Another Mower starting question

Mike in Arkansas

Please ignore this question. Clearly, I am an idiot. And that's all I have to say about that


have an older model Snapper RER (2810?) with a 10HP engine. Ran fine last week. Today it didn't want to start and when it eventually did it died almost immediately and smoked pretty bad after it did start. I pulled the plug wire to see if it was getting a spark. To my surprise it started right up and ran fine. When I pushed the plug wire back on the plug it dies right away. Put in a new plug with the same results. Cleaned inside the plug wire rubber boot with no change. Retrying with the wire removed always results in a good running engine but dies when pushed back on. Another weird thing that was happening with the plug on was that during the very short while it was running, the engine was making a screeching sound Suggestions appreciated

Wiscbldr

Your mower shouldnt be running without the spark wire being attached. If youre holding the boot a few inches a way, and turning over the engine, its possible youre getting enough of a connection that the spark plug is functioning normally.

Change the plug, gap it appropriately, reinstall. Drain out old gas and put in fresh gas. Make sure your oil is the proper level and clean. If you have a fuel filter, replace it. Make sure the air filter is clean. Try to start it up.

If you have to hold the spark plug boot a few inches away to get it to work, then odds are the spark plug wire is bad and needs to be replaced. Other areas you can look at include ignition coil, solenoid, carbureator, but it sounds more like a plug, spark wire or grounding issue to me.

JoJo-Arch

It's impossible for a petrol engine to ignite the fuel mix without a spark. When you say it runs fine without the plug connected, it can only be dieseling, which means your compression is so high, the fuel ignites spontaneously. You would need a hefty starter motor to turn a diesel engine over, certainly difficult by pulling the start rope if it's manual start. Most diesels rely on a glow plug to get them going and warmed up, so for the engine to run on heavier fuels than petrol.

Check the grounding switch that operates when you trottle down and kills the spark to stop the engine. Its connected to the swivel part near the carburettor linkage. It may be that on a high trottle setting, (which you need to activate the choke when starting) it runs but if incorrectly set, as soon as you trottle back it grounds too soon, and the engine dies.

Cheers. I remain to be corrected. from Oz

Mike in Arkansas

Thank you both for your responses. I edited the question with the "idiot" comment after I discovered what the problem was so wasn't really expecting to hear from anyone. In response to your comments, the plug wire was only just off of the plug, certainly not very far. Enough to see the spark. The sad story is that I removed the plug, walked down to the local hardware store to get a new plug. Took the old plug with me just to be safe. Found the matching plug, paid for it, stuck it in my pocket and walked home. Put in the plug with the same problem that existed before. After taking off the motor shroud, inspecting the wire and the gaps around the do-dad that generates the spark, washing all the accumulated crud out from the motor cooling fins and under the aforementioned do-dad and finding nothing obviously wrong, I stick my hand in my sweat shirt pocket, feel something and pull out the plug I had just purchased. I had reinstalled the original plug. Put in the new one and I was mulching leaves 5 minutes later. Nice thing about getting older is every day is a new adventure.

JoJo-Arch

Your forgiven, but I thought you invented an engine that runs on air or water. that's why we were all interested. Wow.