How To Fix a Stuck or Frozen Lawnmower Pull Cord (EASY)

Sometimes, it really is a simple fix. Often, a frozen or stuck pull cord for a lawnmower is due to a blocked blade. In this case, the rear debris shield was inadvertently pulled under the cutting deck. A rock or grass accumulation can also block the blade. Be sure to disconnect the spark plug when freeing the blade.
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[jamesdavies]

Thanks for the video. My son told me the chord was stuck for our mower. I quickly watched your vid, fixed the problem, and now my son thinks I know things.

[PMSnapper]

I looked under the mower and didn't see obstructions. Saw your video and followed the directions and guess what? It works!! YEA!! Thanks!!

[Rileygirl]

That was awesome! I am a 77-year-old woman who changed the oil and air filter on my lawnmower today for the first time ever and cleaned it up so it looks like it was new. Then I couldn’t pull the cord. UGG. I am immediately thought, “oh no, what did I do?” I quickly found your solution and 30 seconds later my mower was up and running beautifully. I am so grateful. Thank you

[lamace]

thanks this helped if i didn’t watch this i wouldn’t know how to fix it nd my dad would beat me

[crystalwhitaker]

Thank you so much for this video. I never had a father in my life to teach me things. Also I’m a single mother, and have to figure out everything by myself. After watching this video… I seen all the grass piled up and stuck between the blades. I’m so thankful you did this video! God bless you!❤

[kiwisue]

Thanks, 68 y/o wimpy, unhandy woman now feels a little sassy because this worked. Actually not the debris shield, but lots of debris. I’m now a subscriber.

[erniemartin]

My lawnmower was doing the same thing, it turned out to be dried grass under the deck. Thank you for your video, it’s save me a trip to the repair shop!

[LifeDIY]

Thank you! For anyone reading - one other cause will be some crusty old chunks of grass on the bottom of the mower. Getting rid of that solved my issue.

[nilimit]

Debris = correct! Saved my grass cutting (and Neighbors watching) in less than a minute, thank you!

[dant]

I was ready to go and buy a new lawnmower. I watched another video on how to fix the pull string, but realized that was not the issue. After watching your video, I looked at the underside of the mower and realized it had quite a bit of built up hardened grass and dirt... A simple cleaning and the mower worked as good as it did. Thank you so much for the information.

[angelikast]

I'm a woman trying to start this thing. 😅 So I came looking for this video. Now I know and I can pass over the education. Thank you 👍🏻

[dithyrambicjackdaw]

I was at my wit's end, about to completely give up. My husband passed away just a few weeks ago and he had always performed the lawn care. In point of fact, owned a lawn care business for many years. I now do those chores. The lawnmower pull cord was totally frozen today and I had no clue what to do until I happened on your video. While it was a bit of a different problem (clippings were clogged underneath and impeded the blade), your video gave me insight on how to resolve the issue. Success! Thank you so much!!

[Hag_of_Fangorn]

Okay, so I just had to troubleshoot and repair my washing machine last week after not being able to find anyone to help me. Many calls, many attempts, many tears. Ordered a door lock part, put it in and fixed! Yay me! Mowed the lawn today. Towards the end I ran out of gas. Refilled and went to start and Oh no! Cord won't budge! After the breakdown last week I was not mentally prepared for this. Had a shower, a drink, and then got to figuring out what's wrong the same way I did with the washer- YouTube! This was the first video I watched. I paused when you turned the mower on its side and went out to do the same thing. It was all clumped with grass. Cleared the grass and now works. This was the super easy fix I didn't know I could be blessed with! Thank you!!!

[debbie]

Thank you so much! My Big Brother used to work with small engines lawnmowers, carburetor's and such.
He passed away last year. I'm living in his house and when things like this happen, I just tell him I need him back. I know that's not going to happen but I want to do the best I can to take care of his property. Things like this are really hard because if he were here, it would be working. I called a lawnmower repair guy. I think he was a competitor of my Brother's business. He told me the mower was junk because it seized up. Wasn't friendly either. I guess he was mad because the city we live in picked my brother to work on their small engines. My brother was in a wheelchair but he didn't let disability define who he was. I miss my brother terribly as you can tell. I'm going to go check the lawnmower out like you said. And disconnect the sparkplug first. My brother drilled that into me. I miss him a lot as you can tell.
Thank you. EDIT: Well, it wasn't what you said but if I hadn't turned it over I never would have seen a LOT of dry grass was holding the blade in place and it wouldn't turn. I cleaned all the dry grass out, connected the spark plug. And it STARTED! Thank You Thank You THANK YOU!

[karenbuller-linkee]

I hadn't started the mower in a long time. My husband is out of state. His go to suggestion when he doesn't know exactly what the problem is, is "YouTube it". This was exactly the problem and the solution. I barely got my hands dirty. Thanks for the help. Sometimes the easiest solution is the hardest to see.

[elijahoutdoors]

Oh my gosh thank you for the video! I’m 13 and trying to start a lawn mowing business mine wouldn’t pull and turned out a stick kept it from moving you helped tremendously

[paminmiss]

I have very little knowledge about lawn mowers, so when my mower cord wouldn't pull, I decided to check out youtube and saw your video. I was shocked when I saw the amount of buildup underneath my mower! I cleaned it out really good, flipped it back over, gave it a couple of pulls and IT CRANKED like a Thank you so much for this video! I only wish I had seen the video BEFORE I weed ate the yard this afternoon!! Thanks, again!

[calmingeveningbreezecreati]

👍Thank you. This is the BEST video. Dried grass build up underneath, kept the blades from moving. Cleaned, works great .

[stevereedatx]

Cool, my daughter was mowing the lawn and the mower ran out of gas. She put more gas in but when she went to start it up, there was a ton of wet grass underneath that jammed the blade as she tried to do her first pull. Clearing out the wet grass fixed the problem instantly.

[salinity]

First time mowing this season and the cord was stuck. Turned the mower over and there was dried caked on grass to remove.Afterwards, started like a charm. Thanks for your help!!!