Recently bought this old Masport Commander 610 8HP slasher.
Difficult to start. When it runs, it shuts down after about 10mins. Runs great when it's running.
I don't know much about mowers. Had a look around and found where it says "choke" on the side of the engine. There's a directional arrow, but nothing to move. Found a plastic cap attached beneath it. Pulled it off. Cap was full of fuel. Doesn't look like the cap belongs to the engine. Without the cap on, fuel runs out when I try to start it. Very hard to start.
Looks you have a flojet briggs carby of some description
here is a photo of what it would have originally looked like - note choke lever near the arrow. It must be a pig to start without choke. That will not influence the 10 minute shut down - unfortunately it may be the coil
Not sure about the cap - I havent done any work on these carby
It was built on the 30/7/1987 in case you haven't gathered that already
Straight off that helps me understand the swoop of the directional arrow.
I had it running for a good 45mins to an hour without it missing a beat, once, till I "discovered" a rope chew toy in some heavy capeweed. I shut it down as soon as I knew there was an issue. Wouldn't start straight back up again. Let it rest in the garage till the following day. Started up, and then shut down after about 10 mins again.
I can see that the choke control is missing. That's a starting point.
Also found this site that makes it easy finding current part numbers. It's been built around the Parts manual. Don't know if there's an issue posting this here. The site is from the US, so shouldn't be a threat. Happy to remove if it causes any problems.
The factory Briggs Repair Manuals are also free to download for ODK subscribing members; they're located HERE
With a sidevalve Briggs that displays the symptoms that one does, first item to check after the choke, is the valve tappet clearances. Very common on these, for the exhaust valve to lose clearance due to wear.
If you don't have access to a valve grinding machine, it's quite possible to remove metal from the valve's stem end by careful hand lapping.
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
If it was very hard to start and then ran badly after that rope toy it may have put the timing out.
Yep, sparker's on to it.
A sudden stop shears the flywheel key, as it's designed to do. So the replacement key must be of the 'factory type' cast zinc alloy, not steel or hard metal.
Cheers, Gadge
"ODK Mods can explain it to you, but they can't understand it for you..."
"Crazy can be medicated, ignorance can be educated - but there is no cure for stupid..."
Hi Guys I replaced the spark plug yesterday. Also, previous owner had "fixed" crack in the fuel cap with silicon sealant and blocked the vent, so I cleared the vent.
Started it up and ran it all day clearing out 2 acres of capeweed on my friend's property. Great machine. Will be getting OEM fuel cap for it and changing the oil ASAP.
