How To Start Lawn Mower After Winter

Finally, winter has faded away, and it's time to drag the mower out once more. At present, this tin can be a game of roulette; volition it kickoff or won't it? It is going to depend on if you lot winterized your lawn mower or not. If at the end of the last mowing season, you pushed the mower into the corner of the garage with very little thought, so you could be spending a few hours trying to get life back into the mower later its hibernation. So, what practice you need to practise to get your mower firing again? Let'due south accept a look.

Starting_a_Lawn_Mower_After_Winter

The Primary Reasons Why People Struggle to Start Their Mower After Wintertime

Winterizing a lawn mower involves a complete service and a few preventative steps to help protect it over the winter while it sits idle. And so, if you forgot to winterize your mower, y'all'll have to carry out some servicing and hope that no permanent impairment has been caused. Here are the items you lot're going to need to address.

Service the Battery
Remove Degraded Gasoline
Alter the Engine Oil
Carburetor Cleaning
Replace the Fuel Filter
Supplant the Air Filter
Supplant the Spark Plug
Make clean the Lawn Mower

How to Start a Backyard Mower After Winter (Pace Past Step)

If your backyard mower won't start after sitting over winter, and then you'll demand to take hold of your tools and some parts. Once you have everything you demand, you can bring your lawn mower into your work area, or even meliorate, upwardly on a lawn mower elevator if you have i (here's how to brand a lawn mower elevator tabular array).

Service the Battery

If you happened to have left your bombardment connected over the wintertime, then it is more than than likely dead. Additionally, if it was connected and left open to the air, you lot could take some terminal corrosion. Grabbing a charger and attaching it to your battery isn't a skillful idea with corrosion present as you tin hands send likewise much electric current to the battery and destroy it. So, you'll need to remove the battery and service it. Here's what you lot'll need to do.

Remove the Battery
Audit the Battery
Make clean the Terminals & Connector
Charge the Battery
Exam the Volts & Amps
Reinstall or Replace the Battery

Remove Degraded Gasoline

Leaving bad gasoline in a backyard mower over winter is ane of the most common reasons a mower has difficulty starting up for the first time. Untreated gasoline will "go bad" or degrade if left for 30 days or more than. Bad gas becomes less flammable and forms a fuel gum. If untreated gasoline was left in your mower over the winter, then you'll need to remove it and go some fresh gasoline. Hither are the steps you'll need to follow to remove the bad gas.

Siphon/Pump Old Gasoline from the Fuel Tank
Disconnect the Fuel Line from the Carburetor
Remove Fuel from the Fuel System (other than the fuel tank)
Reassemble Fuel System
Fill with Fresh Fuel

Change the Engine Oil

Leaving new engine oil in a backyard mower over the winter isn't a problem, however old, used oil tin be. Imagine all the dirt and muck in onetime dirt oil. When oil is left for a long flow, this muck settles in the bottom of the engine's sump and forms a sludge. This sludge can be hard to get rid of, and it will maybe pollute your next few oil changes.

Additionally, if you winterized your lawn mower correctly before putting it away, yous withal demand to modify the oil at the starting time of the season. In that location is always a sure amount of dirt in the sump polluting the oil, so even practiced oil will go bad after long periods. Here's what y'all'll need to do to remove the old oil and sludge.

Remove the Sump Plug & Drain the Oil
Install the Sump Plug & Fill with New Oil
Run the Lawn Mower Until Hot
Allow Mower to Absurd
Check Oil for Cleanliness
Repeat Oil Change

Carburetor Cleaning

If y'all did happen to leave gasoline in the mower over winter and didn't treat information technology, then the carburetor is going to need to exist thoroughly cleaned. The gum from the degraded gasoline tin really clog up a carburetor and render it useless. In improver, the bladder can become stuck in identify, and the jets can be completely chock-full. Then, you will have to grab your tools and cleaning equipment and follow these steps.

Remove the Air Filter & Housing
Remove the Throttle Linkage from the Carburetor
Remove the Fuel Line
Remove the Carburetor Fuel Cup
Remove & Clean the Fuel Float
Remove & Clean Fuel Jets
Clean the Carburetor Inside & Out
Inspect Carburetor for Damage & Corrosion
Reinstall the Carburetor & Associated Parts or Replace

Replace the Fuel Filter

If your mower has an old fuel filter, information technology must exist replaced. A dirty filter can easily reduce fuel flow to the engine and cause bug when trying to get-go the engine. Additionally, if the mower had untreated gasoline left in it over winter, information technology will probably be gummed up and clogged. Here's what you'll need to practise to replace it.

Switch OFF Fuel
Remove Spring Clips from Fuel Lines Holding on the Fuel Filter
Remove the Old Fuel Filter
Install the New Fuel Filter
Install the Spring Clips
Switch ON Fuel

Supercede the Air Filter

The air filter serves 2 purposes. Ane is to make sure the air going into the engine is clean. Two is to regulate the volume of air going into the engine. If you lot accept a problem with starting the engine at the beginning of the season, information technology could be due to the air filter being clogged and affecting the air getting to the engine. Depending on the type of filter your backyard mower uses, it could have also stale out.

And so, if you didn't already supersede the air filter before putting your mower away for winter, you'll demand to do and so at present. Here are the steps to replace the air filter.

Remove the Air filter Embrace
Make clean the Air Filter Housing
Install New Pre-Air Filter
Install New Air Filter
Reinstall the Air Filter Embrace

Replace the Spark Plug & Checking the Ignition Cable

Spark plugs are delicate at the best of times, so leaving an sometime one in your mower over the winter isn't a good idea. Air that makes its mode through the air filter and carburetor and then into the cylinder caput will definitely corrode the spark plug to some level. Since the gap in the spark plug between the middle electrode and the ground electrode is so precise, even the tiniest amount of corrosion tin affect a spark plug. The all-time solution here is to replace the plug direct abroad. Here's what you can do.

Remove the Ignition Cable
Remove the Former Spark Plug
Install the New Spark Plug
Reattach the Ignition Cable

When yous're changing the spark plug, it's always a good idea to cheque the ignition cable that attaches to the spark plug. These tin can go corroded over the winter and can bear upon the way the spark plug sparks. So, a few minutes of attention tin really help. Here's what you should do.

Inspect Inside Ignition Cable
Spray with WD-40
File/Sand Connexion Surface
Reattach the Ignition Cable to the Spark Plug

Clean the Lawn Mower

You lot may non remember that a dirty mower can cause a problem, but if there happens to exist anything left in the mower cutting deck from the finish of terminal flavour, it could be causing a blockage. A blockage in the mower deck could forbid the blade from spinning and stop the engine from turning over.

So if y'all're having problems starting your lawn mower after wintertime, it may not necessarily exist a problem with the engine. Here's what you can practice to clear any potential blockages preventing your lawn mower from starting.

Raise the Cutting Deck/Tilt Over the Lawn Mower
Remove the Spark Plug/Ignition Cable
Scrape Out the Old Lawn Debris from the Cutting Deck
Cheque the Blades tin Spin Freely

How to Start a Battery/Cordless Mower Afterwards Winter

Electric mowers are very different from gasoline mowers in that the power to the blade is provided past an electrical motor from either a battery or string. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean they are immune from problems caused past not winterizing your lawn mower correctly. Here are the things to check when starting your bombardment/corded lawn mower at the start of the season if your backyard mower won't start after sitting over winter.

Charging the Batteries

For y'all guys with bombardment-powered mowers, the kickoff thing you will desire to ensure is that the batteries are fully charged. Even if the batteries were fully charged when you put the lawn mower away, they could still discharge if they are left in the lawn mower for a long time. The best solution is to popular them in the charger and allow them to fully charge again.

Checking the Cable/Cord

Hopefully, your cord was stored away safely over wintertime. However, it's not uncommon for a left-out string to become damaged over the long winter months. Check for whatever impairment that could have occurred and make sure there are no obvious issues. If you lot are experienced with multimeters, then you lot can examination the cable for any defects.

Checking the Terminals

Both battery and corded mowers (ones with a detachable string) take points where the electrical connection is made. These are called terminals. Leaving an electrical mower out over winter could result in some corrosion and a bad connection at the final. Take a look at where the connection is made and see if you take whatever problems. You may need to get a small file or a piece of sandpaper to remove the corrosion.

Checking the Motor Spins

Rust is a definite enemy of electric motors. If your mower was left out, and so it's possible the motor has seized due to rust and corrosion.

Attempt to give the motor a spin by turning the blade. Just make sure information technology'south not connected, and no batteries are installed. There should exist petty to no resistance when you spin the bract. If you feel a problem, practise not use the mower. The motor needs to be replaced showtime.

Trying to run your mower with a faulty motor tin can cause it to hands fire out and cause a fire.

Checking the Brushes

The simply resistance yous should feel from an electrical motor is the pull of the magnets or the brushes. The brushes transfer the electric current into the motor and tin go bad.

Commencement, the brushes wear down every bit the lawn mower is beingness used and pop out every bit a safety feature on some electric mowers. But they can seize with corrosion if the lawn mower wasn't winterized correctly and the damp air gets to them.

If you pop off the cover of the mower, you will expose the elevation of the motor and the brushes. This is where you can inspect the brushes and pop them dorsum in or replace them.

Checking the Connection

The final item to check if you are having difficulty starting your lawn mower after winter is the electric connections to the motor. Within the mower, y'all'll find connections from the power source, the string, or the batteries to the motor. These connections, like the brushes, are prone to corrosion over the winter and tin can prevent power from getting to the motor.

Once more, you tin popular off the cover and check the connections. A niggling chip of sandpaper or a metal file should clean up the terminal nicely and restore the connection.

Electric Works

Now, I'chiliad certainly no electrician or skilful when information technology comes to electrical lawn mowers, simply I practice understand the problems caused by not winterizing your lawn mower. Then if y'all are like me, not an expert electrician, I'd recommend having a trained professional repair your electric mower.

Source: https://lawnmowerguru.com/starting-a-lawn-mower-after-winter/