You’ve pulled your lawn mower’s cord, and it won’t retract. But maybe it wasn’t your mower; instead, it was your chainsaw or your weed eater. Is there a difference? Well, the cords on all these machines work pretty much in the same way, and they also all break in the same way.
So, what’s going on? In short, the recoil starter has a problem. Recoil starters are small devices with many smaller parts that all work together to get your lawn mower started. As a result, none of them will work if there’s a problem with one of the parts. So, let’s inspect your recoil starter and see why your lawn mower pull cord is not retracting.
Fixing a Pull Start that Won’t Retract (The Short Explanation)
Inside the recoil starter on your lawn mower, you’ll find the recoil spring, rotor pulley, and a pair of pawls. Unfortunately, either of these parts can jam or break, resulting in your lawn mower recoil starter not retracting. Breakdowns in any of these parts can stem from general wear and tear, dirt in the mechanism, or failure of the components.
Possible Reasons Why Your Mower Cord Won’t Retract
As you can see, there are several components within a recoil starter. So, it could be that more than one part is at fault. To resolve your starter issues, you’ll need to investigate and pin down the part or parts that are faulty. Let’s take a look at the potential causes.
Broken Rotor Pulley
Within the recoil starter, you’ll find the rotor pulley. The rotor pulley is the round disc the pull cord wraps around. Sometimes, the pulley can crack and break, creating an obstruction that prevents the pulley from turning. A quick way to tell if this has happened is to remove the recoil starter from your lawn mower’s engine and take a look.
Jammed Pawls
Two small pawls connect the recoil starter to the top of the flywheel. These two little lugs are often made of plastic and catch the flywheel when you pull the cord and then retract once you let go of the cord. The pawls move in and out with centrifugal force and need to be unobstructed and free to move.
So, if they break, they can jam up the recoil starter and prevent the cord from retracting. To diagnose the pawls, remove the recoil starter from the engine and take a look.
Clogged-Up Recoil Starter
As I mentioned before, the recoil starter sits on top of the flywheel. Now, if you look closely at the cooling fins on top of the flywheel, you will notice that they have a habit of getting covered in grass clippings and dirt.
Unfortunately, some clippings and dirt work their way into the back of the recoil starter. This debris can sometimes stop the cord from going back into its housing. Usually, it will sort itself out with a couple of pulls.
To fix it, remove the recoil starter from your lawn mower and give the cord a couple of pulls if there is enough cord on the pulley, or try turning the pulley by hand.
Broken Recoil Spring
A recoil spring is a wound and thin piece of metal that, once tightened or wound around a pulley, generates a force. This force is needed to retract the cord. The natural reaction of the coiled spring is to unravel.
So, the longer a spring sits tightened or wound, the more it loses its force as it starts to take the shape it is coiled in. This loss of force is one reason recoil starters don’t always work as well as a new spring.
To fix this, you’ll have to adjust the tension to get an old recoil spring to work. Sometimes, the problem is that the hooks at either end of the spring are broken or bent. The ends can bend when too much tension is placed on the spring or there is too much cord wound on the pulley.
Basically, when you pull the cord, it will pull the spring beyond its breaking point. Ideally, you should run out of cord before you run out of spring. So, remove the spring housing from the recoil starter and check the spring.
It will be obvious if there is a problem with the spring, as it will either be tangled inside the housing or it will have bent hooks at either end. The spring can rust together in really bad cases, and you’ll probably have to replace it.
How to Fix a Pull Start That Won’t Retract (Do This)
I’m going to go over 4 different solutions on how to fix a pull start that won’t retract and will cover the different parts of your starter. One of these fixes should get your recoiler starter up and running again. Let’s take a look.
Cleaning out the Recoil Starter
If nothing is visibly wrong with your recoil starter, try spraying the mechanism with WD-40 and an airline. Blasting out some dirt and lubricating the moving parts might be all you need to do. I always like to start with this method if nothing stands out as an obvious issue.
Tools & Materials to Clean a Recoil Starter
- WD-40
- Air Line / Compressor
Replacing the Pawls
If you look at the center underside of the recoil starter, you’ll see a round metal disc held in place with a bolt. Use a nut driver to remove this bolt, then lift off the metal disc. Now you have access to the two pawls. To replace the pawls, lift them out of the rotor pulley and insert new ones, then replace the metal disc and bolt. There is really nothing to this fix, and you should be able to complete the whole job from start to finish in ten or fifteen minutes.
Tools & Parts to Replace Lawn Mower Pawls
- Nut Driver
- Replacement Pawls
Replacing the Rotor Pulley
Unfortunately, this next fix is not as simple. You’ll have to completely dismantle the entire recoil starter mechanism to replace the rotor pulley. So, here are the steps to follow if your lawn mower cord won’t retract because of a broken or damaged rotor pulley.
Remove the Rope
The first task is to remove the cord from the rotor pulley so that you can install it onto your replacement pulley. So, use a small hook like a screwdriver and fish the cord from between the pulley and the recoil housing. These are the areas where the cord comes out of the starter mechanism and to the handle.
Next, when you have the cord hooked, unwind the cord from the pulley, so all that is left is the knot in the cord attached to the pulley. Then take a pair of scissors and cut off the knot. If you’re good with knots, you could try to remove the knot, but I find a pair of scissors much easier.
Finally, remove the cord and handle from the starter mechanism.
Remove the Center Bolt, Disc, & Pawls
Next, use your nut driver to remove the center bolt holding the metal/plastic disc in place. Then, lift off the disc and remove the two pawls. You can set these parts aside for later.
Remove the Rotor Pulley
Next, lift the rotor pulley from the housing and flip it over. You will find the recoil spring here. Now, if you do this carefully, the spring should stay coiled inside the pulley. At least, this is what you are aiming for. Recoiling the spring is a real pain.
Remove the Recoil Spring
To remove the spring, grab a pair of pliers, like a pair of needle nose pliers, and grip the spring so that you have hold of the inside coil, outside coil, and all the inner coils. Then pull the spring from the old pulley.
Swap Out the Rotor Pulley & Install the Recoil Spring
Next, with the spring still held in your pliers, transfer the spring into the new pulley. Make sure you line the spring’s outer hook with the new pulley. To prevent any confusion during the transfer, I recommend you study your pulleys first to see how and where to position the spring. The last thing you want to do is install the spring backward and end up having to redo the repair.
Install the Rotor Pulley
Now that the spring is installed and positioned correctly, you can position the pulley back on the housing.
Install the Pawls
Next, take the two pawls you previously removed, install them back into the pulley, and ensure they move freely.
Instal the Disc & Center Bolt
Now, grab the center bolt and the disc and install them back on the pulley using your nut driver.
Test the Spring
Once you have the bolt and disc installed, you can go ahead and give the mechanism a try. So, turn the pulley counterclockwise to put tension on the spring, then let go of the pulley. If you installed everything correctly, then the pulley should spin under the force of the spring.
Set the Recoil Tension of the Spring & Rope
One really important step in how to fix a pull start that won’t retract is setting the correct tension on the cord. If it’s too loose, then the cord won’t retract, and if it’s too tight, you could end up damaging the spring. Therefore getting the tension just right is super important.
So, turn the rotor pulley in the housing until you feel you can’t turn the pulley anymore, meaning the spring is fully tight. Then back off the pulley until both the hole in the pulley and the housing line up. By backing off the pulley, you loosen the spring just a little bit, so you don’t damage the spring.
Attach the Cord
Now it’s time to reinstall the cord and handle. So, line up the cord hole in the pulley with the hole in the housing, then thread the cord. With the cord threaded through both holes, tie a small knot to the end of the rope. You’ll need to make sure the knot is tight and small, so it doesn’t come loose or obstruct the pulley.
If you have any excess cord where you tied the knot, then I suggest cutting it off using your scissors. Just remember to keep hold of the pulley, so the spring doesn’t unravel.
Release the Pulley
With the cord securely installed, you can let go of the pulley. You’ll find that the tension in the spring will release and take up the slack in the cord as if it were being pulled. If everything is right, you should be able to pull the handle as much as you want, and the spring should keep pulling the cord back in.
If the spring doesn’t pull the cord in fully, then you might need more tension on the spring, or you have a cord that is too long. Check your owner’s manual and see how long your cord should be.
Install the Recoil Start onto the Lawn Mower
The final step is to reinstall the recoil starter mechanism on your lawn mower and try it. Hopefully, this fix has you back up and running.
Tools & Parts to Replace a Recoil Starter Rotor Pulley
- Hook / Small Screwdriver
- Scissors
- Nut Driver
- Pliers / Needle Nose Pliers
Replacing the Recoil Spring
You’ll need to follow the steps above to replace the recoil starter. The only difference is that you’ll replace the spring, not the rotor pulley. So, you’ll need to follow all the same steps, use the same tools as before, and follow the same tensioning method.
Just take your time because if you lose grip on the spring, you’ll have to try to coil it back up, which can take a lot of patience and time. So, patience is key.
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