I posted a thread about this toward the end of the lawn mowing season last year. My lawn mower would run fine, but it wouldn't start without using starting fluid (even though I always use fuel stabilizer). I figured I would mess with it in the spring by cleaning or replacing the carb. I ran across online a product called "mechanic in a bottle" which claimed to clean carbs without removal. I bought it at home depot for $6 or something like that. I followed the instructions with no luck at all using a fresh tank of gas. I cut the grass a couple of times and still needed starting fluid. I was going to take it apart tomorrow to work on the carb. Lo and behold, tonight it fired up on the first pull! I know a number of other people had this problem on the thread I posted in the fall, so I thought I would pass along something that worked for me without removing the carb. I think I am going to add an ounce of this stuff every other tank going forward. It took a little time, but it worked like magic.
Spring would come - top of the tank and pull. Damn things would start up within first 3 pulls every time. No primer button. What changed over the years? Better gas? Better design?
No idea.
I do know this. Modern mowers suck balls so bad I finally got fed up and bought an electric. Same with the weedwacker and blower. Got fed up with cursing at lawn equipment, removing carb's and cleaning out fouled parts.
I hate the extension cord, but love that it works every. Fucking. Time.
Ethanol is a killer to small engine carbs. Buy non-ethanol fuel and your issues with small engines will disappear.
Yeah. I was totally shocked how effective this stuff is for a few bucks. I use a full stabilizer and do a full tune up each spring, but still developed a problem. Ethanol sucks and the pure stuff is too expensive. Problem solved with MIB. Mine has started with a couple of pulls since I posted the thread. No more issues.
You can buy pure gasoline in cans. It’s ridiculously expensive though.
BTW: the best fuel stabilizer is Star Tron.
Same here. There was one station a few miles from my house, but it's all ethanol now. There's nothing remotely close to me now, and the stuff at places like home depot is outrageously priced.