it’s that time of year.
If you have a lawn, and a lawnmower, especially a gas powered one, this is the time to winterize it. I think I’ll have done the last mow of this year by days end, and the trick is to get that mower winterized after the last mow and have it ready for spring.
There are a lot of different techniques for different mowers, but the basics are all the same: Fuel, air, oil, clean.
Each mower (or any piece of yard equipment) has it’s own reccomended practices, but if you’ve lost your manul, you can’t be hurt by doing it this way.
Clean: the mower in general, the cooling fins, the deck. Partner waxes his deck at the end of each season so the grass doesn’t stick. I haven’t had a mower capable of being waxed for thirty years, but if you’re as anal and as meticulous as partner is, it seems to work fine for him
Clean: the spark plug, put a little squirt of oil in the spark plug hole and turn the motor, then put the new, cleaned spark plug back in the hole and tighten to spec.
Air: Change the air filter and make sure there aren’t wads of gunk stuck in the air filter housing.
Oil the moving parts (blade stop, controls, etc) and change the oil.
Fuel is a source of some contention. If you have an older machine with a metal tank, you want to keep it full of fuel. If it’s newer and plastic, the conventional wisdom is to drain it. I’m of the “Full tank with fuel stabilizer” school of thought, and it has worked well for forty years, for me. best thig in any event, is to mix fuel with fuel stabilizer, and then run the engine, whether you drain or don’t drain, this will keep the last few drops in the carb from turning to varnish overwinter.
In spring, if you keep the tank full, drain it into a can and put THAT fuel in your car. The fuel stabilizer makes the gas a bit harder to ignite after standing for so long, so fresh fuel in the spring is a must, and the little bit of fuel in your much larger vehicle tank will not affect it’s operation adversely.
The same, of course, goes for your snowblower, assuming you have/need one, only in opposite seasons.
Just a public service announcement from a guy who hates to be fucking with stuff like this in the spring.
I’ll be mowing for another month or so, and then again come February-March.
Ya gotta love the south.
Showoff.
Still, you can mow your lawn with a weedeater.
Partner? He? what’s going on here?
I can’t emphasize this enough, since NOT doing it has cost me either a new carb or rebuilds for ALL of my small power equipment: DRAIN AND BLOW DOWN THE CARB BOWLS!
The damned alcohol-laced fuel we are stuck with until the Big Re-Do will NOT stay single-phase. It will ALWAYS separate into it’s respective phases of alcohol, gasoline and water EVERY TIME IT’S STORED, no matter what miracle crap you put into it to stabilize it. In fact, if you aren’t going to run the equipment every two to three weeks, EMPTY IT!
There’s a way around this if you live in a state which permits boats and/or off-road vehicles to burn alcohol-free gasoline. Your small equipment qualifies as “off-road”. Make sure you know what markings, if any, are required on the jugs you put that off-road gas in. That alcohol-free gas CAN be properly stabilized, so it can be stored for up to two years.
The alcohol-free gas is not easy to find, and when you find it, will will be 80 cents more, at least. It’s worth it. It may be dyed, so don’t put in in your car or truck. If you get caught (small chance), the fine will be HUGE.
Similar subject: never store diesel fuel in anything but those special diesel jerry jugs or a steel or aluminum tank or barrel. ULSD will eat up the red fuel jugs. If you have an old diesel, say an old tractor, add TCW3-rated 2-stroke oil to the fuel at a ratio of 1:200, to restore the lubricity of the fuel lost when converted to remove the sulfur. The metallurgy in the old fuel systems on early diesels can’t handle the new fuel.
I dont know if it’s the formulation, but I don’t have too many troubles here with alcohol.
Of course, I grew up running tractors and tgrucks on shine, so I’m used to the practice of making sure gaskets etc are capable of dealiong with the mixture. For anyone not wanting to disassemble their mowers and replace seals, it’s probably a good idea to “Go empty” but my tractor tank is steel, and the inside is unprotected, so I keep it full all winter.
I did not know that about diesel and plastic, though it makes perfect sense now that you say it. I have always used the blue “Kerosene” cans, or jerrycans.
Desertman: Partner is not my “Partner” he’s my best friend. If you see “Paint your wagon” you’ll get the picture; Ben Rumson (me) is a fat, old man, a slave to his vices,charismatic and not too bright; Partner, (Clint Eastwood) is a tall, slender silent type with a good deal of self discipline and can hold his liquor.
The only reason to watch Paint Yo Wagun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkmvwCpcZlM
Harve Presnell kicks ass on this one.