starting gasoline engines

I don' know about you ladies out there but I have been completely frustrated this week because I cannot get any
of the lawn equipment started unless my DH is home (we work opposite shifts) or I beg a neighbor or my DD boyfriend
to come over and start the appliance. I am rather small and do not appear to have enough strenght to pull the cords sharp enough.

I cannot get the lawnmower started if it is less than 60 degrees. The shredder - well I have been all day and three ladies
trying to start it but it hasn't started yet. I cannot use the mantis tiller my sister lent me -
cause I cannot get it started unless DH is home. He starts it right up but I pull and pull and nothing.
It turns but doesn't catch. My unattached sister lends the mantis out because she cannot start it herself either.
And she lent it to a friend but the friend could not get it started either - had to wait until her DH came home.

My other sister carries a can of starter spray to overcome this......I will try this solution on the shredder tomorrow.

Does anyone have this experience but us? Mantis markets to women because it is small......doesn't matter if you cannot get the thing started.

Is there any brand that is easier to start? I would like to say this is a new problem but it is rather consistent......I just could not get three pieces of equipment started today so I am peaking in my frustration. I will replace the whole lot if it could be guaranteed to start
the first time. One of the things that really burns me is that I will plan to do something that will take a certain amount of time
to do but cannot factor in the starting time. I have spent three hours getting the lawnmower started to do a 1/2 hour mow.

I have a 8hp chipper/shredder that has very high compression.
As I'm getting older I find it hard to start; I give it a little shot of starting fluid and it takes right off. I know its probably not good for the engine but its better than throwing my back out.

Paul

I really cannot speak to your particular tools, but I have had the same frustration all my life with gasoline engines.

It was only with a switch to Stihl gas tools (chainsaw, sprayer, weedeater, etc) that my frustrations went away. Occasionally they still come back but removing and cleaning the spark plug usually does the trick.

I've never used the starting fluid trick except on some of the clunkers I have owned.

If you use gas powered equipment - imo - it's all about bad gasoline. I agree with darius on stihl equipment, but if gasoline is left in any engine for even a week or so, it is bad.

Run your engines dry if you're not going to use them for a week or so. Always use "new" gasoline. This is the best advice we've ever had and all our equipment starts like new when we stick to this rule. We run our stihl equipment (edgers, chain saws, etc.) on this principle and it has worked :)

Roxroe, I know exactly what you mean! I am 5'2" and cannot start anything with a pull cord. I have been injured falling off of stools and steps while trying to gain the extra height to start the engine! It is so annoying. I am a do-it-yourselfer, and I hate to find anything I can't do. I dug my own pond by hand, carried every cement block in my yard (several hundred), and cut down maple trees that I hated. Don't tell me I'm not competant because I'm a girl! I hate that. The tiller got the best of me too-hubby started it for me, but then I couldn't hold it back enough to get it to dig in. It just walked across the surface of the soil dragging me behind. Hubby didn't laugh, so I let him live!

thanks for everyone's comments - they were helpful and understanding

question: how do you get the gasoline out if you don't use it all?

is there a certain type of gas you purchase?

or how can you tell if gas is bad?

I empty out what I can, then start the engine and run the rest of it all out.

Gas is Gas (so buy any kind), and any gas left in a machine is bad in a short time. Gas in a can also goes bad but not as bad as gas in a machib=ne. There are gas extenders you can buy for gas in a can. Don't remember any names right now, and I've never used them anyway. The solids of gas in a can sink and then I use it anyway.

I went to the dollar store and bought a turkey baster. At the end of the season I siphon out what I can with the baster and then run the engine until it quits.
You can also get a fuel stabilizer at an auto parts store. Follow the instructions. You can leave the fuel in all winter.I used it last fall and all of my machines started right up this spring.

Paul

thanks - I will get some

i weight 130lbs am 5foot 9inches. (male)

I can pull start a 24hp trencher.... and it doesn't have a cord... we wrap an old leather belt around it.

it isn't so much strength as it is pulling the cord for speed.
My advice, slowly pull the engine through it's cycles and find which is the compression stroke.
four stroke engines:
intake, compression, power, exhaust.
if you pull it slowly through the compression stroke, one good fast pull should do it.

best of luck ladies.
dp

So you pull fast when it gets to compresion or power?

pull it really slowly through the compression stroke.
than let the cord reset and take the big pull....
this way you are already moving the engine and you have alot of momentum when you hit compression again.

some engines are hard just the same.
I used to have a 'twoman chainsaw'
took one of us to get it to crank and the other had to run it (cuz the puller was exhausted by the time it got going).

Hmm, I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

I have even been fixing stuff this yr-plugged gasline=new filter
MY lawn tractor was sputtering and wouldnt rev up so i started turning screws
got her running fine b4 DH got home! he was impressed -showed him what i did. Hes a deisel mechanic-ive learned alot over the yrs!

I can start most anything around the farm and im 5'2" and to fat to post weight! If it needs a jump start i can do that too-but the one old tractor that has a crank in the front to startit-Forget that!! it wins!!

You have to CHOKE EM-thats the key!!! ;)

there is no choke on my lawnmower and the shredder has a choke but when I use it - it won't start either

no choke on the lawn mower?
*raises an eyebrow suspiciously*
or....
you don't know if there is a choke on the lawnmower?

even if there is not, you can choke it manually

maybe put the choke about half way open?

you could be flooding it

well the thing only has a pull start and a primer button. Instructions say if you press the primer button 5 times it is supposed to
start with one pull cold.

Reality is:

IF the weather is warm it takes about 40 presses. In cold weather nothing helps but getting my DH to pull it after 50 presses. I know I have pushed enough if I smell a little gas. No gas smell - no hope of start.

there are no other controls on the article in question at all - I assumed it has an automatic choke

A pox on automatic chokes. Never again.

I have an old tiller I bought used last year - it has a Briggs & Stratton motor and it is older than dirt! I was tearing up my shoulder trying to pull start her, and by the time I gave in and called my DH to start her for me, I was out of breath and sore and cursing. He figured out that if he took the cover off the air intake it would start right up (with a choke) and after it ran a couple minutes and warmed up he put the cover back on. The first couple times I ran the tiller I thought I would disclocate my arms trying to hold her back - then I realized that was not effective. The trick is to push down on the handles - lean into it! Don't try to pull back against it - lean down on it. Hope this info will help somebody with their tiller!

Oh, push down! That will help for next time for sure. Last time the fool machine just walked across the surface dragging me behind it! Had to have hubby run it for me, but I like to do things myself.

this is assuming you are tall enough - I am not tall enough to push down on the tiller - its handles are nearly to my shoulders.
DH is tall!

hmmm... didn't think about that! I am 5'7", not so tall, but my old tiller has a metal piece that goes from the wheels to the handles that can be adjusted for heighth. It has a series of holes and the peg can be moved to lower the handles, which I did for comfort. I find it much easier just to lean in and go with it, instead of fighting against it.

At 5 feet even with fibromyalgia I vote for an electric start with a key. Jessamine

i second that

There are mowers that have electric start systems on them that require charging a battery and flipping ( or as y'all in the South say--mashing) a switch. My Mum is 4ft6in little Irish woman who can still fire up a lawn mower. It's a matter of timing the stroke right. It also could be because when she became too short to slap us kids she learned she could throw a shoe like Clint Eastwood. My Dad still laughs to the point of unconsciousness when he brings up when she pulled a three wall bank shot and broke my nose. I have never talked back to her since.LOL

be happy it's a shoe....
I had a friend get knocked unconcious by a pack of frozen hotdogs.

I wonder if that's why we Scots refer to hot dogs as "bangers".LOL