How to service your Lawn mower is an essential part of preserving the life of your machine while making it easier creating a well-maintained lawn for your home.
If you want to know how to extend the lifespan of your lawn mower, best to be familiar with how to service a lawn mower with all the basic procedures.
Actually, servicing a lawn mower can be done by you in your garage or on your backyard and it’s not really difficult.
Spring is the best recommended season for this activity because this is the season when the grass begins to regenerate and grow vigorously after a long period of slumber during winter.
Once spring starts, this is to remind you that you need to service your garden machines especially your lawn mower.
Why Regular Maintenance For Lawn Mower is Necessary
Lawn mowers usually do the hardest work among the machines that you use in your backyard or lawn.
Because of its job as your major grass cutter, it can accumulate dust, debris, dirt, grass spoilage and many other types of dirt that it encounters on the ground.
Dirt can also damage the machine’s parts like the carburetor, air filter or oil filter.
If you don’t do regular maintenance cleaning or don’t know how to service a lawn mower, you can expect that your lawn mower won’t last the distance.
it will show up many issues and shortening its working life unnecessarily.
Yes, you can bring your lawn mower to a service machine shop.
But be ready to shell out a good amount of money for just simple maintenance work?
Things You Should Regularly Do To Maintain Your Lawn Mower
Cleaning up your mower is very important especially after every use or prior to maintenance .
You can use a powerful hose and with a vigorous stream of water, target the blade and everything around the blade including the wheels.
On the exterior part of your lawn mower, use air pressure to blow up dirt or a hose with a powerful spray nozzle to dislodge accumulated dirt.
You also need water, liquid detergent, a household brush, and a clean cloth. Put a good amount of liquid detergent into the bucket of water and mix well.
Dip the brush on the soapy water and wipe all the surfaces.
Use a degreaser spray onto the engine and carburetor or wherever there’s a possible build-up of oil.
Wipe dry your lawn mower with a clean cloth and you can now start doing the maintenance.
How to service a lawn Mower
Cleaning or Replacing Lawn Mower Spark Plug
Pull the spark plug cap and then and use a deep socket tool to remove the spark plug.
Be careful not to make a sudden twist or you could break the ceramic part of the plug.
Wipe off the oil on its tail if there’s any and also insert a clean cloth in the spark plug seat hole to remove any oil or liquid.
If you got an old spark plug in your lawn mower that’s starting to look burnt on the electrode.
It might be better to replace it with a brand new plug to ensure quick starting, smoother operation and to avoid engine stalling.
Don’t plug the spark plug yet to prevent accidental starting
Check the Air Filter
The air filter works by preventing debris and dust from going into the carburetor.
There are three types of air filters for lawn mowers – foam types that need oil, paper types that are disposable and the hybrid types that have foam and paper elements.
After unclipping the air filter cap, take out the old filter paper or hybrid air filter and replace it with a new one.
If the hybrid air filter is still new you can use compressed air or air filter cleaner to clean it out.
For foam air cleaners
Simply put it under running warm water, pour detergent and squeeze until all the dirt has gone.
Rinse and squeeze the foam until there’s no water coming out.
Air dry the foam air cleaner until dry.
Add a little amount of engine oil on the foam and squeeze thoroughly until oil is well absorbed by the foam.
There should be no oil drip when you squeeze the foam firmly.
The foam air cleaner is now ready to be reinserted then secure its cover.
lawn mower Oil change
Changing the oil is a very significant part on how to service a lawn mower properly.
A regular oil change can greatly enhance the performance of your lawn mower.
If your lawn mower doesn’t have a drain plug you have to drain out the oil the classic way by tilting the lawn mower on its side and catching the oil with a drain pan.
When the oil is completely drained out, wipe the mouth of the oil reservoir and put the mower back on its wheels and pour in the new oil.
Make sure you use the right type of engine oil as specified on the user manual and use the oil cap dipstick in your oil measurement. Avoid going over the full oil capacity by checking the dipstick.
Sharpen Or Install a New Lawn Mower Blade
Put plastic under the gasoline and oil caps and tighten them up to prevent spillage.
Tip the lawn mower on its side and wear heavy-duty gloves to prevent accidental cut on your hands when removing the blade.
Using a wrench turn the bolt that is securing the blade counter-clockwise until the bolt comes out.
Now, either you just want to sharpen the blade or change it for a new one, that’s your decision.
A new blade will somehow produce a cleaner cut because it still balanced and factory sharpened.
Put back the sharpened or new blade accordingly and tighten the bolt making sure you will be applying the right torque.
Putting Back the Spark Plug
Going back to the spark plug, you can now screw it back using your hand to prevent cross-thread and stop once the plug seats smoothly inside the hole.
Use the deep socket tool to tighten the spark plug completely.
Grease the Moving Parts
Part of servicing a lawn mower is the need to lubricate joints and the collapsible parts of the lawn mower.
These can include joints on the throttle bar, handle, height adjuster, bolts, tension spring and so on.
You can apply a film of grease or oil on these parts to enable them to move smoothly while preventing rust from developing.
The best way is to use wd 40 or similar to loosen up stuck-up parts and eliminate the rust formation.
Now you have completed servicing your lawn mower you can use it for another season without the risks of breaking down in the middle of cutting your lawns.
Summary:
Lawn mower service is basically a simple process.
To complete your maintenance , you have to have the right items for the job especially the right engine oil which will work as your major lubricant for your machine.
An efficient air filter, for example, will help your machine clean up your air intake by preventing dirt from entering the carburetor stopping even the smallest dirt particle passing through.
Your spark plug must also be in good condition and quality and not the cheap ones that can save you some money but will give you the headaches when your machine doesn’t like to start due being defective.
Your engine degreaser can be your ultimate cleaning agent for hard to eliminate dirt, grime, grease, and oil to any part of your engine.
We prefer the can type because it has a powerful stream action that can penetrate every corner of your machine and deliver its cleaning elements accordingly.
And that’s folks, is simply how to service a lawn mower with the easiest steps.