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Lawnmower woes Briggs & Stratton 500E


StephenFord
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3 years ago I bought a new 'Cobra' mower M46SPB fitted with a B&S 500E engine. It was superb, and started on the very first pull of the cord every time. However, at the end of last season, I noted that petrol was draining onto garage floor so sent it for repair. They replaced the carburetor (!). However, now, it never starts 1st time, it always take 3, or 4 or 5  pulls to get her started.

Is there a 'screw' I can fettle with to see if I can get her back to 1st pull health?

(I originally posted this in the wrong forum! Hopefully this forum may generate a result LOL)

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might get some advice in the Ford Ka section 😀

personally i have a Honda iZy twelve years now, 

ive shortened the throttle cable and removed the induction filter so it pops and bangs like all good honda's should 💥

its got a steel sub frame though; which means it need cleaning after cutting but apart from that its a right yoke all together. 

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9 minutes ago, BigLen said:

 

personally i have a Honda iZy twelve years now, 

 

My previous mower was bought in 1988, and still works to this day though I have passed it on to a friend. Due to health reasons, I needed a 'self propelling' mower. Wasn't at all surprised that my 'new' one needed such major surgery after just 3 years, they really don't build them like they use to!

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13 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

My previous mower was bought in 1988, and still works to this day 

Lol, just cut my lawn with a mower I bought in 1982, though electric.

Currently refurbishing the banister rail in the house - sanded it down with a Black & Decker sander I bought in 1976, and drilled a few extra holes to suit some new brackets with a hand drill I inherited from my Grandad - date of manufacture 1942!😀

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8 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, just cut my lawn with a mower I bought in 1982, though electric.

 

That's cheating, though I can beat that. My mum's Flymo still works, and I remember buying it when I lived 'at home' in 1979 LOL

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I've used my Grandads power drill a few times...  Bright orange metal casing so guessing early 70s!?

If a metal casing wasn't dangerous enough, it has about 4 extension leads all choc-blocked onto the original wiring too.  :unsure: :laugh: 

 

Back on topic...  Mower carbs are pretty simple to work out, if you can can post a pic I'm sure we can work out if there's an external adjustment screw between us...

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1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, just cut my lawn with a mower I bought in 1982, though electric.

Currently refurbishing the banister rail in the house - sanded it down with a Black & Decker sander I bought in 1976, and drilled a few extra holes to suit some new brackets with a hand drill I inherited from my Grandad - date of manufacture 1942!😀

Off topic again 😅🤭 sorry.

Are you painting the banisters?

My wife got advice of painting in the crevices with a brush; then use a small paint roller to do the rest of the banisters, worked really well and there's no stroke marks in the paint, 

I'll be sanding and filling the kitchen walls tomorrow like a Bosch orbital 

See my stairs here: 

https://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/80864-living-room-project/

20180814_161256_zps7dkkmxc9.thumb.jpg.9246ff511a8dc235a80681a0b951a6c3.jpg.c0266ee204713dac8a3c041ecdb0fccb.jpg

20181002_210105.thumb.jpg.ae66149039ba8a62373c2450a3fb237c.jpg.aed52456f9ba2dd6950ae23ba702aeb4.jpg

20181015_163513.thumb.jpg.b2285fc3815291aa254e4dde0f7f38fc.jpg.6fcfc92bade4b3918d9898c5855ce82b.jpg

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Have you tried cleaning or changing the spark plug? Might help 

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30 minutes ago, BigLen said:

Have you tried cleaning or changing the spark plug? Might help 

To be honest Len, that is 100% my mechanical limit with a lawnmower. Plug not only examined, but gap checked too LOL All good...

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3 hours ago, BigLen said:

Are you painting the banisters?

Lol, no. It's a wall mounted round wooden handrail so we decided we'd strip off 50 years worth of paint and get it back to a wood finish, and swap the rather horrible  brackets for some brass ones. 3 days of paint stripping later (!) I've got the now bare wooden handrail back on ready for finishing. I reckon the previous owners of the house must have added a coat of paint for every year they were here, including a rather fetching (or is that retching) shade of lime green!😀

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I've played around with lawnmower carbs since I was in primary school 😅. I've lost count on the amount of times I've done the diaphragm and gasket on the old Briggs 35 classic engine lol.

The 500e uses a plastic carb, so that'll be why they've had to replace it instead of just a gasket leaking.

There's no screws to adjust, and don't start bending governer springs (I think the 500e only has 1 spring anyway). 

If it runs perfectly when you do get it to start then that's usually a priming issue. Either the primer bulb is cracked (unlikely on a new carb) or they've fitted some cheap rubbish/ a used carb that's been poorly serviced.

One last resort is to re-gap the ignition coil. If you remove the pull chord trim so you can access the flywheel you should see it (it's the one with the lead going to the sparkplug). Simply cut a piece of cereal box cardboard and use it as a shim in-between the flywheel and ignition coil. Then back the screws off, push it towards the flywheel with the shim inbetween and re-tighten.

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I like this thread !

I used to have a Suffolk Punch Petrol mower - always started from cold, but hopeless once hot.  Played around with it, even got another S/H engine, but no different.  I'm sure you could buy an electric conversion, so its unreliability must have been well known !

Eventually cracked and bought a Flymo electric hover.

This was fine, but the plastic handle broke, so stuffed a broomstick handle down the two halves to fix.  Then it broke at the "tee" with the handle, so bought replacement handle from Flymo.

Then repeated the above process over the next few years, but no longer supported by Flymo for spare bits.

So a couple of lengths of 2x1, an Eddystone box with a switch, and a gate hinge to join the wooden handle to the bell of the hover, lasted for years, much to the "expletive" amazement of my neighbour who just could not understand why I had just not bought a new mower !

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8 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

I used to have a Suffolk Punch Petrol mower

Ah yes the old tecumseh carbs. Absolute pain to get spares for now as they got dissolved years ago. They were solid once you did get the carb sorted and looked after them properly. However an ultrasonic cleaner is key to getting these perfect, I sometimes struggled with just an air compressor and carb cleaner to do them first time.

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On 4/16/2021 at 9:13 PM, StephenFord said:

To be honest Len, that is 100% my mechanical limit with a lawnmower. Plug not only examined, but gap checked too LOL All good...

I owned a Mountfield for over 35 years.Nice little push mower and didn’t have to replace too many parts over the years.Died last year and required a new carb so decided to go Gtech battery powered.Absolutely love it👍

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49 minutes ago, williamweb said:

I owned a Mountfield for over 35 years.Nice little push mower and didn’t have to replace too many parts over the years....

That's the brand I bought in 1988, a 'Turbo SR'! Like I said, it's still going now in the capable hands of a friend. Could never buy a battery lawnmower, far too bad for the environment LOL

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On 4/16/2021 at 9:13 PM, StephenFord said:

To be honest Len, that is 100% my mechanical limit with a lawnmower. Plug not only examined, but gap checked too LOL All good...

I changed the spark plug in my lawnmower once, last year it was a very rememberable experience, 

I couldn't get the spark plug socket to go down around the nut of the spark plug; you know the specific socket has a rubber insert which grips the head of the spark-plug, 

So I obtained a claw hammer from the shed and gently tapped the socket down on to the spark plug, 

I sat the hammer aside; and there i am in the middle of the lawn with the wrench on the socket;;

And suddenly bang to the back of my head; I can still remember the pain in my ears which put me down to my elbows on the ground,

I looked around to see our five year old son standing behind me; holding the hammer; he says "that was the hammer dad" 

I said "Holy ***** Wow" and asked him could I have it, 😂 he handed it over thankfully didn't finish me off, 

I suppose that's what I get for playing around on grand theft auto with him, mainly just driving cars but he must have saw the hammer being used at some point. 

My fault for leaving it within reach too; I was on my knees changing the spark plug on the lawnmower. Then brought to my elbows 😖😵🤕

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3 minutes ago, BigLen said:

My fault for leaving it within reach too; I was on my knees changing the spark plug on the lawnmower. Then brought to my elbows 😖😵🤕

You see, if they sold guns here in your local supermarket like they do in the USA, we'd be in just as much ***** as they are LOL I guess be thankful it was 'only' a hammer?

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In fairness, I seem to remember more than one young kids programme using 'soft' hammers to humorously whack people over the head when I was younger...  Not necessarily from GTA! :unsure:  

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On 4/18/2021 at 2:30 PM, TomsFocus said:

In fairness, I seem to remember more than one young kids programme using 'soft' hammers to humorously whack people over the head when I was younger...  Not necessarily from GTA! :unsure:  

There was "the penetrator" from Saints Row which is kind of a soft hammer 🤷‍♂️. I think I'd get banned if I posted a pic on here, but feel free to Google it lol. I'd imagine you know what it is just from the name tbf 😂

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12 hours ago, Luke4efc said:

There was "the penetrator" from Saints Row which is kind of a soft hammer 🤷‍♂️. I think I'd get banned if I posted a pic on here, but feel free to Google it lol. I'd imagine you know what it is just from the name tbf 😂

Sounds like something I probably shouldn't Google in all honesty! :laugh: 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a quick follow up to this. I have now used my mower 3 times since posting. Today, I primed the bulb 6 times (use to only do it 2 or 3). well, the darn thing started first time! I can certainly live with that. Now, how do I stop it raining every time I take her out?? 🤣

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Each time you get to the edge of the lawn and pause to turn round does the Start/Stop system kick in to save the planet or do you only get that on a Vignale mower 🤣

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14 minutes ago, unofix said:

Each time you get to the edge of the lawn and pause to turn round does the Start/Stop system kick in to save the planet or do you only get that on a Vignale mower 🤣

I actually use a special device to completely override the start/stop system, as I like to keep my mower on idle when I wander off to empty the grass cuttings. (I would also disable that feature on a car if I had one LOL) 🤣

clamp.jpg.44233cc52970b51c9e4454f3d6eca6e0.jpg

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4 hours ago, StephenFord said:

I actually use a special device to completely override the start/stop system, as I like to keep my mower on idle when I wander off to empty the grass cuttings. (I would also disable that feature on a car if I had one LOL) 🤣

clamp.jpg.44233cc52970b51c9e4454f3d6eca6e0.jpg

You should get another two for your nipple's

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, BigLen said:

You should get another two for your nipple's

 

 

 

ScaramangerFord has a certain ring to it 😆

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