My new project is a Sanli RCS400 Redback mower found in a tip shop. The starter cord was broken, so I was expecting to do a bit of work to bring back to life. I don’t have any grass to mow, but I was just looking for something I can store up the back of the (steep) block to mulch up leaves, etc., it being difficult to get our mulcher up there.
Anyway, if I can’t get it going, at worse we have just made a charitable donation.
The oil seemed pretty clean, but the next indication there may be fun times ahead was when I unclipped the air cleaner cover, and found there was no air cleaner. The carburettor bowl was also a joy to behold, being full of rubbish (to put it politely) - see attachment. There's a bit of dirt build up, particularly around the carbie, as can be seen in the attachment, but not too bad otherwise.
But I’ll give the carbie a bit of a clean inside and out, retension the starter, and check out the rest of it, and come back with some questions if I can’t progress. It has been a very long time since I had a play around with mowers.
One thing I wouldn’t mind some direction on, is regarding the air filter when I get around to obtaining a new one (I don’t want to spend too much before the mower gives some hope that it will run). The standard filter replacement for this mower seems to be a solid foam oval shape – presumably needs to be oiled, but what’s the thinking on these compared to the paper element type with foam sock (if indeed there is one that would fit)?
Firts up I would say the carby is toast looks like ethanol has been in there and you won't get the main jet out to clean in there because they rust in and just can't get them out. Carbies for them are not too expensive. Check for spark. If you have any starter fluid give it a squirt in the carby and that will give you an indication if it is going to run. If you have a socket set and a drill you can try and drill start it if you haven't fixed the pull starter
A paper element with foam would be better than just a foam filter but as long as you keep the filter clean it won't matter what filter you use ,
A good running mower can be bought for $50. these days on facebook marketplace, sometimes people just give them away for free, you just need to be careful how much you spend on parts as an air filter spark plug , carby and blades could cost more than $50.
I don't usually have to remove the main jet ,I just push fuse wire up the centre of the carby to clean it out then use compressed air and if the mower still hunts a little run the mower on some 98 fuel.
I see what you mean Max, with availability of "cheap" mowers. I hadn't done the research, but we had recently talked about getting a second hand mower for our new "duty", and happened across this one on a tip shop outing. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but there we are.
Able to spend a bit of time today. Managed to dismantle the carburetor without any trouble and give it a clean out. Didn't seem to be much in the way of debris throughout, despite the accumulation of rubbish initially noted in the float chamber, so I'm remaining optimistic that the beast will live again without too much replacement of parts.
Hi John, looks good and I have always found that if I can get the jet out and clean the tube the carby will usually work fine For some reason if the Chondas have had ethanol fuel in the I can't remove the main jet, with Hondas the jet will in most cases come out without issues
Carby back together and reassembled on the machine. Recoil starter seems to have some issues, so turned the mower over with the drill/socket and noted that the spark looked fine. Threw some petrol in, and after a few rotations it fired up and away she went.
I’m sure the neighbourhood thought we’d set something alight with the amount of smoke from the exhaust, but after a few minutes it settled down to barely noticeable. Maybe had a stint on 2-stroke in a prior life? Anyway, I couldn’t be happier with the way it’s running, after what seems like relatively little input from me.
The recoil starter is not throwing the pawls out when the rope is pulled, and I’m having trouble understanding why. One of the pawls was being pushed up by its spring, see the attached photo, which I thought may be creating enough drag to prevent them releasing. I bent the spring back into something resembling what it should be like, but still not engaging in the starter. It seems like the bottom plate needs to rotate against the rope pull direction to throw out the pawls, but I can’t see how that happens. Maybe I have to spend a little money after all on a new starter, to finish it off.
The orange 1 part needs to have a little tension to hold it to the centre post and bolt or screw ,sometimes you need to clean out the grease or oil so it's not lubricated in this area ,sometimes if there is a spring you can stretch the spring a little to provide more tension or sometimes you just do the bolt or screw a little tighter .
When part 2 turns and part 1 is slightly tensioned to the centre post the pawls will push out as the starter cord is pulled.
Thanks Max, I see what you are saying. The Part 1 you referenced is actually quite loose with the centre bolt fully tightened - you can see the gap between it and Part 2 in the photo. There is not anything there to create a tension. I'll have a look tomorrow.
I can't see exactly how your starter works without seeing it apart as there are a few different variations on how part 1 has tension to the centre post but the operating principles are the same.
In the images below the centre bolt is tight in the part 1 of the starter see yellow arrows, there are a couple slits in the plastic and a metal ring clamps the sides together giving tension on the bolt ,if your starter is the same as this but the bolt is loose you may be able to cut some small washers with scissors from an aluminium can and put them in the top of part 1 (orange arrows below) This type of starter won't work if the centre bolt is left loose and not tightened down all the way.Putting washers in may get the starter working if the centre of the starter is loose on the bolt and you can't fix that part.
To check nothing is broken in the starter pawl release part of the starter you can twist part one and the pawls should be ejected out (the green arrows below)
Hi Max, based on your post yesterday, I tried a few ways for the centre bolt to provide some resistance to the “Part 1”. Initially a thin metal washer under the head of the bolt or under Part 1, then a fibre washer, but the assembly was being locked up completely, or still not causing enough resistance. I then tried a rubber o-ring under the bolt head, and the pawls were then being (inconsistently) activated. The o-ring was being squeezed out from under the bolt, so obviously not a satisfactory long term solution.
Your post today though filled in more gaps in my understanding of the operating principle. I had seen the split in the plastic, and metal split ring, but didn’t realise that was supposed to provide clamping on the bolt – it’s quite loose really. So now I’ve put a smaller o-ring on the bolt, and that should get squeezed down into the gap, rather than out from the bolt head. That seems to work better and it now grabs more consistently. A couple of photos included to illustrate the design of this one.
I don’t think anything else is broken – the problem being the looseness of the bolt in the centre hole.
