Reply To: Mount field M1 Gardener not running well

[davidbliss]

Someone may have at sometime adjusted wrongly the valve clearance by grinding to much off the stem of the valve, this stops the very crude rubbish compression release from working, it consists of small bump on the back of the cam. Seen this done to worn out engines to get better running they do idle better but at a cost to your fingers being stretch if its not done aggressively to get the engine to turn over. and a loose blade causes same issues as there is then little inertia help given from the blade. ignition points opening rather early is another cause, expect its one with short peg that rubs on the crank, measure the clearance under the peg to points arm, just increase the clearance a little and then check the points actually open as it a bit of a juggling act as sometimes with block and peg wear.