Mower will not pull itself, problem started suddenly.

That's going to be expensive. You will need to take it to a shop unless you have a lot of specialty tools. Example : hydraulic flow tester and a very good understanding of hydraulics

Something just like this happened earlier this year with my pressure washer. This is what I did to fix it and now it runs great. Check the oil. If it's black or feels the least bit tacky, drain a pint or two of the oil out and re-add that amount of Marvel Mystery Oil. Now, attempt to pull the cord all the way out, but slowly at first. It should get easier to pull after about 5 pulls. If the mower restarts, let it run for 10 minutes until the Mystery Oil is hot and has cycled around inside the engine. Then drain that oil and refill it with a quality brand of oil. To top it off, either clean or replace the air filter, and put a shotglass of Lucas gas & injector cleaner into the mower's full gas tank. I also do this to my lawnmower and weedeater. It works wonders. BTW...If you're unable to turn the engine over by pulling the cord, remove the spark plug and tilt the mower up, so you can turn the blade easily by hand (use gloves). BUT FIRST MAKE SURE THAT SPARK PLUG IS REMOVED. REMEMBER... SAFETY FIRST! Let us know if this helped you any.

Is the motor itself locked up?

Take the plug wire off the engine, so it CANNOT start, then tip up the mower, and try to slowly rotate the blade. Maybe the mower deck is clogged with grass clippings, and is causing the blade to bind. If so, then clean the deck. Or, the blade could be bent, causing it to bind. If so, then remove the blade and replace with a new one. If niether of these conditions exist, and you cannot rotate the motor by hand, then the motor is locked up, and is destroyed, and it is time to buy a new mower.

The cost of repairing this condition, in this machine, is just not worth it.

Hi.
Check the blade... it is bent and causes a vibration. if it is not the blade then the motor shaft is bent and that is terminal...if that happened then the mower is junk...

heatman101

About the first thing I would do is to pull the plug lead(s), tilt the mower up (resting it on something solid) and see if the motor shaft could be turned at all. I suspect you initial thought that it is locked up is correct.

pull the tank first and inspect. if u still find nothing, you might want to check your coil

Sounds like your mower has a safety mechanism that has locked up. On your push handle is a bar that must be pulled back in order to pull start cord, it has a cable that goes to the safety brake, check the cable to the safety brake on the flywheel, it may be broke. If it isn't in the safety brake itself, try spraying the cable with WD-40 as this may free it up. Or the cable may need replacing from wear. To check this pull back on the handle and watch the on the side of the engine where this cable attaches, if it is moving on the side of the engine then this cable won't be the problem. In this case it most likely will be the safety brake itself that's the problem. Do not remove the safety brake if under warranty as this will void your warranty.

I have no idea if your problem is related to mine, but my B&D electric mower did the same. The cord worked on other equipment so wasn't a bad cord. It turned out I had to get a higher amp cord for the mower. Why it worked for a while on the other cord I don't know but I've had no further problems with it. The cord was expensive though.

there should be 4 safeties, 1 under the seat, 1 for the deck, 1 at the direction select lever,and 1 on the brake pedal. how old is the machine, you may want to look underneath to see if some linkage came apart.

Need to remove carberator bowl nut and bowl and activate float to smell new gas coming thru,stuck mostlikey due to storage.

Please rate. Thanks. jj505