but it wouldn't even fire. Then, it's only 44º F outside, and this mower never liked cold weather.

Cloudy and 44º. As T. S. Eliot said, "April is the cruelest month." At least it's not snowing. . .

/Mr Lynn