This is not unusual. You could richen the mixture a little, turn the main jet adjustment screw a little in counter clockwise direction.

Walt Conner

Good point Walt. Today's fuel's are not the same as they were 20 years ago. I'm sure your suggestion will help. Have you replaced the plug and air filter lately backdraft?

i will try the carb ajustment. it has a new plug and air filter. have you tried the stuff that cleans the carbon of the inside of the engine. if so what brand.

I've been using it for many years backdraft from a local shops recommendation. It's great stuff for cleaning carbon, varnish, removing moisture from fuel, stabilizing and so on both for gasoline and diesel engines. It's call SEA FOAM and it's available now at most auto and hardware stores-around $5-6 a can. Follow the instructions on the can. It can also be injected through the carb while the engine is running to "fog it" for long storage.

"have you tried the stuff that cleans the carbon of the inside of the engine. if so what brand."

I agree with echoman, heard great comments about SeaFoam here.

Walt Conner

Re: the gas of today - I've started using mid-grade since my area is mandated to use alky-gas. This is for 2 and 4-cycle. They all seem to like it, and the difference in cost is neglible for homeowner use. Maybe overkill for commercial.

Don't mean to hijack the post, but do any of you guys have suggestions about the no-start Kohler 16HP engine that I posted in Tractors?

Man! We've been hijacked!! Just kidding. Sounds like it could be fuel related as in too much, possibly a faulty ignition coil, or at worst case, a stuck valve allowing the "power stroke" top pop back through the exhaust. You said the engine had low hours? Wouldn't think it would be a valve, but you'll just have to start checking things and eliminating causes by doing so. Something did just hit me though. I believe that engine has a diaphram fuel pump, either square or round usually black plastic. They can last 30 days or 30 years, just depends. It may have gone bad allowing excessive fuel to pump. Usually, it's the opposite and the engine either quits or is hard to start cold. That's about all I can give you on this. Hope it helps.

It won't even attempt to start with starting fluid. It is pumping gas to the bowl and the solenoid is working. It has good compression and the plug does get wet.

It also has a good strong spark.

Baymee, not totally the same as yours, but I had 5 LawnBoys that would not start. Had good spark, compression, plugs got so they were flooded and still no go even with starting fluid. Ended up being water in the float bowls. Dumped all the float bowls out and drained the tanks again and put in fresh fuel and they all started on the first or second pull. Learned a big lesson about supposed stabilizer in the fuel.

Hello all.

fordtech did you have the water in the float bowls problem while using the LawnBoy 2 cycle oil?
Should I use StaBil with the LawnBoy oil fuel mix?
I am pretty sure that you know how to keep the LawnBoys running in tip top shape.
I want to make sure that I'm doing the best things for trouble free LawnBoy operation.

Good day.

I use exclusively LawnBoy 2 cycle oil that is supposed to have stabilizer in it. It didnt help me at all. My recommendation is to drain the fuel bowls and tanks at the end of the season after all of my mowers experienced this problem from sitting just a few months in the garage and we had a very mild winter here in SW OK.

Hello all.

fordtech thanks for that major tip. Wilco.

Good day.

Rollerzeke, my personal opinion. There are much better oils you can be using besides Lawn Boy Brand oil. I'm not sure if they changed their formulation from about 12 years ago when I stopped using it, but wouldn't think they have. I don't like LB oil because of all the excessive smoke and carbon build up using it at the recommended ratio of 32:1. If you're adamant about using the best oil, then cost shouldn't really be a factor unless you use several quarts or gallons ie commercial business use. At the least, pick up some Echo Power Blend Oil-available at HD or any Echo shop of course. I'm runnning some mix now with this oil @ 40:1, even though they recommend 50:1. I broke in a new blower last year on a 50:1, and even a new old stock Echo trimmer power head that they had a factory rec of 20:1 being the engine was manued in the early 80's. I pulled the plug for out of curiousity, and the piston crown, cylinder and spark plug threads had a nice clear coat of oil on them. I thought that maybe this oil is more than capable of running any engine safely @ 50:1!? Still, I'm not going to run that or any oil semi or fully snythetic at anything less than 40:1. I just broke in a new Echo saw with that mix, saw no more smoke, ran great, no oily residue drip from the muffler. I'm using it this way in 2 of my LB's right now, and they seem to be running as clean as if it were drinking straight gasoline! Ocassional whiffs of euphoria to let me now there is oil in the fuel. I know Echo claims ANY OF THEIR engines will run safley regardless of mix ratio claimed in the manuals on a 50:1. I'm beginning to believe that although they would never put their head on the chopping block and claim ANY AND ALL 2 CYCLES will run safley on 50:1. I'm sure ANY LB engine using a good quality modern semi or fully synthetic will actually get better protection and cleaner running mixing @ 40:1 rather than using LB OIL @ 32:1. Again, my opinions and past experiences.

I don't know what echoman is talking about with excess smoke from LB oil. I'd say he mixes it too heavy. I've never experienced this with LB oil. I use the hell out of it and Valvoline TCW3 and never experience carbon buildup etc. Hot or cold these oils perform for me. Maybe his machines are out of tune.

Fuel stabilizer that comes in 2-cycle oil has no effect on moisture, and is not supposed to - its purpose is to keep the gas from breaking down. Some fuel stabilizers, like STA-BIL, do have fuel system cleaners and water removers, but you would have to add them separately. Your best bet with 2-cycles is to use 10% alcohol gas and a quality oil with fuel stabilizer. The alky takes care of any moisture in the system. Always run equipment dry before storage, particularly when using fuel with alcohol in it, so any water in solution with the alcohol cannot cause corrosion.

If you must use Alcohol blended fuel then I suggest that you run the engine and tank DRY before putting it away after each mowing session. I also suggest that you shake the fuel mix jug before you fill your tank with fuel mix. This is because the Alcohol can cause a seperation of the fuel mix and one part of the mix will have NO OIL in it. The Ultra-light guys I know won't use Alcohol blended fuel in their engines for this reason. They even have a test to determine if the fuel has Alcohol in it. It is best to use straight unleaded gasoline plus oil in your two-cycle engines, Lawn-boy recomends against using the premium unleaded gasolines for what reasons I am unsure of. Lawn-Boy Duraforce engines have compression ratios of less than 6 to 1 so I'm sure that the engine doesn't need premium fuel and the octane boosters may be hard on the cork floats and plastic carb bodies.

INDY492, The last time I mixed a can of LB oil was about 12 plus years ago @ 32:1. Have they changed their formulation since then? I wouldn't know. I switched from that to Pennzoil's Mutlipurpose TCW-3 rated oil, ran cleaner than LB oil. My machine at the time was a 79' model F(can't remember exact model)that started on 1-2 pulls everytime, March through November. I wouldn't say "out of tune". I've been tuning engines both nitro r/c, small, larger, including diesels for 22 years. Not new to the "sport". When I switched to a semi-synthetic motor-x oil made by Torco about 8 years ago, it made ALL my 2 cycles run much cleaner, spit no oil mess from the muffler, and hardly emitted any smoke unless it was a cold engine. My opinion is that semi's and fully syn's far out shine any 100% petroleum based oil of any brand. Heck, I wouldn't even doubt there are still some old timers out there running the cardboard can of Sinclair 30 weight @ 16:1 in their Pioneer saws or 60's bricktops still!

We have no choice here on whether or not to use alky gas. I have noticed no fuel-oil separation, and I'm always looking for anything odd about my mix. Actually I don't believe this separation occurs. I suggest anyone who does simply pour some of your shaken mix into a glass jar and observe it for about a week. If you see darker fuel at the bottom and lighter fuel near the top, separation has occurred. I like to use mid-grade (roughly a 50/50 mix of regular and premium) because it runs a few degrees cooler and because all my 2-cycles have been doing very well on it for several years.