Hi all, after an extended search to find out which type of engine I had on an old Poulan PXT22 mower, it took some digging and a Husqvarna rep was finally able to track down that it had a Rato 140 engine, and not a Briggs and Stratton like I originally thought. Does anyone own one of these and how good are they? I have used it since it was left with the house I ended up purchasing. I have done an oil change once a year and it seems to run okay, i havent touched the spark plug or air filter. I have replaced the mower blade last year. Do you all replace mower air filters regularly or not bother? I was thinking of changing out the filter.. but not sure I want to spend 15$ on a new one.. guessing the one it has is about 5-6 years old (might be as old as 9-10 years old) I will be replacing the spark plug this year and putting in some 10w30 oil per their manual. (I have used 5w30 syn HM last year with no issues). Anyone have one of these?
RATO small engines good, bad?
- Thread starter Rolla07
- Start date
Don't know anything about that brand engine, but in regard to the air filter--- is it a paper or oiled foam filter?
RATO is Chinese. They make a bajillion engines every year. I have a Harbor Freight predator 173cc push mower engine on a Toro Super Recycler. The Harbor Freight engine is made by RATO (says so right on the side)
It runs good, has good power, never given me any problems in 3 years. And should be pretty durable as it is a sort of copy of a Honda GX engine.
It runs good, has good power, never given me any problems in 3 years. And should be pretty durable as it is a sort of copy of a Honda GX engine.
Originally Posted by old1
Don't know anything about that brand engine, but in regard to the air filter--- is it a paper or oiled foam filter?
Square paper filter, I do not believe its oiled.
Don't know anything about that brand engine, but in regard to the air filter--- is it a paper or oiled foam filter?
Square paper filter, I do not believe its oiled.
I was surprised that a Poulan mower would come with a Rato engine... per my info its from 2010 approx...
I was going to say the same thing bubbatime did. They make the engines that Harbor Freight sells. I've used a bunch of them, and generally have a favorable opinion of them.
Check around on eBay and stuff for the air filter. Might get it cheaper, and use the plug to cross reference to NGK. The mower companies try to sell the Chinese made plugs for like 6 or 7 bucks each. Twice (or thrice) what you can usually get NGK for locally.
Check around on eBay and stuff for the air filter. Might get it cheaper, and use the plug to cross reference to NGK. The mower companies try to sell the Chinese made plugs for like 6 or 7 bucks each. Twice (or thrice) what you can usually get NGK for locally.
As to the air filter, my 173cc uses the very prevalent, and common Briggs and Stratton 491588s rectangular filter. There is also a Honda filter that cross references, and also a ton of off brand Chinese filters that fit that cost like $1 each.
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- Nov 14, 2020
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I know this message was a couple years old (or almost..) I landed on this site because I just bought a DR Power Lawn Vacuum that has a Rato 301 Motor on it. I've never started the thing, I just put the first 1.1 quarts of oil the engine has ever seen in it, and I'm looking for spare Air Filter and Spark plug. 100-years ago (or so it seems) I was a small engine mechanic in SoCal while in high school, and then when I was going to college in WA State, I again worked as a small engine mechanic, and taught small engine repair at the local Community College. I was absolutely floored by your questioning should you change the Air Filter, it could be 9 to 15 years old. These small engines, are single cylinder engines, they don't have 3, 5 or 7 other cylinders to help the engine "start" or stay running when one cylinder isn't working well. To add to that, a Briggs and Staton engine you can find parts for anywhere. I bet you can't say the same for these Rato engines. Back in the day, the most popular thing was "a tune up" back then they actually used Points and Condenser, long gone and thank god. But the #1 actual problem that made an engine a multi-pull start, versus a single pull was 1. Air Leak with the intake, 2. worn out valves and or valve guides. Easily 7 out of 10 engines we ground the valves and cut the seats with a Neway valve seat cutter, and probably 3 out of 10 we either knurled the valve guide, or bored the guide out and pressed in a brass valve guide and cut to size. The bottom line - 100% of this work could have been avoided if the owner cleaned the filter before EVERY use and replaced the filter frequently. I can assure you; it isn't the large dirt that ruins and engine, it's the really fine dust that acts like sane paper.
