Several years ago I gave my 1989 Homelite/Jacobsen mower to my brother-in-law, complete with new blade (special, no generic one fits) and an extra new blade, fresh diaphragm in the Pulsa-Jet carb on the 3.5 HP B&S, original bag and a new replacement, etc., etc. About two years later he suddenly passed away. The mower sat for the last two years, and his widow got it out to start it the other day, to no avail. We're all helping her keep the place going, so I went over and picked it up to see what I could do. This was a very nice 20" bag/discharge mower for my small city lot in 1989, and to this day it manicures the grass (bagging) like no other. A push mower with aluminum deck, 8" wheels and a special B&S with compression release and low-tone muffler. Evidently he had been using it at the lowest height. The blade was destroyed (worn thin, split). One thing that kept it from starting for her was the bail had been forced down, sort of 'out of joint' and she didn't know to pull it back into position and hold it down to crank. It wouldn't run and the oil looked like ink. She said the tank was empty so she put gas in it - it smelled like it had been out there in the garage for at least three years. I tried to start it, and it would sort of run, then start belching black (gas) smoke and sputter to a stop. I took off the air cleaner and watched the choke plate as it ran, thinking the choke was sticking, but it acted right. Checking the needle valve, it was about where I remembered it at two turns out (later settled on 1.5 turns). I got out my vacuum can and sucked the gas and oil out of it. The spark plug was still the original, from 1989. I have a fresh 2-gal can of the witches brew I use, and priming the carb with it I was able to get it to start, but not run good enough to do anything. So, off to the store I went for 30W oil, spark plug, filter, etc. Got back, put the spare new blade on, put the new oil in and the new plug, one of those hot-shot 'E3' 'Diamond-Fire' $8 ones. Let me tell you, those are super plugs. Gassed it up with my special stuff and it took off like the old days. I cleaned it up and replaced the rear rubber toe guard. The thing still acted a little funny (blowing gas smoke) if I gave it the throttle too quickly, but ran great, so I tried a little light cutting. It was improving all the time, so i figured my fuel 'mix, was working. One thing amazed me - under these conditions and with the age of the mower, it never blew the first puff of oil smoke, even before I changed it, and that oil was very used up. Why did I spend that much for the spark plug? Well, the engine was carboned-up and the plug looked really bad. He must have been using the mower running rich like that. I figured a special plug designed to not foul might be a good idea, plus I'm just a sucker for anything new like that. After the clean-up I cut some thicker grass, cutting about 1.5" at a good pushing speed. It would naturally slow down some but didn't bog. It took several sessions of running and cooling before I could get it to reliably start with the throttle on 'fast' - it only wanted to start on 'idle'. Eventually that straightened out. All in all, I can't believe how well it came back to life. It's really a neat little mower and is a real pleasure to use. The deck has a 'plenum' in it - a circular 'wall' with matching dips in the blade to clear it. I guess this is to help generate lift for bagging and discharging. Here's a pic of it as it was when I gave it away. It still looks the same (after a good cleaning). I'll take it back over there this week and give her some of my snake oil* to dope the fresh gas with along with a quick lesson on use and care of a mower, including how to get rid of the old gas. I guess I'll go over and change the oil again after she uses it a few times - it was really black, and the new oil (Castrol 30 HD) is cleaning up the crankcase.

* 50/50 STA-BIL and Marvel Mystery Oil, about 1 oz/gal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Homelite/Jacobsen 20