How to Troubleshoot a Walker Mower
The appearance of your yard and home critically depends on the maintenance of your grass, and a broken Walker mower will immediately impact your ability to perform the necessary lawn maintenance. The most common Walker mower problems involve general Briggs & Stratton engine-related issues such as plug wire and spark plug malfunctioning or an incorrectly spaced air gap. A simple fuel problem may also be the culprit. You can troubleshoot and repair your Walker mower no matter what your experience with such machines.
Check the fuel level in your gasoline tank and add gas as needed.
Open the front engine cover of the Walker mower and check the spark plug. It will lie near the front of the engine assembly and should have a thin black plug wire connected to it. Reconnect this plug wire to the plug if necessary.
Disconnect the plug wire from the Walker mower's spark plug and pull out the plug for replacement. Reconnect the plug wire to a new spark plug and attempt to crank and start the engine.
Open the Walker mower's engine cover again and use the plug wire as a guide to find the magnetic coil if the engine still won't start. Follow the plug wire to the back of the Walker mower's engine assembly. It will come to rest beside the magnetic coil. This coil sits directly in front of the circular flywheel part.
Check the incremental space between the flywheel and the magnetic coil. This is known as the air gap. The air gap must be between 0.010 and 0.015 inch in width. Measure for this width, using a caliper. The gap may be too large or too small.
Loosen the Walker mower's magnetic coil with a wrench and apply slight, incremental pressure to the outside or inside of the coil as necessary to move it closer to or farther away from the flywheel. This will slightly readjust the size of the air gap. Measure the air gap again to make sure your adjustments were successful if the air gap was not already between 0.010 and 0.015 inch in width.
Put the Walker mower's engine cover back in place.
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Writer Bio
Billy Kirk is an experienced professional writer and editor who has written and published articles of varying topics and varying types including news articles, special features and editorials. He has written extensively for regular online publications as well as blogs. Kirk holds a Bachelor of Arts in media production from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
