Mower won't go

[JoeyB]

I have cleaned out the Carb,seems ok.It fires up and chugs then stops.I can hear it popping back through the air filter.It then bangs and flames come out the exhaust.Could it be the spark plug.It started to misfire end of last season,then slowly died.When it runs it is fine.It is a Honda 5 yrs old

[logman]

My Honda's about the same age and i had a similar problem the year before last, i put it down to old petrol that got damp in it. It did eventually start up with lots of white smoke that took a few minutes to clear, next time i filled up i used some fresh petrol and it was fine after that.

It may be worth changing your plug anyway, as they can be tempremental things..

Good Luck.

[Toureman]

Theres nothing wrong with the spark plug, that ignites the petrol mixture and burning petrol is the cause of the fire you have coming out of the exhaust!

Petrol deteriates with age and should be drained out at the end of the season.

The usual cause of what you describe is that the timing of the spark at the plug is wrong, this will have to be rectified by a competent mechanic.