As your mower ages, you’ll likely start noticing performance problems. Once this happens, it becomes important to know your way around small engines so you can fix any issues as they occur. Now one of the questions that will probably pop up early on is where is the carburetor on a lawn mower? Well, if you don’t know much about engines, then this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack without knowing what a needle looks like. So, let’s get you familiarized with carburetors and show you where the carburetor is on your lawn mower.
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Where a Lawn Mower Carburetor is Located (Overview)
You will find your lawn mower carburetor attached to the side of the engine. The carburetor sits between the air filter and the engine cylinder head. If you trace the fuel line from the gas tank, you will first pass the fuel filter, then the fuel pump, and finally get to the carburetor.
How a Carburetor Works
To help locate your lawn mower carburetor, you should first understand how it works. This is because once you know what the carburetor does, you’ll have a better idea of what to look for. So, a carburetor takes fuel from the fuel tank and air from the air filter and creates a fuel-air mixture. Then the carburetor vaporizes both elements and jets them into the cylinder head, ready for combustion. Therefore, this means the carburetor needs to be attached to the cylinder head, connected to the fuel delivery systems, and have an air filter attached. So, if you look for the three components, you will be able to find the carburetor.
How to Find a Lawn Mower Carburetor
As you are probably already aware, there are lots of different types of lawn mowers ranging from push mowers, riding lawn mowers, and zero-turn lawn mowers. Therefore, finding your carburetor can differ slightly depending on your mower. So, let’s review the different mowers individually to locate the carburetor on each.
How to Find a Push Mower Carburetor
A push lawn mower usually has the carburetor attached to the side of the engine and tucked out of the way to protect it. This can make it a little difficult to spot. If you look for the air filter, you’ll know that the carburetor is attached to it.
First, remove the air filter cover and the air filter, then look through the opening in the housing. You will be looking into the carburetor. Now some push lawn mowers have the carburetor connected directly to the fuel tank, and can be even harder to spot. However, because you now know that the air filter connects to the carburetor, all you need to do is find the air filter, which will lead you to the carburetor.
How to Find a Riding Mower Carburetor
Typically most riding mowers have the engine located at the front of the mower under the hood, so this is where you will find the carburetor. First, lift the hood and locate the air filter. You should find that the air filter housing bolts through the carburetor and into the cylinder head. Alternatively, you can follow the fuel line from the gas tank to the fuel pump and then to the carburetor.
How to Find a Zero-Turn Mower Carburetor
Zero-turn mowers are last on the list of lawn mower types. Now these types of lawn mowers have their engine located at the rear of the mower, protected by the frame. So, to find the carburetor on a zero-turn, head to the back to begin your search. First, locate the air filter and fuel line and see where they are connected. They should both be attached to the carburetor.
How Many Carburetors Does a Lawn Mower Have?
The amount of cylinders determines the amount of carburetors. Typically all push mowers only have one cylinder, so they only need a single carburetor. But a 2- cylinder, twin-engine, or V-twin engine has two cylinders. Each cylinder has its own carburetor to jet the fuel/air mixture into each cylinder head.
So, does this mean your mower will have two carburetors? Technically yes, but in practice, you will find that a 2-cylinder lawn mower will have two carburetors that connect together into a single carburetor. So when locating where is the carburetor on a lawn mower that has a twin-engine, you will still only be looking for a single carburetor.
Symptoms of a Bad Carb
If you are wondering where the carburetor is on a lawn mower, then your mower is more than likely having a few problems. So, if your lawn mower is experiencing one of the issues below, then it’s likely a symptom of a bad lawn mower carburetor. Here’s what to look out for:
- The engine will not start
- The engine struggles to idle
- Backfiring from the muffler
- Black smoke from the muffler
- Engine surging
- The lawn mower will not reach full throttle
- The engine stalls
- The lawn mower cylinder head may become flooded
- The spark plug may be wet with excessive fuel
- The engine is revving too high
Are Lawn Mower Carburetors Universal
If your ed to replace the carburetor, then you might be asking if lawn mower carburetors are universal. Well, no, they are not. You might find that some mowers made by a particular manufacturer may use one particular carburetor on various models. But this doesn’t mean you can take a Toro carburetor and try to install it on a Husqvarna mower. Instead, you will need to purchase a replacement carburetor for your lawn mower make, model, and year.
How to Clean A Lawn Mower Carburetor
There are a couple of ways to clean a lawn mower carburetor. The first is to leave the carburetor attached to the engine and use a carburetor cleaning spray. The second is to completely remove the carburetor from your lawn mower and thoroughly clean it. Now depending on how dirty your carburetor is, you may get away with just using a spray. But I try to remove the carburetor completely once a year and give it a good cleaning. But it’s worth trying a carburetor cleaner first to see if this method works. A lot of the time, it will.
How to Replace A Lawn Mower Carburetor
If cleaning the carburetor didn’t solve the performance problems, you might need to replace the carburetor completely. Here is an example of how to replace a carburetor on a Craftsman push mower with a Briggs & Stratton engine. This method will give you a pretty good idea of what this repair requires and adapt it to your lawn mower regardless of its design.
Because this repair has lots of steps, I have broken the repair down into how to remove an old carburetor and how to install the replacement.
Carburetor Removal
- Disconnect the spark plug wire from the spark plug.
- Drain the fuel tank.
- Remove the air filter housing cover.
- Remove the air filter.
- Remove the screw from the air filter base/housing.
- Remove the breather pipe from the air filter base/housing.
- Remove the air filter base/housing.
- Remove the fuel line from the carburetor.
- Remove the blower housing.
- Pull the carburetor from the lawn mower.
- Disconnect the governor linkage.
- Remove the choke linkage rod.
Carburetor Installation
- Connect the choke linkage rod to the new carburetor.
- Connect the governor linkage to the new carburetor.
- Connect the fuel line to the new carburetor.
- Position the carburetor onto the engine.
- Position the air filter housing onto the new carburetor.
- Install the screws to attach the air filter housing and the new carburetor to the engine.
- Connect the breather pipe to the air filter housing.
- Install the air filter.
- Install the air filter cover.
- Install the blower cover.
- Fill the fuel tank with fuel.
- Connect the spark plug.
What You’ll Need to Replace a Carburetor
- New Carburetor (Mower Specific)
- Screwdriver
- Nut Driver
- Pliers
- Small Fuel Container
- Fuel Siphon/Pump
- Shop Rag
