Q36 lost HP

[flakebortch]

Yesterday I took the blades off the mower to sharpen them, and then I replaced them. I also cleaned a bunch of dust off of the foam around the air filter. Today I go to use the mower, and when I engage the blades I lose a lot of power (sounds like it's about to stall, goes slower than normal). Any ideas? Thanks.

[MowerMedic77]

If you leave the air filter off(just to test) does the unit still bog down with the blades on?

[jkilov]

Well you changed something when cleaning the filter. Maybe someone adjusted your carburetor when the filter was dirty and now with it clean it's running way too lean. Other than that if you changed fuel and maybe put different (higher level ethanol) fuel in it. And lastly (sorry to ask) did you balance the blades correctly?

[LarryF]

did you balance the blades correctly?

or install them upside down?

[flakebortch]

So I go to put a different set of blades on the mower, figuring that maybe the other set is balanced. But what do we do first? That's right, disconnect the sparkplug. Only, the sparkplug is already disconnected. The boot rested against the plug, and so it was able to connect and start/run the mower. When I engaged the blades, the vibration must have decreased the connection, making it seem like the mower was losing power. So, now who's the jack@$$? If you said this guy, then give yourselves 1000 points for today, but I regret to inform you that you will never get back the moments you lost while reading this stupid thread.

[greenred]

lolol man we all been there

nothing like pulling the spark cord on a 21inch, changing the blade, then trying to start it for 10 minutes before it dawns on you that you didnt plug the spark plug back in. :rolleyes: :laugh: