OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Reel Lawn Mowers, Atco & Villiers etc. Non Starter after tip over

Hi All,

I recently bought myself a Yard Start STA17, a Chinese made Scott Bonner copy. These were sold at Bunnings in the early 2000's I believe.

Mine is a 2005 model with a Chonda 160f motor.

I've been really pleased with it so far and have enjoyed cutting my new turf with it. It cost me $100.00 and seems to have nothing wrong with it at all and was very well looked after by the previous owner.

Unfortunately about a week ago I had a shelf collapse in the garage which knocked the mower over so it was leaning on its handle bars. I suspect it was like that for a couple of days.

When I found it I stood it back up and left it alone for a few days. When I did go to start it the compression was so high I could no pull the starter cord more than a few centimeters.

I removed the spark plug and the top of the cylinder had oil (?) in it. I was able to move the piston up and down and pumped out most of the fluid through the spark plug hole. I dried off the spark plug and refitted it.

For good measure I removed the air filter and checked everything was OK there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Anyway as per the title of the thread the mower is now a non starter. I suspect there is still a little oil left in the cylinder that is wetting the spark plug and preventing it form sparking correctly.

I have checked the spark plug itself and it is sparking without any problems when I remove it form the cylinder.

It has been suggested to me I should put a couple of ml of fuel in the spark plug hole and light a match to burn off any excess oil. This seems a bit dangerous to say the least!! I was thinking I should use some Start ya Bastard or similar product.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

(apologies for the long winded post and if I should perhaps be posting this to the motor forum instead)

Cheers,
Horace

Hello Horace,
Yes I'd try a spray of SYB ..........
If there is oil in the muffler, you will lay a good smoke screen across the yard...................
I have done it many times, just have to burn it out.

cheers
speedy
Bundy

Hello Horace

I would suggest turning off the fuel valve, and draining the float bowl on the carby - by way of the diagonal bolt on the bowl - the perfectly vertical bolt (best way I can describe) can also be used, but the bowl will come off completely.
See if any oil comes out, if it does put the bowl back in and turn the fuel back on for 20 seconds, turn it off again and take the bolt back out. Do it until no more oil comes out.

Don't set fire to the cylinder!

Make sure you are in somewhere in the open, without any open windows down wind of you, because there will be smoke for a few minutes. [Edit, as Speedy said, a really big smoke screen]

Tip a little fuel into the cylinder (only a couple mL), put the plug back in, full throttle, try choke (probably go better without it), pull start a few times.

Hopefully it starts for you

Horace, one thing to be aware of is it could be a mix of fuel and oil and fuel may have seeped into the sump. I would drain/change the oil just to be on the safe side.

Hi All,

Thanks for the suggestions above.

Tonight I drained the float bowl and sure enough there was oil in it. Once I flushed it I still couldn't get the mower to start but after a couple of squirts of SYB she fire up.

On the weekend I'll give it full oil change and let it run to burn off any remaining oil.

I'll then move onto my next issue which I believe is a clutch problem. When I up the rev's the reel will start spinning without me engaging it.

Thanks again for the help. Hopefully I'll be able to give something back to the community in the future.

Cheers