Every man should know how to perform basic small engine maintenance and troubleshooting. After all, there are a lot of engines out there which operate equipment that makes modern life a bit easier. Knowing these important skills will also save money and prolong the life of power equipment.

At the end of January, my contract came to an end and I was out of work for a couple of months. During that time, I reduced my expenses by cutting and cancelling certain services. One of these was my yard service, meaning I needed to borrow a lawn mower from a friend of mine until I could afford to restart it. He let me use it two years ago during a similar period of unemployment so borrowing it wasn’t a problem. However, I noticed that the mower was running really rough when I cut my back yard and that the grass wasn’t being cut evenly. It was time to troubleshoot to determine what the problems were and fix them by the following week.

Safing the Mower

The first step was to safe the engine. I did this by removing the spark plug wire from the spark plug, which was located at the front of the engine. That way the engine could not ignite while I was working on the mower. Once that was done, I could safely turn the mower on its side the check the blade.

Note: Before turning the mower on its side, check the manual to see which side it should be turned on. This is important to prevent leaks and spills so find this out before doing anything.

Sharpening the Blade

Since this particular mower needed to be turned on its left side, I put down an old blanket and gently placed it on that side. It was easy to see what one of the problems was, the blade was pitted and dull. So I decided to remove the blade so it could be sharpened by the local mower store. To do this, I used my ratchet to loosen the bolt holding the blade on to the engine. I wore leather gloves and used a block of wood to brace the blade as I removed it. Once the blade was off, I turned the mower back on its wheels and took the blade in to be sharpened. It would only take a day and $6 to get the blade back to normal so I spent that time taking care of other matters.

Cleaning the Air Filter

The next action I took was to clean the air filter. Since the engine was running sluggishly I thought a good cleaning was in order. After I removed the outer housing, I saw that the filter was very dirty so I removed it so I could wash it. This particular filter was a pleated fiber one that could be hand-washed in warm water. I gave the entire filter a quick wash to get some of the dirt off, then cleaned in between each pleat. There was a lot of dirt trapped in there so each one was thoroughly cleaned before moving on to the next one. It took a few minutes but the air filter was now clean and drying out.

Changing Oil

While the air filter was drying, I decided to check the engine oil. It looked really dirty so I thought it would be a good idea to change it since I was already performing maintenance. The owner’s manual stated that this engine required SAE 30 motor oil, so I decided to get a quart at my local auto parts store. The manual also stated that the oil was to be drained through the fill tube where the dipstick was. Before I did that though, I decided to run the engine for a couple of minutes to heat the oil up so that it would drain better. I reattached the spark plug wire, put the air filter back on, and ran the mower for about two minutes to warm up the engine. Then I removed the spark plug wire and got ready to change the oil.

I used an old plastic dish to collect the oil and put paper towels underneath it as I turned the mower on its side. The oil flowed out fairly quickly but I let as much of it drain out as possible before adding the new oil. I had an old plastic jug that I put the used oil in, which will be recycled the next time my city hosts a household hazardous waste collection day. Since the engine required 27 ounces of oil, I used a marker to indicate how many ounces should remain (5) after I added the correct amount to the mower. After this was done, I put the dipstick back in the filler tube and got ready to address the last issue on the list.

Defueling and Refueling

I was concerned that the fuel in the mower’s tank was causing the engine to run rough. Most pump gasoline has 10% ethanol in it which isn’t the best for small engines. I decided to buy a quart of True Fuel 4-Cycle to see if it would improve performance. But first, I would need to remove the gasoline in the tank. I did this using a siphon pump and plastic bowl to collect the gasoline, which I put into a plastic bottle. Then, after most of the gasoline was drained I moved everything away from the mower so I could burn-off the remaining fuel. I reconnected the spark plug wire and ran the engine for a few minutes, then it sputtered and died after the last of the old fuel was burned. I added the True Fuel and fired-up the engine again. It ran well meaning that the only step left was putting the newly-sharpened blade back on.

I removed the spark plug wire and turned the mower on its left side. Using my ratchet, I put the blade back on and made sure it was on tight before setting the mower back on its wheels. The spark plug wire was reattached and I got ready to use the mower once again.

The result was a mower that ran and cut like a charm. The difference was noticeable and gave me a sense of satisfaction knowing that I was able to get this machine working correctly. Knowing how to perform simple maintenance as well as basic troubleshooting on a small engine really came in handy, it’s a skill every man should know.