"Mechanic in a Bottle" - what is it?

[dave 911]

I was in Home Depot over the weekend buying a new lawn mower, as mine has continued to run like crap since the beginning of the season no matter what I do to it and I'm getting over working on it.

I had a new mower on the cart when the HD guy (yeah it was a slow night and I actually had someone come over and help me ) asked me what was wrong w/ my current mower. When I told him it's been stalling, hard to start, low on power he walked me around the corner and handed me a bottle of "Mechanic in a Bottle" and said try it, you'll be surprised. He also said that there was a formulation change in the ethanol gas this year that is causing alot of issues in older lawn mowers, with similar symptoms as mine.

So, I followed the instructions, and mowed 1/2 the lawn yesterday w/o the mower stalling at all - better than before, not like new but a noticable improvement.

So what is this stuff, and how does it work? Is it a temporary patch or something better?

[widebody911]

Do you put it in the oil or gas?

[Hugh R]

MSDS says confidential ingredients. My guess is xylenes and toluene.

[vash]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Do you put it in the oil or gas?

.............or just sprinkle it on the mower like holy water

[dave 911]

In the gas. You mix it, let it run for 10 minutes, then let it sit for 8 hours.

[craigster59]

Sounds like another version of Seafoam.

[techweenie]

I think that's what MM uses for their $2995 overhauls.

[scottmandue]

it's a mechanic... in a bottle

So are they very tiny mechanics or do they grind up mechanics and put them in a bottle?

[Zeke]

Get some race gas.

[Rusty Heap]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

it's a mechanic... in a bottle

So are they very tiny mechanics or do they grind up mechanics and put them in a bottle?

thanks for the smile..........



I'm just imagining 1000's of little John Walkers floating around in my oil with his moustache scrubbing everything.

[Tobra]

Wrench who likes scotch too much?

[legion]

We had those problems about 5 years ago when they mandated ethanol-laced gasoline around here.

It's not the first year that you use the gas that is the problem, it's when you get it out of storage the second year that it is the problem. The ethanol will start to dissolve all of the varnishes built up in your gas tank and push them to your carburetor. They re-congeal over a winter of disuse, and you have problems starting up the next year as your carb is clogged.

You got sold a bottle of carb cleaner...

[sammyg2]

Prolly a solvent that eats the varnish and gum that comes from gas sitting too long.

[rusnak]

I'm going to try it. At HD you say?

I have a Sears riding mower, and an employee goes to mow the lawn every week. I decide to tune up the mower, and find that one of the rockers fell out, and one cylinder is not working. So I put the pushrod back, adjust the valve clearance, tune the motor (spark plugs were caked with carbon), etc. Now the mower runs but smokes like a forest fire. I think the rings are all frozen, that's my guess. I was going to do a compression check and leakdown hopefully next weekend.

[mikester]

Have you tried draining the gas you have in the tank? If you're using gas with ethanol in it and it sits for a bit, especially in unsealed lawn mower gas tanks it will start to absorb water.

Then; as you start your mowing session you might add some new gas or it quits and you figure it needs gas so you add some. That makes things better for a bit but that old water holding gas is still in there. The mower might run but it'll run like crap. At some point the old gas will absorb so much water it won't run at all and it'll appear milky white. Your symptoms sound like you should drain the tank and check.

If it comes out with a bit of milky white liquid from the bottom of the tank (which is where the pickup is) then I bet with a 100% fresh tank of gas you'll be good to do with a mower as good as new.

[slakjaw]

I bet it's a solvent. I dunno. When I used to have a lawn, I'd run the mower and put my palm over the carb a few times to suck crap out of the carb at the beginning of the year. Maybe try that?

[Rick V]

There is an easy trick to not having these issues. When you are done with the last cutting of the season run the gas completely out, then add staybil to the tank and turn it over until you know the carb is full. Next spring add fresh gas and crank until the gas gets into the carb and it will fire right up.
As for mechanic in a bottle...............no clue

[Tobra]

I always run stabil in my lawnmowers and such. On cars I will tend to run it in the weekend/infrequent driver.

[rusnak]

Not to hijack, but do you guys burn off your Stabil/ gas mix, or drain the tank? How much do you fill the tank with Stabil gas - half full or full?

[Rick V]

Burn it out. In the 911 I add the correct amount of stabil in the amount recommended for the amount of gas I put it.