Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

My 12 y.o. honda harmony mower became increasingly hard to start the last couple of years. (To be honest, I left the gas in it during the off-season a few times, but w/fuel stabilizer the last few seasons--won't do that anymore!). This summer it would take 30-40 pulls to start, I'd give it a rest, try again, etc, it'd start after 1/2 hour, but eventually nothing worked.

I had cleaned the filters, checked oil, looked at the 2-3 y.o. plug. When I Installed a new Champion RC12YC plug, it started after about 10 min., ran great. 2 weeks later, now won't start again. Checked plug, looks new still, checked gap. Any advice? (My experience with paying to have 10-12 y.o. mowers or snowblowers "fixed" or "tuned up" is not good--I'm losing patience & it wouldn't bug me that much to just buy a new $400-$500 mower next Spring.)

Also--the fuel is from 3-4 months ago.....TIA

Hard to say where to start....

When you are having trouble getting it to start, does it fire at all? Have you pulled the spark plug and turn over the engine to see if there's a spark? Have you ever had the valve lash checked? Does the engine flood during the start procedure, does it have a choke/primer and do you use it? Is the carb getting a steady supply of fuel? Have you pulled the carb to inspect it's internals? Have you checked your spark plug lead to see if it's in good condition and not grounding out on something?

Usually, most problems are fuel related. Sometimes it's something else but more often than not, it's fuel. Focus on the fuel system. Make sure your fuel tank filter isn't clogged, make sure fuel is getting to the carb, pull the carb and look in the float bowl for debris or varnish build up.

We can ask questions all day long but, in order for us to assist you, we need a bit more info. You can start by answering the questions above.