Those Martins

There’s a fine line between lawn mower maintenance and lawn mower destruction. I know. That’s why I was so reluctant to try my hand at lawn mower maintenance.

It turns out that replacing a spark plug is pretty easy. So is draining the oil and siphoning off the old gas. Adding new oil and gas is child’s play. (Or would be if I let Esther do it.) Once I found the air filter I needed, replacing the air filter was similarly easy.

I had a bit more trouble with the lawn mower blade. The bolt was pretty tight and very stiff. But, after a lot of elbow grease and muscle power, I was able to break it loose. I put the new blade on and tightened everything down.

The mower still sounded rough though. Something more needed to be done. I consulted my online brain trust. Joe DiFernando came through with a diagnosis: a dirty carburetor. That worried me. Cleaning a carburetor involves taking the carburetor off of the mower. That involves more than one screw and more than one part. I’m not very mechanically minded. Anything that involves more than one screw or more than one part makes me nervous.

Well, it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I felt like doing something outside. So I hauled my toolbox outside and decided to give it a try.

First I took the air filter off of the mower (it sits directly on top of the carburetor). So far, so good. Next, I unscrewed the screws that connected the carburetor to the top of the gasoline tank. Again, so far so good.

Now I had to get the carburetor off of the gas tank. I pulled and pried. It was pretty hard to move. I used more muscle. (Hey, it worked for the lawn mower blade.) I used more muscle. Finally, it popped loose. So did several other pieces. As well as parts of the pipe that lead from the carburetor into the engine. Oops.

I checked the carburetor. It looked pretty clean already. I cleaned it anyway. That’s what I was here for. I also removed a lot of grass and grease and gunk that had accumulated over the past couple of summers. Then I reassembled everything.

I was able to find a place for almost all of the parts that were lying around. But the mower no longer starts. I’m not quite sure what the problem is but it seems to involve the path from the gas tank into the carburetor. I think the carburetor itself needs to be replaced to. Some of the springs that control the valve that controls the gas / oxygen mix seem to be busted. That seems important too.

In hindsight, I should have removed the entire gas tank from the engine. I finally figured out how to do that. It seems like that would have allowed the carburetor to slide off of the pipe. Then I could have just unscrewed it and lifted it off the gas tank. Lesson learned.

At this point, I think it’s best that I take it to someone who actually knows what he’s doing. Fortunately, we have a certified Briggs & Stratton repair shop less than 10 miles away. I bet they know how to fix broken engines.

There’s a fine line between lawn mower maintenance and lawn mower destruction. I know.