The lawnmower decided that Easter is a good time to stop working. I took it apart, cleaned fuel lines and the carburettor, put in a new spark plug, cleaned the air filter, and put it back together. It started with the first pull. Result.
He is risen!
Thank you, that was brilliant.
Now I have to explain to the people in my vicinity what “dull men’s club” is because I involuntarily let out a great belly laugh after reading your comment.
I love when the only thing I have to do is clean something to get it working again. Had a similar issue with a oscillating multi tool my Dad gave me a while back.
Worked for a bit, then stopped working altogether.
Took my plug in duster for cleaning PCs and blew out a bunch of metal dust and other crap.
Boom, back to life.
On brand dull men don’t sharpen lawnmower blades.
Cuts still well enough, maybe next Spring.
you actually don’t want it to be knife sharp because it will get damaged way easier and dull faster.
You also want to properly sharpen it every once in a while.
True that. I’d like to add to that though, try to make sure the blade is balanced after sharpening, it’s all too easy to accidentally grind a little more off of one end than the other. Your lawnmower will thank you by not vibrating nearly as much as it otherwise might.
Unless you have a ride-on because that special lady in some of our lives might love it.
Happy wife and no more mowing the lawn, what’s not to like.
Ain’t got no gas in it.
Mmm-hmmm.
Nice. It’s almost always gunk in the carb from gas left in the tank over winter
In the winter I have a monthly appointment with my mower in my calender to run it for 10 minutes.
I just drain the gas and run it until it stalls. Been doing this with the lawnmower, weed trimmer and snowblower for over a decade, never any carburetor issues.
Do you put fuel stabilizer in the tank and run some through the system?
That sounds like a lot of complication for a humble lawnmower.
Men, a capful in the tank and run for 5 minutes, it will stop the gas turning gummy and going “flat”. But usually I shut the petcock off and drained the carb bowl…to many plugged needle valves in the past.
Whew, i think you are in the UK. I’m in the US and it is way too early to have done all that on Easter Sunday.
May you have a season of easy starts.
Nice job! I’ll be doing all of that soon. I’m honestly amazed mine still runs, because every time I change it’s oil it’s full of glitter. It wants to die, but it won’t find peace until catastrophic failure.
