Comments on: Troubleshooting and Starting Your Lawn Mower

By: Philip Talbot

Philip Talbot — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 06:17:05 +0000

For my mower, an annual oil change is the key to my winterizing program. I usually run the mower until the gas runs dry so I won’t have any problems with stale fuel in the spring.

By: Karen L. Armstrong

Karen L. Armstrong — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:56:05 +0000

Lots of great tips here! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! I have really enjoyed this blog very much:) Feel free to visit me back :)

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:46:08 +0000

The very fact that makes mowers so hard to start in the Spring time make them so cheap on craigslist for people who want to get rid of them.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:13:26 +0000

Just learned today – if the engine only turns over once, or not even, the battery needs to be replaced. If the engine keeps turning over, but will not start, gotta clean the carberrator…

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:29:35 +0000

I would think that cleaning the fuels lines out of the lawn mower and maybe putting in a new clean spark plug and air filter would more or less do it. At that point you’ve pretty much cleaned or replaced any part of the engine where the diesel gas could have touched and tainted. You might want to put just a little bit of gas or even some sort of fuel line cleaner in and turn the engine over a few times to be sure. Let us know if you get it started!

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:25:31 +0000

someone gave me a lawnmower that isn’t running because they used diesel instead of gas in it. I know how to empty the tank, fuel line and clean the carberrator… will this fix it or is it ruined or anything else i should do? I took it to the local repair shop and they said 3 weeks! my yard will be a jungle by then!

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:40:02 +0000

Kristin… Two words: turkey baster!

There are some new fangled fuel and liquid pumps on the market, but I’ve never used them. I generally use a cheap turkey baster (I have one ONLY for gasoline) that I use to suck out the old fuel if there’s any in there. It’s a slow process if you have a fully tank, but it works and it only costs a few dollars. I’ve fixed an old mower that was neglected for years by adding some new fuel to the gas tank, stirring it up a bit with the turkey baster and then sucking out the old gas (and a bunch of grungy particles) out of the tank. Clean out the lines, add some new gas and you could be on your way!

By: Kristin

Kristin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:08:24 +0000

This article helped some, but what I was looking for was “how to” empty bad gas from the lawnmower.