Selling price for a non-working lawn mower?

I got a Toro Super Recycler Self Propelled lawn mower that ran fine one day, wouldn't start the next. Cleaned filter and put in a new spark plug but still nothing. My mom took it to a mower repair shop and the guy told her it has something to do with fuel not getting to the motor and it'd cost $90 to fix. Want to try to sell it instead but wasn't sure what a decent price would be. Not sure if I really believe repair guy, kinda think he just knew my mom was clueless and would believe anything he said lol. If I post pics are there any mower guys that can give their opinion on a sell price?

You won't get much for a non-running lawnmower.

You should see if you can fix it yourself. It might be as simple as a gummed-up carb.

Jon.

I found a self propelled one with an automatic start and it was given to me by a neighbor "stopped running" just needed a new air filter which was under $15 and he was just going to trash it!

Had a craigslist guy offer $50. Miwer cost over $200 a couple years ago though so as tempting as the $50 is I might check the carb. Filter and spark plug have been replaced but didn't help any

Does the plug spark when you pull it over?

J.

I'll bet there's a video on youtube that might help.

Does the pull cord still retract? Ive been getting alot of toro mowers this past season which the recoil spring was broken. Most recoil springs are about 15 buck or so check ebay.

Originally Posted by sawmilleng

Does the plug spark when you pull it over?

J.

No, turns but no spark

Originally Posted by afmedic279

Does the pull cord still retract? Ive been getting alot of toro mowers this past season which the recoil spring was broken. Most recoil springs are about 15 buck or so check ebay.

Yea cord is fine. It pulls fine and goes back like it should

Originally Posted by NHscrapman

Carb is probably gummed up like others have said.
check your fuel lines/ primer for leaks could be sucking air.
also if the gas cap was super tight after it ran you could be getting air locked.
in the gas tank there is a filter should be fine but you never know.
Good luck

Thanks. Gonna play around with it a little today and see what I can figure out so I'll check carb then

Originally Posted by miked

Toro's might be different but check the carb bowel. Its located on the bottom of the card. remove the bowel and check the float to see if it is stuck or sticky. Push it up and down. Spray some carb cleaner through the inlet pipe to the bowel/float area.

How this works is gas flows into the bowel until it lifts the float and shuts off the flow until the engine uses enough fuel to cause the float to drop down and allow fuel to flow again.

If the float is stuck you get NO fuel to the carb and engine. Mike

This would actually make sense, sounds like about the same issue repair guy said it had and that would be $90 to fix thru him

Originally Posted by KzScrapper

If there's is no spark I would figure that out first before moving on to gas. IMHO the $50 offer would work for me.

Yea, plan on messing with it today and if I don't get anywhere with it calling him back. $50 is ALOT more than scrap value would be plus it'd free up space so still a win win

whenever i have one of my small engine equipment not turn on i take out the air filter and put a rag big enough to plug up the intake and pull to start like 10 times and sometimes it turn on with the rag still plugging the intake or i take the rag off and then starts

No spark could be a dead coil or even less of a problem. Always check the shear key in the crankshaft. If the blades struck an object, it could have sheared the key. I always dress the flywheel magnets down with some emery cloth and adjust the coil to the flywheel within a credit card thickness. Get spark first and then go after a gas problem if it still won't start.