Is your lawn mower broken? Don’t throw it away just yet! Save your money and try to save your mower.
Want to know how to fix your lawn mower? Read on to learn some simple tips.
Save Money by Saving
Your Equipment
A lawn mower is not cheap. It costs a few hundred dollars. So, if you have a damaged lawn mower, don’t throw it away just yet.
Even if you have money to burn, it’s just practical to save your lawn mower.
Why shouldn’t you?
The money you save from having to buy another lawn mower can best be used for something else.
Not only that, it’s a great teachable moment to share with your kids or the younger generation: Don’t waste money!
Plus
It’s also not great for the environment to throw away machines. You are just adding up to our waste and the world cannot cope with the tons of trash all over the world.
In fact, you should never throw away lawn mowers. You need to send it to a recycling facility because many parts of a lawn mower can still be reused and upcycled.
There’s another way
Since people are mostly on social media anway, why don’t you post about your old lawn mower and see if there is someone interested in buying it from you–damaged or not.
But if you can
Just muster a bit of time and energy to fix a damaged lawn mower. If you know the problem, chances are you will also know how to fix it.
There are various ways to repair a lawn mower and I will share with you some of the simple ones.
However
If they are too difficult to handle, then maybe you should send it to the professionals. But don’t send it without trying to fix it yet.
How to Fix Your Lawn Mower
So, how do you repair your lawn mower?
Before you start attempting to repair your lawn mower, you have to try to get to know the equipment.
Look
It’s going to be hard to try and fix it if you don’t know the parts that you have to fix. Also, you wouldn’t know where to check if you are not familiar with everything about the lawn mower, including what’s inside the housing.
Now, let’s start with the most common problem among lawn mower users:
Lawn mower won’t start
You’ve probably had this problem, too. Most people will realize that there is a problem when they start mowing again during spring.
Of course, during winter, there isn’t much to mow since most types of grasses hibernate during winter. Your lawn mower won’t have much use by then.
Surprise, surprise!
By the time you try to use it in the spring, it won’t turn on.
There are two major reasons why your lawn mower is not starting:
- There is clogging in the carburetor.
- There is stale fuel.
Let me elaborate
Left over a period of time without use, the fuel could go stale and enter the float bowl. In the same manner, it could cause a buildup at the carburetor and then it gets clogged.
So, what do you do?
You check out these parts, of course! That’s why I mentioned that it’s very important that you know the parts of the lawn mower.
Check out these steps:
1. Drain the fuel
There is no way to actually check if the fuel is stale. But if your lawn mower is not working, you just have to assume that it is.
Drain the old fuel from the float bowl and then replace it with a new one.
2. Add fuel stabilizer
Don’t start just yet!
Add a fuel stabilizer to the fresh fuel. This way, your fuel can be fresh for at least two years. It also slows the buildup in the carburetor.
3. Clean the carburetor
Again, just assume that your carburetor is clogged. If you don’t know, a carburetor is the part of the lawn mower that mixes air and fuel to conduct internal combustion.
There is a carburetor cleaner that you can just buy in your local home improvement retailer.
But if it is beyond cleaning, then you don’t have a choice but to buy a new carburetor. At least, you don’t have to buy a whole new lawn mower.
Here’s the deal
Eighty percent of the time, the reason why the lawn mower won’t start is because of the stale fuel and clogged carburetor.
However, if it is still not starting after you have refueled and cleaned the carburetor, then you have to move on to another suspect.
Spark plug
So maybe the problem is the spark plug. It could be dead.
This is a minor problem that can be easily solved. You could just buy a new spark plug. It’s not expensive at all.
Moving on
Lawn mower is not functioning well
If your lawn mower is actually starting but is not functioning well, then the best thing you can do is check if the parts are properly attached and if they are in mint condition.
It’s also worth observing if they are functioning as they should. Here are simple steps to check and fix your lawn mower:
1. Disconnect spark plug
This is an important step because you don’t want the lawn mower to accidentally start while you are trying to conduct “surgery” on it.
2. Wear protection
You will need gloves and eye protection. The former is necessary because there are some parts of the engine that could be sharp.
Remember, a lawn mower cuts grass. It has blades to do that kind of work.
On the other hand
You don’t want gasoline or other small parts going into your eyes, and you definitely don’t want your eye to be poked by something while you are checking out your lawn mower.
3. Check ignition system
There are different types of ignition system, so it’s quite hard to make a general statement about it here.
But when you see your ignition system, it seems quite clear how it should look like.
If you’re not confident
Just check out your manual. There might be a graphic there that explains how your ignition system generally looks like.
But here’s the important thing:
Make sure that it looks normal. Check nearby wirings if they are in its proper place. Also, check if there are any small objects stuck on any part of the system that could trigger malfunction.
4. Check valves
The lawn mower has valves. In the case of a four-stroke engine, there is the intake valve and the exhaust valve.
These valves are always moving. There is a possibility that in the process, some foreign objects were inadvertently stuck within the valve system.
Just clean it!
Or it could be that it has been scratched and it’s leaking. Of course, that would cause the lawn mower to malfunction.
There is also a possibility that a part of the valve is chipped, which resulted in the injection of the fuel at the wrong time.
By the way
If you have to replace the damaged valves, you need to be careful. It’s going to be quite tricky and it will test your patience.
Make sure you strategize before replacing. Perhaps, these steps could help you out a little:
- Press down the springs that hold the valve and remove the retainer.
- To return or replace, you need to put the spring and retainer together back into the engine.
- Put the valve by inserting it into the largest hole of the valve spring.
- Lock the valve into place.
There you have it!
These steps are not intimidating, right? But, after all these, if your lawn mower is still not working right, then it’s best to consult with the expert.
First, check out your warranty. Maybe the issue is still covered by the warranty.
If not
Have the lawn mower diagnosed first. Listen to the expert and gauge if it would be more practical to have it fixed or to just buy a new one.
If the replacement part is very expensive and just a hundred or so dollars cheaper than a new lawn mower, then you might as well buy a new one.
Summary
Are you having problems with your lawn mower? Don’t be hasty. Maybe it’s not yet time to buy a new one. You might just be able to repair your own lawn mower and save money in the process.
How to fix your lawn mower? It depends on the problem, of course! If it’s not starting, it could be a simple issue of having stale fuel or it could be that the carburetor is clogged. Those have simple solutions.
Sometimes, it’s just a matter of foreign objects invading important mechanical parts of the lawn more. But other times, it may be too complex for you to solve. In that case, then you should have it fixed by an expert. The important thing is that you tried fixing it yourself first. This is just a more practical way.
Useful Resources
- Stone Damage on Lawn Mowers – SFGate
- Lawn Mower Maintenance – The Home Depot
- Lawn Mower Accidents Are Maiming Children – NBC News
