The Lawn Mower in Winter.... Winter maintenance Tips

GPI · Last edited by GPI on Sun Nov 09, 2008 11:45 pm; edited 1 time in total

The Lawn Mower in Winter.... Winter maintenance Tips
13 Master Tips to Winterize your Lawn Mower
By Andrew Caxton

Photo / pic / image of winter lawnmower maintenance.
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Protect Your investment

After you rake out all the leaves that land on your lawn, do not relax. Remember Robert Frost. There are miles to go before you sleep and miles (well not exactly) to go before your lawn mower is allowed to sleep. Unless you do it, your lawn mower might be put to a longer sleep. It may not wake up when winter goes away, and when you need your lawn mower most.

The Why Of Lawn Mower Winterizing

Petrol in the carburetor of your lawn mower, does not take kindly to lowered temperatures of winter. The petrol gums up and when you try to restart it after the winter, there is no petrol flow to your engine and it does not start. You will not be able to do the maintenance by yourself. You will lose time and money making the trip to your friendly neighborhood mechanic. You get all this, for not following up simple steps of winterizing your lawn mower. Avoid all this, winterize your lawn mower.

The How of Lawn Mower Winterizing

There are some simple steps for winterizing your lawn mower. You can do it yourself without involving any one else.

1. The first thing to do is to remove the petrol in the tank. This can be done by siphoning the contents in the in a plastic can. Usually a single gallon container should be sufficient.

2. Keep the can tightly closed after decanting contents of the lawn mower. Place the can in such a way that it cannot topple over and spill the contents.

3. If you use petrol in your car, transfer the contents to the car tank, instead of storing petrol in a can over winter.

4. Run the engine until the remaining fuel is completely consumed and engine stops on its own.

5. Drain gearbox oil and crank case oil. Dispose off the oil as per guidelines from your local authorities for disposal of hazardous waste.
NEVER, EVER, dump it in a sewer / septic tank or on the ground.

6. Remove the spark plug, put lubricating oil (about 50 milliliters) through the opening, and crank the engine once or twice using the pull cord, so that the piston and crankshaft is lubricated.

7. Ensure that you are wearing gloves before you do any of the following activities and take safety precautions to avoid any injury to your hands.

8. Turn over the engine and clean the undersides of the lawn mower to remove traces of grass, muck attached to the blades and clean the working parts of lawn mower. Remove any foreign material lodged between blade and body.

9. With a small piece of steel wool, clean all the underside areas and remove any rest from the covers and body of the lawn mower.

10. Apply protective solution like WD-40 to the cleaned up surfaces

11. If required, remove, sharpen and refit the blade, and turn the lawn mower to its normal position.

12. Change the air filter and the oil filter. If it is possible to clean the air filter, you can do so, but if it is made of paper, it must be replaced. The air filters and oil filters can also be replaced just before re-using the lawn mower, but it pays to do this while winterizing as you might forget doing so before starting.

13. Wheel it to its resting place for winter.

When spring arrives and the grass is ready to be cut you must do two things before you begin....

1. Replace gearbox oil and crank case oil with fresh oil to their safety marks.

2. Fill up the fuel tank with petrol and start up.
Your old faithful lawn mower will purr into motion and you will be ready for your new seasons lawn maintenance. It will purr like a contented cat.

Andrew Caxton contributes adding reviews and special articles regularly to http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com .
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Yorky · Hawthorn Tree Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 83

Does this mean that the oil should be changed prior to winter storage and then again prior to first use in the Spring?

Also is it advisable to carry out the full service now i.e. air filter,spark plug, blade sharpen etc or should this be left until Spring?

verge · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:01 am Post subject:

Yorky · Hawthorn Tree Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 83

GPI · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:03 pm Post subject: