Neglected Push Mower Almost 20 Years

[Ravenkeeper]

So a friend of mine gave me his almost 20 year old Murray 22" push mower.  Original oil, spark plug and filter(s).  It wants to stall on the turns, regardless of which direction you turn, or how far you turn, 90º or 180º.  I'm going to start by changing the oil, filter(s), and spark plug.  Any other options or suggestions?

[davester]

I'd suggest taking the float bowl off the carb, cleaning it out, and also remove/clean/reinstall the float & float pin.

[Ravenkeeper]

On 8/11/2021 at 11:03 PM, Ravenkeeper said:

So a friend of mine gave me his almost 20 year old Murray 22" push mower.  Original oil, spark plug and filter(s).  It wants to stall on the turns, regardless of which direction you turn, or how far you turn, 90º or 180º.  I'm going to start by changing the oil, filter(s), and spark plug.  Any other options or suggestions?

So, I did all of this, after finally running the gas out of it, and it's running 1000x better (idling, and walking it around the driveway).  @davester, I've been running some carb cleaner with my last fill-up of my gas can, it helped some, but it was still choking on the turns.  I'm going to put it to the test Saturday, when I mow my yard again.  If it acts up still, then I'll try that, in addition to running carb cleaner in my gas.  I'm more than likely going to sell it after that. 

 

We have a rechargeable one, got it from Sam's Club about a month ago.  My son has no problems pushing the new one up the hills of our yard, unlike our gas mower, depending on the pattern that he's running, someone has to help him up the hills.

Edited October 15, 2021 by Ravenkeeper

[Black02Silverado]

The best way to get it going is to take the carb apart and clean it up as best you can with carb cleaner.  Just a small amount of crap in the carb can cause all kinds of issues.

[Grumpy Bear]

Chris I don't know what you've been using in the gas but PEA's work wonders if you dose it high enough. I use two ounces in a single mower tank. Run it long enough to exchange all the gas in the bowl. 20 minutes should do. Then let it sit 24 hours. Next time you start it you will get a surprise. I had a mower just like this. Older actually. One my dad bought his sister in about 1950 I got last year when she gave up her place. Toro whirlwind. Thing wouldn't run more than a few seconds at at time. Dad took the carb down, soaked it and reassembled. That got it started on a dozen primer pumps or so. I did as I noted and now have it purring like a kitten on 3 pumps and mowing banks I can hardly walk. 

 

Red Line SI-1

Gumout Regane Complete

Chevron Techron original

 

Those three have enough PEA to clean near anything Carb or injected. And in that order. 

[Ravenkeeper]

On 10/14/2021 at 5:41 PM, Ravenkeeper said:

So, I did all of this, after finally running the gas out of it, and it's running 1000x better (idling, and walking it around the driveway).  @davester, I've been running some carb cleaner with my last fill-up of my gas can, it helped some, but it was still choking on the turns.  I'm going to put it to the test Saturday, when I mow my yard again.  If it acts up still, then I'll try that, in addition to running carb cleaner in my gas.  I'm more than likely going to sell it after that. 

 

We have a rechargeable one, got it from Sam's Club about a month ago.  My son has no problems pushing the new one up the hills of our yard, unlike our gas mower, depending on the pattern that he's running, someone has to help him up the hills.

It ran GREAT while mowing the yard, yesterday.