How To Repair A Lawn Mower Engine
In this instructable I will show you how to repair a lawn mower engine, and how to finally kill those gremlins which have been lurching in its bowels. Of course there is now way I can tell you every single problem that could happen to your engine, so I will tell you the major parts of the engine, and how to repair them. I am not a trained mechanic. What I have learned comes from years of reading, and much trial and error. Hopefully from that I can teach you how to become more of an independent person, and maybe save you a few bucks
Your Lawn Mower Engine’s Spark Plug
- Always disconnect the spark plug when tipping your mower on its side. To avoid internal oil spillage in 4-stroke mowers, ensure the spark plug faces upwards to avoid dousing it in fuel. Ensure that the mower is drained or low on fuel and lawn mower oil to avoid spills. You may need to tip your mower to remove or replace blades which can be done during a lawn mower service.
Sharpen Your Lawn Mower Blades
Lets face it other than that guy or gal across the street nobody has a perfect lawn .
Because nobodys yards are perfect and most are filled with rocks, roots, sticks, and other hard, blunt objects, your mowers blades can take a beating. They endure a lot of stress, especially during peak mowing season.
It is important to keep your mowers blades sharp.
Dull lawn mower blades rip and tear the grass instead of cutting it, causing damage to your mower and to your lawn. Learning to sharpen your lawn mower blades will make a huge difference in your lawns performance.
Plus its super satisfying to learn and do. It was one of my favorite steps when first learning how to service a lawn mower.
If you are not handy, I recommend hiring a professional to help sharpen your lawn mower blades.
Some people use a metal file to sharpen their lawn mowers blades and others use an angle grinder. Doing this improperly can be dangerous. You could damage your mower, so gauge for yourself whether or not this is for you.
I found it pretty easy to master and I find it relaxing and fun. But I also have a blog about lawn care, so I may not be speaking for the masses.
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Riding Mower Repair Service
If youre looking for riding lawn mower repair and lawn tractor repair, Sears Home Services can help. From Poulan to Craftsman riding mowers, were your best option for quick, and easy local service and repair of your riding lawn mower or tractor. Weve done hundreds of thousands of lawn equipment repairs, so you can count on the small engine repair experts from Sears to identify the problem and know the solution.
Servicing Your Lawn Mower
- Conduct a full service on your mower through a Victa Gold Dealer in accordance with your service booklet.
- A lawn mower service involves changing parts such as the oil, spark plug, air filter & blades etc whereas maintenance is where you check parts such as the oil level, clean the air filter check the blades and other minor checks.
- Check our service page for more information
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Check The Condition Of The Starter Recoil Rope
Check the condition of the starter recoil rope. If it looks frayed you may want to replace it.
This is not too difficult to do.
Most people wonder how much starter rope they will need to replace the old one and also how to do the repair at home.
Its fairly straightforward but having a clamp can be useful.
You can read a detailed article here.
Heres a video of how to replace a lawnmower pull cord.
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Beyond Lawn Mower Maintenance: More Helpful Information
- Always use genuine spare parts to safeguard your warranty and to ensure safety standards and performance levels are optimised.
Find everything you need to service your lawn mower engine in your Briggs & Stratton engine with the new Engine Service Kits. Briggs & Stratton Engine Service Kits make basic lawn mower maintenance quick and easy with your new oil, spark plug, air filter and fresh start fuel preserver all in the one kit. These kits are available from Victa Gold Dealers and selected retailers. Once your lawn mower is tuned up, it’s time to get back to manicuring that healthy yard.
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Tips For Lawn Mower Maintenance
Many people opt to take their mowers to a professional for lawn mower service at the beginning or end of the mowing season, but plenty of people perform their own maintenance. Caring for a lawn mower can be a messy and time-consuming process, but its a necessary evil. Lawn Doctor can provide you with lawn mower maintenance services in your area.* However, if you decide to care for your lawn mower yourself, follow these tips to help you succeed:
Air Filter Service Small Engine Foam Air Filter Material
The air filter on your lawn mower should be rinsed out or replaced every 2 years. To clean an air filter rinse it in a bucket of warm soapy water and fully dry in the sun but only the sponge type of filters. Spray it down with air filter oil. You can also use regular motor oil on your air filter but dont use too much or it will impede airflow. Squeeze out the excess, you only need a fine coating.
Some lawn mowers use a cartridge air filter. These will need to be thrown out and replaced every 2 years or earlier if used in dusty areas.
Making a foam air filter
Most lawnmowers use a universal air filter. These are easy to make from a thick piece of foam sponge. It is the same foam used for washing your car. Use the filter housing as a template and use a sharp knife to cut around the edges. They are great small engine foam air filter material.
Then trace out the center hole for the carburetor intake. I used a 30mm hole punch but you can cut these out with scissors or a sharp knife.
Make sure it all fits and then coat the DIY air filter with some air filter oil or use the same engine oil as your lawnmower. Congratulations you just saved yourself some money.
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Lawn Mower Service & Repair Newmarket
We provide lawn mower service for EVERY lawn mower that we sell. We also provide services for chainsaws, hedge trimmers, line trimmers, and more. Whether you need regular maintenance or extensive repairs, our certified technicians are able to handle all of your service needs. Bring your power equipment to Markham Mower, where your lawnmower will be repaired by a team that knows speed and quality can never be compromised.
How To Give Your Lawn Mower A Service
Whilst we know that it is important to have our cars serviced regularly, we usually forget the importance of giving our lawn mowers a service.
Looking after your lawn mower can be an important part in caring for your lawn as well. Without your lawn mower performing at its best, your lawn can end up with inconsistent heights, be torn rather than cut, contaminated with weeds and other grass varieties, and even go unmown if you are unable to get the mower started when it is needed.
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Lawn Mower Maintenance Tips
Keeping your lawn mower in excellent working condition is a big part of maintaining a beautiful, healthy lawn, and its also key to ensuring your lawn mower will last as long as possible approximately 10-15 years. Performing regular maintenance on your lawn mower, particularly its engine, will extend your lawn mowers life and help it work its best all season long.
You can either tune-up your lawn mower yourself or hire a lawn mower service expert to take care of it professionally. Either way, lawn mower maintenance is something that should be done at least once a year and will only take a few hours to complete. Use this guide to learn how to properly maintain your lawn mower and extend its life.
Tighten All Your Lawnmower Handles
Be sure to tighten all possible parts of the lawnmower handles especially where the handle connects to the lawnmower cutting deck.
Having loose handles can put more strain on the deck and eventually cause the weld on the deck to split.
Take a few minutes to tighten everything up. I often find after a full cutting season these parts have started to make there way loose!
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Change The Spark Plug Annually
Replace lawn mower spark plugs once a year, such as at the beginning of mowing season.
- Disconnect the spark plug wire and then remove the existing spark plug with a wrench or pliers.
- To ensure you purchase the right replacement plug, write down the code on your existing plug, consult your mowers owners manual or just take the old plug with you when you go to purchase a new one.
- Screw in the new plug and reconnect the spark plug wire.
Seasonal Lawn Mower Maintenance
- Change your blades once a year for maximum performance and reduced mowing time.
- For 4-stroke mowers, change the oil at least once year. Changing the oil involves draining the old oil, replacing the oil filter and then re-filling with new oil, an essential part of lawn mower maintenance.
- 4-stroke mowers also need their oil levels checked before use and topped up if necessary as insufficient oil can lead to engine seizure.
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Clean The Cooling Fins
Im often asked by my youtube subscribers why does my lawnmower cut out after a few minutes when it gets hot.
Most lawnmowers have cooling fins on and with poor maintenance, they all become clogged.
Remove the starter recoil cover and take a look around at the cooling fins. Remove any dirt with a stiff brush or an air compressor.
When engines overheat they stop working. Having clogged cooling fins causes this to happen a lot.
Lawn Mower Cable Repair
Poorly connected and broken cables are among the most common reasons why your machine isn’t starting up. If possible, try not to fix it on your own to save costs. Getting an expert to repair your lawn mower cables is a more practical choice as they can get it done quickly and efficiently with fewer risks to count.
If a poor connection causes the problem, your Tasker can do some cable tuning, twisting, or brushing. If they have fully snapped and are no longer repairable, then a new cable replacement might be a better call.
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Key Lawn Mower Maintenance Tips
Like any machine lawn mowers have parts and equipment that require regular maintenance to improve and maximise strength and performance.
Ideally, lawn mower maintenance should be performed throughout summer and spring and in preparation for the winter off season.
myhomeTURF recommends that to maintain a productive lawn mower, a full service by a professional once a year is advised or in accordance with your mowers service booklet.
A lawn mower service involves changing parts such as the oil, spark plug, air filter and blades, whereas maintenance is where you check parts such as the oil level, clean the air filter check the blades and other minor checks.
Please note that depending on the make and model of your lawn mower, the following steps and information within this article may not be consistent with your lawn mower.
Cleaning and storing
One of the most important bits of advice we can give you is to make sure that after use, always clean your lawn mower.
This can be done using the wash hole on the lawn mowers chassis, which helps prevent rust and ensures that you extend the life of your mower.
Also, always store your lawn mower under cover and keep debris off the wheels and corners.
Engines spark plug
If ever you tip your lawn mower onto its side always disconnect the spark plug.
You may need to tip your mower to remove or replace blades which can be done during a lawn mower service.
Seasonal maintenance
For 4-stroke lawn mowers, change the oil at least once year.
How To Change A Lawn Mower Spark Plug
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Clean Or Repair The Air Filter
This tip is super quick and easy, however, its incredibly important. The last repair you really want to do is service the carburettor.
The air filter is designed to catch any dirt to eliminate this happening. You can clean an air filter using some old fuel and once dry smear a very light covering of oil on the outer side of a sponge filter.
Replacement is very cheap and my preferred option.
Lawn Mower Service & Repairs
Keep your mower running in tip top condition with an annual service at Haughton Power Equipment. It is our opinion there is nothing more satisfying than a lawn mower starting with little to no effort. None of us want to spend Saturday mornings arguing with the mower before giving up completely or hand balling the job to the eldest child.
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Drain And Clean The Petrol Tank
The best way to eliminate any problems with the carburettor is to make sure the petrol and petrol tank is clean.
Each year drain out all the remaining fuel at the end of the cutting season.
I like to remove the petrol tank from the lawnmower and, once dry blow it out with an air compressor or a can of compressed air.
This saves any rust, dirt or debris being transferred down the fuel lines and into the carburettor.
Annual Lawn Mower Maintenance Checklist
Use this checklist to make sure youre doing everything needed to keep your lawn mower running at its best:
- Change the oil
- Add fuel stabilizer to the fuel system, or remove all fuel from the mower if discontinuing mower use for more than 30 days
- Replace the spark plug
- Replace and clean the air filter
- Sharpen the lawn mower blades
- Balance the lawn mower blades
- Keep the mower clean
- Fog the engine
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Lawnmower Wont Start After Sitting For A While
If your lawn mower wont start after sitting for a while then it is usually caused by dirty old fuel. Empty the fuel from the lawnmower tank and replace it with fresh fuel. Clean the spark plug while you are at it for a strong fresh spark.
Check for spark by removing the spark plug and connecting it to the lead. Place the spark plug on the metal engine frame. Pull the starter cord a few times and look for a spark. I dont recommend holding onto the spark plug while pulling the cord as you will get a nice jolt.
Screw in the spark plug and tighten to the required torque. Make sure to prime the fuel by pressing the primer plunger a few times. It should start to firm up once it is primmed. Pull the cord a few times and then prime some more if it wont start.
I use a product called Stabil start your engine. It comes in a spray can and is like a high octane boost for your fuel and engine. Just spray it into your carburetor with the air filter off. I guarantee if you have a good spark, your lawnmower or whipper snipper will start right up.
How To Clean A Lawn Mower Carburetor
If your petrol lawn mowers engine isnt working properly, the carburetor jets may be clogged. Unscrew them with a screwdriver and clean them with a spray of WD-40® Specialist High-Performance PTFE Lubricant. Clear any obstructions with a carburetor cleaning brush and a spray of compressed air. When checking the carburetor, you should also check the state of the air filter as mentioned above.
Step 3
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Get To Know Your Lawn Mower
Knowing your lawn mower inside and out is a great way to ensure that you not only know how your lawn mower works, but that you know when your lawn mower isnt working correctly.
I recommend that you read your lawn mowers owners manual before using it and before storing it for long periods of time. It also might be a good idea to brush up every couple of years by leafing through it at the beginning of a new season.
If youre like me, you tend to forget things, especially things that arent on the top of your priority list. Reading your lawn mowers owners manual will ensure that you are able to take the best care of your lawn mower possible.
Its a great first step to protect your investment.
