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Old 07-05-2009, 10:25 AM
damian damian is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robinfrance View Post
Hi everyone,

My first post on this forum, so a brief intro: we're Brits living in northern France (Normandy) for the last four years, though hoping to return to the UK in the new few months.

I have a mower with a Briggs and Stratton XP40 mower which is not running well. This will be only its third year of use, and I've never had a problem with it until now. I used it for the first time this year a few weeks ago – no problem, seemed to be running as normal. I then got it out again last week and found that it wasn't running smoothly. I would say the engine seems to be "hunting" – almost like it's coughing slightly – it sounds at various points as though it's going to die but always manages to keep going. Two further symptoms: (1) puffs of black smoke are visible by the grill on the L/H side, and (2) it used an awful lot more petrol than usual when I cut the grass with it the other day.

I'm no mechanic, but have done my best to do the basics in an attempt to rule out obvious causes: I've cleaned the air filter (seems fine), taken off the plastic engine cover and cleaned round everything I can, and changed the oil. Doesn't seem to have made any difference.

One other thing I've noticed: when first starting the engine (even after only a few minutes' break in running), it seems to run nice and smoothly for maybe ten seconds or so before starting to cough and splutter again.

I would have taken it in for repair, but there's only one place in the vicinity and they have a 3 week wait! I'd be very grateful if anyone has any ideas or suggestions. (N.B. I've looked on the B&S site, but so far only found quite generic advice that hasn't helped me.)

Thanks in advance,

Rob
Hello Rob it seems as though theres to much petrol going through. Make sure the adjustment on the throttle cable isn't to high. Also how many times have you had it serviced in the 3 years ????
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