[andyf75]

Hi,
we inherited an old petrol mower from the people who used to live in our house. Its about 20yrs old a Sterling cylone with Tecumseh engine, which seems to be quite obscure as not much mention of it on google. Its just died on me and will not start. I'm not mechanically minded but have had a look and there appears to be oil in it, the air filter is dirty but not ridiculously clogged, spark plug is kind of sooty so may be a problem, but what can I try next?

does anyone know if this is a decent mower? trying to work out whether its worth getting someone to have a look or whether to get a new one.

[joyfull]

i have moved your post over to here so hopefully somebody will be able to help you 

[shedmeister]

I think you will find that the engine is a Vantage 35. One of the problems with this engine is the engine brake and cut off switch. Check to see if you have a spark. if not it is probably the cut off switch or the cable.
A  quick way to check this is to remove the petrol tank and the recoil unit. You can then see the coil. There is a single thin wire that is connected to the coil with a spade clip. Disconect this wire and check again for a spark.
If there is now a spark then the fault is proven.
If you have a multi meter do a continuity test by attaching one probe to the spade clip and the other to a good earth. move the brake lever mechanism as far as it will go. this should break the continuity. If it does then the cable will need adjustment. If not the switch will be shot. unless you have a flywheel puller this can be a sod to replace.
You can run the engine with the wire off the coil but it is not something I would recomend as there will be no auto kill on the engine and you would need to shut the engine off when empying the grass box wich could be very unfriendly to fingers if you did not.