What's wrong with my lawn mower?

Question

It's a Craftsman 4.2 hp. Up till now - no problems. It always started with one pull of the cord. A week ago the lonawn mower quit. I had not hit anything. Now the cord is hard to pull and sometimes snaps back too quickly. I took off the cord housing. The cord on it's own pulls easily. The blade is clear of all debris. When turning the thing underneath the cord housing (don't worry - I disconnected the spark plug) this seems to turn hard and it sticks at one point. Can this be oiled? I tried oiling the shaft for the blade but that didn't do much.

Answer 1

Sometimes when the cord snaps back like that and nearly breaks your wrist it could be water in the fuel.

Answer 2

Its oiled from the engine crank case oil.You do have oil in it??

Answer 3

Sorry to tell you,but it sounds like the rod bearing is gone. It will be cheaper to get a new mower than have this one repaired. The reason this happened is you ran the mower with little or no oil in the engine.

Answer 4

try putting in a new spark plug