# Riding Lawn mower starts, runs, then dies



## RanchKing (Oct 1, 2010)

I have a Ranch King riding lawn mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine. Currently it will start and run for about 2 minutes then die. After it dies it will not restart for a long period of time. I have replaced the air filter and the spark plug. I have verified the gas line to the carb is not obstructed. I took the carb out and checked that none of the jets were obstructed. I also looked at the float and it appeared to be functioning correctly. I'm not sure what might be the problem. Any ideas what would cause the mower to stop running and then not start again for a number of hours?


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

Hi and welcome to TSF :wave:

Try running it with the gas cap very lose, does that help?

BG


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## RanchKing (Oct 1, 2010)

It does not help. Nothing different happens.


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## easyrider1 (Apr 17, 2011)

Try pouring a little gas in the carb to see if it is a restricted fuel problem, if it still doesn't start then check the coil.


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## K-B (Oct 24, 2005)

Run it until it shuts off, then remove a spark plug and test for spark. If no spark, then you have an ignition problem, most likely a faulty coil.


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## kbowley (Sep 23, 2009)

As the other folks said, if you pull the fuel line off the carb and it runs freely, then it is likely a defective ignition module/coil. As the gent above said, after it dies pull the spark plug and check for spark.

The coil is easy to change...pull the flywheel cooling shroud off and you will see the coil mounted very closely to the flywheel. It should have a gap of .008 or so when you replace it. make sure the flywheel magnets are not near the coil when replacing. They are very strong and it will be impossible to set the gap and nearly impossible to remove from the flywheel if the magnets "grab" it. You can use a screw driver to find the location of the magnets.


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