OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Home Fix Attempts - what's the worst you've seen?

Just had a mower come in for a repair and service.

A rover with a Chonda motor.

Lady said "It just wouldn't start. My son and husband both think it's a blocked carby."

No problems says I; I'll take it out the back and have it back to you tomorrow.

WELL.

It started on ether so thought yeah fair enough. cleaned out the carby (There was a SLIGHT blockage). Still wouldnt start without ether so off the carby came again, cleaned out again and took a closer look. The bowl gasket was just a random (incorrectly sized) O ring, changed that out. still wouldn't start so I adjusted the throttle cable and while I was doing this I found that the linkages weren't closing the butterfly in the carby ... Why??? There were twisted and bent so weren't working properly. Straightened them up and vroooom, all good BUT vibrated so much I was worried it would start bouncing down the road.

Flipped it over and the blade plate was tight and intact and 3 of the blades were in good condition and tight ... the fourth however was a plate (About the same size as a blade) of 3mm steel!

Guess the owner figured a chunk of metal would do the job. she swears blind that no-one had ever touched the carby or throttle linkages though...strange how these things always change form without anyone touching them!

Goes to show, when doing repairs for people take nothing for granted and check everything!

In the garage I have an old victa with the front axles held on with fencing wire, I've had a honda with gasket goo throughout the carby, I've had govenor linkages hooked up to chokes, fuel lines hooked up to air intakes and a piston with no rings (That one "Just stopped and wouldn't start again").

Would love to hear the worst/funniest "Home fix attempts" you've seen...

that about covers most of them hahaha amazing how these things happen and NO one has ever touched it i get a lit of chondas too with bent linkages especially the choke one , so sure then it wont start same as honda's they love full choke .
best i seen was a guy bought one back , told me it was hard to start now ( had it 3 years) looked in the back of his wagon and there it was , starter cord broken top cover off coulndt get the bolts out so his son helped ! after a chat and a quick look pulled the muffler and the worst piston i have ever seen but nope , never had it had straight fuel in it .
steel victa bases wired together , plated rust holes and the like i seen before on site here someone popriveted a number plate over the chute , had one of those too said it mulched well !!!
and the old pot scrubber for an airfilter always has me in fits

there is a group of gremlins, whose sole purpose in life is to bugger things that have never been touched by anyone since new, ;)least ways that's my theroy

A Rover Utility with a broken handle just below the triangle nut that I picked up at the tip. Held (almost) together with a bit of stick and gaffa tape and only half of one blade left. I wondered if the vibration led to the breaking of the handle mounting. New blades and a quick braze on of a piece to reinforce the handle, three pumps of the primer and she ran sweet as sugar.

Got a service job in today ...

Wouldn't start. Needed a carby clean out. Bare in mind this is a near new Gardeners Choice mower.





Fuel filter completely blocked, carby completely blocked. It seems the owner ran it on a VERY rich 2 stroke mix!

Couldn't believe it when I pulled it apart!

Pete

maybe there is a problem with the anodizing or whatever the coating is they almost use on sanli's carb's . had them come through with broken starter cords and all say ( never was hard to start before ) all full of rust n crud but ones fitted to pope and victa's never seem as bad , water yes but just gunge really , no scale like these ones i wonder why , or is it just the fuel we get around here PETE ?

cheers , Dave

seems we get same problems around the same time

Maybe. I did a Victa V40 today which also needed a carby clean out but it's bowl was spotless.

This particular case was user error though as when I squirted carb cleaner through the inlet thick red oil squirted out

I had to use sand paper to clean this one out the scale was that bad.

Could be something in the fuel but I'd say if it is a supply issue it's more likely to be a petrol station contamination issue ... something to think about though.

Pete

todays effort . i dont know whats wrong with it , my son had a look and fixed the cord but it still wont start !!!

and a broken recoil spring too . its as it came in , missing half the carb' . wondering why it leaked fuel too . good cord repair i was thinkin'

I have nothing to add to that!

I do have a question though - Is that cord a length of washing line?

Pete

tough as trimmer line , someone bolted the coweling down with allen screws sooooo a good way if you dont have one is just cut a hole in it !! ( they were loose anyway hahaha) , this lady bought one yesterday from me , took it home and called me later , said it stopped and wont start again .
no problems at all luv , bring it back n i'll see whats wrong i said ....... she had bent the bar blade , broke the keyway already . hit a tree root ? uuuuuuuuuuuum nope !! it just stopped

I had a rover come back with a similar "it just stopped" excuse once, they had managed to hit something so hard, the blade boss was shattered, crank was bent and blade plate was bent also. it was all good though because once I showed them the proof and the half red housebrick that was stuck ontop of the cutting disc, I sold them another mower and kept that one for spares.

no comeback for that one . might have been in there already though ? hahaah always amazing huh