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Murray Lawn Mowers

Murray Lawn Mowers • Self-propelled models • Belt failure • Riding models • Push models • Gas leaks • Other problems • Murray Defenders ---- • 2003 Lawn tractor recall • 2002 Lawn tractor recall

Few things are as infuriating as a lawn mower that doesn't work. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case with many of the Murray mowers we hear about. Whether it's flimsy plastic gears, poorly-designed belts or gas leaks, the inexpensive Murrays seem to have more than their share of problems, as the complaints in this section indicate.

But wait ... there is another side to the story, and it comes from Ben of Frederick MD (8/19/05):
I am the owner of a small engine business and am not partial to any brand. I work on all small engines as well as sell every name available. I was appalled at the ignorance of your writers in your complaints on Murray lawn equipment. Most of the complaints were not against Murray at all, but more of the individual stores they got them from. If you have a problem with Wal-Mart�s customer service, that is not Murray�s fault, take it up with Wal-Mart.

As far as recalls go, every big name company has them, it is important to check them and know them, if your equipment has been recalled Murray always handles things properly if the CUSTOMER does. If you do what they instruct you to do (such as call them to make an appointment at an authorized shop) they will take care of you -- Murray�s customer service is impeccable compared with some of the others on the market.

The other thing is most of the complaints are direct result of a user failure. If you do not follow your instructions on simple operating procedures you will break something. As far as the woman with the blown motor �squirting oil� I can explain that. I do not even need to see the tractor to tell you what is wrong. This person put too much oil in the motor to start with. Then found it nearly imposable to start. This is because there was oil in places not meant to have that kind of pressure causing it to have back pressure in the crankcase.

Then when the person at the (I believe it was Wal-Mart) store did get it started, it blew oil everywhere, because there was nowhere else for the oil to go. The Wal-Mart man then proceeded to tell her (in his ignorance also) that the motor was �blown.� Then when she took it to a real dealer they set it aside on the basis of �this is an irate person that needs to cool down and doesn�t know anything about this situation.�

The other possibility is, depending on how long it was run with the overfilled oil, the motor could have actually had internal damage caused by the excess oil. This explains the wait, major work takes time. In short, your �consumers� had many complaints yes, but only a few of them were legitimate and even those were often misdirected.

Here are a few of the more recent complaints:

Kurt of Metairie, LA March 23, 2009

Kurt of Metairie LA (03/23/09)
I bought a Murray lawn mower at my home depot store. The motor runs perfect, and it always starts on the first pull. However, the pushing of the mower started getting harder and harder. To my surprise, the entire deck was cracked in half. This was a relatively new mower, and I live down south where there is no salt on the roads. Now I have to buy a new deck for the thing and transfer the engine. It is March of 2009 as of the posting of this. When I went to the murray web site and typed in my serial number, it said (murray, mfg 2006). So if you buy a murray, expect it to last about 3 years. next time I will but a honda. Thank God MTD yard machines does not manufacture cars. they might split in half on the highway. I always knew the bikes were a piece of junk as a kid, but made this stupid purchase which i will never do again.

could not cut my dad's grass and the parish fined him almost 600. and I have to buy a new deck and take the time out to replace the mower engine. causing me more lost time.

Billy of Marietta, GA February 27, 2009

Billy of Marietta GA (02/27/09)
Bought From Home Depot 900.00. Not Only do they have problems with the gas tanks...there is a problem with the Carburators them also (which are no longer manufactored)..This carburator was a deffect from the begining. There has been alot of reports of no start and engines going bad. I beleive the problem is the carburator shutoff needle. This needle does not turn the gas off inside the caburator.

Allowing the gas to continue to flow...fill the engine up with gas and hydrolocking. If you are able to start this mower, there is a great chance the gas filled engines oil will be broken down and have no oil protection to the moving parts inside that require oil for lubercation to function. This procces will wash the cylinder wall out (no compression) and the engine bearings. I'm sure murray has contacted all the service centers on this matter. They have a new designed replacement carburator for 140.00..(wow.... how much would this recall cost murray?...millions)I beleive murray needs to step up and have their vender and along with murray take responability for this problem.

Pauline of Baltimore, MD November 10, 2008

Pauline of Baltimore MD (11/10/08)
I was mowing my lawn yesterday and my Murray Tractor Mower caught fire. Model 4050008XB The firemen thought that some leaves had got near the hot engine and caught fire! I got off the mower in time before it burst into flames. My shoe got stuck but managed to get it off! got I'm glad the tractor wasn't near the house as the flames were very high (it had a tank of gasoline). I did read on the Governemnt site that this mower had a recall a couple of years ago but not because of the fuel tank. I was not informed by Murray that this had a recall even though we registered the product!

The mower was burnt severely.

Allan of Newark, TX October 25, 2008

Allan of Newark TX (10/25/08)
I to have a Murray rider 2000 14hp 42 cut lawn tractor and I agree you ether need some basic mechanical ability to assemble a machine of any kind and even then a mechanic has enough sense to reeed the repair manual or at lest the owners manual. I also mowed 4 1/2 acres of ground once a week be for I moved to my new place and jest got threw mowing 2 acres where the man with the 60brush hog and 40horse tractor said could not be mowed with out a hitch.

Shawn of Lititz, PA September 29, 2008

Shawn of Lititz PA (09/29/08)
I purchased the same model Murray Select, 42-inch cut Riding Mower as many other complaints list. FROM THE FIRST DAY, the mower backfired on quick idle adjustment- deceleration- and certainly after every time it was turned off. Matters eventually got worse, so that ANY deceleration with the throttle resulted in a backfire. The backfire is so severe that the exhaust spews 12 flames. (A SEVERE fire and explosion hazard, considering where the mower could be used near dry materials, or is stored near flammables or other chemicals.)

ALSO, from the FIRST DAY following PROPER assembly, (I am a manufacturing engineer by profession, and to say I am familiar with mechanical assembly is a huge understatement,) the grass would not cut level. I have re-leveled, (according to their instructions, and logical methods,) the mowing deck- and it made no improvement. The screws NEVER hold adjustment. The cut itself is incomplete: I have NEVER had an entire swath of grass cut where there wasn't a line of uncut grass.

I'm selling it as fast as I can for as reasonable a price as my conscious can handle. Before something like that happens. I, also, will NEVER buy another Murray product.

The yard would often have to be re-mowed at right angles to eliminate as much of the un-cut grass as possible. Damage was caused EVERY TIME the unit was used to cut grass because of its incessant scalping in turns. EVERY time I went to use this piece of garbage, I had to pump up EVERY tire. Waste of money, waste of time (since it took twice as long to cut as with other mowers, even at half the width,) and waste of electricity to run the stupid air compressor every time I needed to cut the lawn.

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