It’s Time to Tune up Your Lawnmower for the Upcoming Summer Season
Before you find yourself out in the middle of the yard with a lawnmower that has stalled and refuses to start again, give your lawnmower the tune-up that it probably desperately needs. In general, your lawnmower’s small engine should receive a tune-up once per season or after every 50 hours, whichever one comes first.
If you’re at all handy, you can service a lawn mower on your own. Most people, however, don’t have the time or the inclination to do it on their own and take it into a service center to get it done.
Here are some of the service points that you’ll want to cover to make sure that your lawnmower is ready for the tasks ahead of it this summer:
The blades need sharpening – If you’re not cutting the grass with sharp blades you’re shredding it with dull ones. Dull blades can lead to brown dull grass instead of the lush, growing, green grass that it’s supposed to be.
The plugs need checking – A spark plug, properly gapped, needs to be installed every new season.
Cleaning the flywheel – The blades on the flywheel can be brushed off with an old paintbrush. It’s a good idea to clean it before the season begins and once during midseason.
Replace the air filter – The air filter will need to be replaced whether it is made of foam or paper every year. Never attempt to clean out a paper filter using compressed air since this can send dust into the engine and can destroy the engine.
The deck needs a scraping – The deck should be scraped with a wire brush and a putty knife to remove all the dirt and debris that has accumulated last year. If you plan on doing this on your own you’ll need to first remove or siphon the gas out of the fuel tank and disconnect the plug.
Get rid of last year’s oil – Drain out the remnants of the oil you were using last season and replace the old oil with a new fresh can.
