Well, my dad, in his infiinite wisdom decided to leave a gas container with an unknown mix of fuels in the garage, right where our pure 87 octance gasoline usually resides. This of course was not know to me.
Fast foward to yesterday, when I was going to mow the lawn as usual, and proceeded to get the gas to filll the empty tank. I couldn't imediately find the regular container, so I grabbed this other container marked gasoline. I wafted and it smelled like gas, so I filed up the tank. About 10 seconds after I started the lawnmower, it just shutoff, and started again twice only to die within 2 seconds. It eventually remained dead.
Basically, my step dad is really pissed off at me as he somehow thinks that I should have realized that this was a special "weedwacker mixture," even though we do not have a weedwacker, and for as long as I remember, gasoline containers (orange and labled "gasoline") have ALWAYS contined 87 octane gasoline for obvious reasons. Worst of all, I itold him that I would pay for it, and he is still continuously criticizing my logic. Yesterday I went to help paint a condo, and he acted like a real prick the whole time. I ended up leaving after doing have to the condo because I couldn't stand it
This is the reason that I cannot find out what the mixture is made of, besides that it is combined for use in weed wackers. As I remember, it had a very light scent of gasoline compared to regular gasoline.
My question is: What might it be composed of, and could it have damaged the lawnmower? If so, what needs to be replaced? Could draining it and filling it with CONFIRMED gasoline serve to rectify the situation?
Engine is a Briggs and Stratton 6.5hp xxCC's
EDIT: It's fixed
Well, I fixed it. What still confounds me is the original liquid I put in there. No one knows what it is and my step dad ain't talking(well, he isn't here, but I suspect he won't want to tell me when he gets home)
I went ot the store and bought some stabilizer and some Carbureator Cleaner. I added the stabilizer to my VERIFIED gas can. Then I proceeded to drain the mowever by tipping it and using a funnel and a bucket, as this is appearantly the only way to drain it (no plugs) without dissasembly. I then took out the air filter, sprayed into the carbureator and let it dry. I then put it back together, added gas, primed it, and it wouldn't start I finally took out the spark plug and it was well, "icky" to say the least. After attempting to clean it with a new rag, it still wouldn't start, even after 18 "US" pulls
I finally got my neighbor and he figured it out only to end up confusing both of us. First, we tried priming the hell out of it, but he kept on saying that he could not smell the gas. Then he showed me how to clean the spark plug with a fine piece of sand paper which helped out a bit. Still, it would turn over once at the most and die, even if he primed it. He then began to prime it while the air filter was off, and "Stuff" seeped out of the opening. According to him, it was water He checked the contianer of liquid that had originally casued the problem, and told me that it did not smell like a weedwacker mixture at all. In fact he didn't know what it was except that it was heavily diluted. Personally, I had only "wafted" when I had used it, and from a distance, it had smelled pretty normal. After takiing the funnel off however, I couldn't identify it either, except that it smelled sort of like paint thinner.
Anyways, he primed the hell out of it as I hell it at 45degrees so it would come out. Once it started to smell like gasoline, the lawnmower turned over twice. We continued to prime it after it had turned over and it styaed on. A few more minutes of that and it would stay on for about a minute. I left it running for about 15minutes, ocassionally priming it quickly when it was about to die for the first few minutes, and now it runs really well. Hell, I don't have to prime it at all, even from a cold start ..perhaps due to the stabilizer (thanks evadman)
Hell, I just mowed my lawn with the damn thing and did a fantastic job as ususal.
Cost of 2 1/2 gallons of gasoline to fill the gas container: ~$5.00
Cost of fixing the lawnmower: $11.97
My step dad's face when he notices that the lawn has been mowed and that his lawnmover is running better than ever: priceless.
My step dad's face when he realizes that he was wrong and acted like a complete ass: Pircelessx2 :evil:
END GAME
<----WINNER, that is, unless it explodes in the near future or something
Fast foward to yesterday, when I was going to mow the lawn as usual, and proceeded to get the gas to filll the empty tank. I couldn't imediately find the regular container, so I grabbed this other container marked gasoline. I wafted and it smelled like gas, so I filed up the tank. About 10 seconds after I started the lawnmower, it just shutoff, and started again twice only to die within 2 seconds. It eventually remained dead.
Basically, my step dad is really pissed off at me as he somehow thinks that I should have realized that this was a special "weedwacker mixture," even though we do not have a weedwacker, and for as long as I remember, gasoline containers (orange and labled "gasoline") have ALWAYS contined 87 octane gasoline for obvious reasons. Worst of all, I itold him that I would pay for it, and he is still continuously criticizing my logic. Yesterday I went to help paint a condo, and he acted like a real prick the whole time. I ended up leaving after doing have to the condo because I couldn't stand it
This is the reason that I cannot find out what the mixture is made of, besides that it is combined for use in weed wackers. As I remember, it had a very light scent of gasoline compared to regular gasoline.
My question is: What might it be composed of, and could it have damaged the lawnmower? If so, what needs to be replaced? Could draining it and filling it with CONFIRMED gasoline serve to rectify the situation?
Engine is a Briggs and Stratton 6.5hp xxCC's
EDIT: It's fixed
Well, I fixed it. What still confounds me is the original liquid I put in there. No one knows what it is and my step dad ain't talking(well, he isn't here, but I suspect he won't want to tell me when he gets home)
I went ot the store and bought some stabilizer and some Carbureator Cleaner. I added the stabilizer to my VERIFIED
gas can. Then I proceeded to drain the mowever by tipping it and using a funnel and a bucket, as this is appearantly the only way to drain it (no plugs) without dissasembly. I then took out the air filter, sprayed into the carbureator and let it dry. I then put it back together, added gas, primed it, and it wouldn't start I finally took out the spark plug and it was well, "icky" to say the least. After attempting to clean it with a new rag, it still wouldn't start, even after 18 "US" pulls I finally got my neighbor and he figured it out only to end up confusing both of us. First, we tried priming the hell out of it, but he kept on saying that he could not smell the gas. Then he showed me how to clean the spark plug with a fine piece of sand paper which helped out a bit. Still, it would turn over once at the most and die, even if he primed it. He then began to prime it while the air filter was off, and "Stuff" seeped out of the opening. According to him, it was water
He checked the contianer of liquid that had originally casued the problem, and told me that it did not smell like a weedwacker mixture at all. In fact he didn't know what it was except that it was heavily diluted. Personally, I had only "wafted" when I had used it, and from a distance, it had smelled pretty normal. After takiing the funnel off however, I couldn't identify it either, except that it smelled sort of like paint thinner.Anyways, he primed the hell out of it as I hell it at 45degrees so it would come out. Once it started to smell like gasoline, the lawnmower turned over twice. We continued to prime it after it had turned over and it styaed on. A few more minutes of that and it would stay on for about a minute. I left it running for about 15minutes, ocassionally priming it quickly when it was about to die for the first few minutes, and now it runs really well. Hell, I don't have to prime it at all, even from a cold start ..perhaps due to the stabilizer
(thanks evadman) Hell, I just mowed my lawn with the damn thing and did a fantastic job as ususal.
Cost of 2 1/2 gallons of gasoline to fill the gas container: ~$5.00
Cost of fixing the lawnmower: $11.97
My step dad's face when he notices that the lawn has been mowed and that his lawnmover is running better than ever: priceless.
My step dad's face when he realizes that he was wrong and acted like a complete ass: Pircelessx2 :evil:
END GAME
<----WINNER, that is, unless it explodes in the near future or something
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