How To Troubleshoot a Lawn Mower That Is Hard to Start

Have you ever experienced a situation where your lawn mower suddenly became hard to start? If yes, it must have kept you thinking about what might go wrong and cause such commotion.

You might have wondered whether it is possible to troubleshoot this problem or how to troubleshoot a lawn mower hard to start.

Firstly, gather up all the necessary tools and materials. Now take the Hood off and unplug the Wiring Plug Harness. Then, inspect further to figure out what to adjust and adjust as required. Next, reinstall the Hood accordingly. Confirm the fixing technique worked by testing your mower engine.

Keep reading this following article and learn the detailed way of troubleshooting a Lawn mower that hard to start.

What Causes the Problem?

One of the most common reasons for a lawn mower’s hard-to-start problem is improper or wrong choke control cable adjustment.

Besides that, this unavoidable commotion can also arise damaged or clogged fuel filters.

When you leave used or old fuel in the tank for a long time, this fuel can leave stickier and thicker substances behind to clog up the fuel filter. This eventually leads to encountering a lawn mower engine hard to start.

However, it is difficult to confirm the main culprit without performing a thorough investigation as soon you notice or experience hard starting trouble with your lawn mower.

So, it’s always best to first inspect the issue and confirm after you find out the core reason.

4 Steps to troubleshoot a Lawn Mower that hard to start: 

Imagine you just brought your lawn out of the storage after a while or winter break, and as soon you try to start it, all you have to deal with is a hard starting or starting failure issue.

That’s one of the most annoying situations to encounter, and people sometimes end up spending a good amount of money to service their mower by professionals.

But fortunately, a simple fixing trick can save you time and money both.

In today’s article, I have enlisted a quick, easy, and cost-effective DIY method of troubleshooting a Lawn mower hard to start.

Things needed to troubleshoot a Lawn mower that hard to start:

Have a proper glance at the checklist of the required tools and materials:

Step 1- Take the Hood off & Unplug the Wiring Plug Harness:

First, you need to take the hood off.

Tips: Although you can do it without taking the hood off, it is easier to do while the hood is kept aside.

The headlight wiring plug harness is right here, so unplug that.

Now, grab the hood and tilt it back just a bit to lift it out.

Step 2- Inspect further to figure out what to adjust:

You can see the throttle cable, which comes around from the left side of the tractor or mower.

It is in a bracket here it hooks to this plate which controls the throttle.

There’s a Cam on the back of that and that controls the choke from the factory.

The manufacturer tends to set these things a little too far in so that you don’t get a full choke when you push your throttle lever up.

Thus, what you have to do now is adjust this to make it work.

Look at the above picture that’s your mower’s internal choke. It should be all the way up when it is cold and fully choked.

The manufacturer set these things from the factory, you bring it up to full throttle, and then the next lever will choke.

There’s still a choke left so that the choke plates and the carburetor are not closed.

Therefore, you need to adjust this cable so that it’s pulled further back and help to completely engage the choke.

Step 3- Do the Adjustment as required:

Now, take your lever and push it all the way up to choke.

Then, either use a wrench or a Torx driver to loosen it up and pull that cable.

Usually, it takes around a quarter inch or so.

Next, pull the cable back and tighten the keeper up.

So now check that’s a low throttle in the above image.

That’s full throttle.

That’s choking, and now there’s no play left in there.

People typically obtain this before making the adjustment got to get it fully choked.

Now, with it adjusted properly put it up on the full choke.

Then, check whether the engine is starting or cranking up after the adjustment or not.

Step 4- Reinstall the Hood:

The next thing you should do is put the hood back on, but make sure the mower headlight plug is out of the way while putting back the hood on it.

You have got these two pins.

And they go in these two slots right up here in the front of the engine.

Basically, you just line them up, and these slots go on the rod that’s right here.

So, lean it back about halfway and get the ears into the slots.

Now, close it and the other slots will drop onto the rod.

Then, you can open it back up and plug up your mower’s headlight harness.

Now, you are done with the entire troubleshooting and fixing technique.

Warning:

Performing such servicing or repairing tasks can be hazardous. Thus, make sure you have enough expertise to perform them. First read your mower’s instructions manual before operating, servicing, or troubleshooting it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict

If you ever encounter similar issues in future where your lawn mower seems hard to start and you cannot figure out the main reason, you can follow this DIY technique and the good news is the troubleshooting is free of cost.

Initially, the whole troubleshooting method might seem a bit complicated, but if you follow the instructions as described, you can fix the problem easily and quickly.

Remember to follow all the instructions thoroughly provided in today’s article to troubleshoot a Lawn mower that hard to start andget the best outcome.

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