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Troubleshooting lawn mower stale fuel issues

Stale fuel is one of the most common causes of engines / lawn mowers to stop running or to run raggedly (hunting). This sort of issue can happen in all price brackets and is not something that is covered under the warranty for all manufacturers.

Just Lawnmowers mostly sees this sort of issue after the New Year where the lawnmower has been left in storage with fuel in the tank and will then refuse to start due to the carb being ‘gummed up’.

Luckily there is a possible way to fix this.

  • Drain the machine from the carb (float) bowl which is located behind the air filter – Do this by loosening the nut slightly and this will drain the fuel from the machine.
  • Blow down the fuel tank and it will hopefully clear any sediment in the carb – if you are also able to obtain any carb cleaner spray this into the carb. You could also take the carb/float bowl off and clean out any crystallized petrol in the bottom using an old rag or something similar. If you are also able to obtain any carb cleaner spray this into the carb.
  • Tighten the nut and then refuel the machine with fresh fuel

Hopefully when you restart the machine this will have sorted the problem for you. Unfortunately if this has not rectified the issue, it will need to be taken to a local dealer for inspection/repair, please bear in mind that if it is a fuel related issue it may not covered under the warranty.

To maintain the fuel, we would suggest purchasing a fuel stabiliser as this will keep the fuel fresher for a longer duration of time. The directions of use will be on the bottle but normally you can use a 10ml of stabiliser for 10L of fuel for occasional use or 10ml for 3L for long term storage.

Alex Evans

Alex is responsible for managing Just Lawnmowers website and blog. When not building websites he spends his time out walking in the beautiful North Norfolk countryside, gardening in his wild, sloping garden or enjoying a game of chess down at his local chess club!

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