Gas Mower Difficult to start -- ideas?

[motifone]

Hi all. Replaced old gas with new gas + stabilizer and mower started fine. Yahoo! Ps. My Troy Built model has a Honda engine.

[lucknow]

For some unknown reason I always seem to have trouble starting the many little 4 stroke engines that I have owned over the years. I got so fed up about 15 years ago that I started always using a little ether to start any of my machines. You don't even have to take the air filter off. Just spray for about 2 seconds into whatever type of intake there is and pull the cord. It works every time. I know that people will say that ether is bad for the engine but I have to say that the mower that I started doing that with has you typical Briggs engine on it and it's still going well in my daughters yard almost 20 years later. It has become addicted to the either and will NOT start without it. LOL

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by ArkansasSlim

By Law, there is supposed to be a sticker on the pump if it contains ethanol.

thanks. that's what i thought but wasn't certain.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Great posts everyone.

With the high temps this summer does that tend to make gas go bad faster? What about the cold?
Just curious.

Most all chemical reactions go faster with increased temperature, plus with a vented gas tank like most mowers have, you have evaporation of some of the more volatile components in the gas.

If you can find gas with no ethanol, yeah, that is better for your small engines (and car as well, but that's a different topic).