[Shop-talk] lawn mower motor woes

[Jeff Scarbrough]

On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 10:00 PM, john niolon <jniolon at att.net> wrote:
> I've got a H.F. Predator 212 cc (6 hp) engine on my old 1980 Yazoo big wheel
> mower that I use for trim work... It's about 2 years old and performed
> flawlessly... even better than the Briggs before it.
>
> Today I choked it, pulled the cord twice and it fired up on the third
> pull... opened the choke and started for the grass... it did seem to smoke a
> little but I figured it was a little flooded. It ran about a minute the
> kinda 'sputtered' backfired twice and quit.

I had a Snapper mower die similarly.  Turned out the keepers fell off
the end of the intake valve.  Have you got compression?

I put mine back together (hint:  Use zip ties to keep the spring
compressed, then cut them loose after it's all together) and it works
fine now.